SOME TROTTING NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2203, 21 May 1896, Page 34

SOME TROTTING NOTES.

By M. Quad.

Trotting enthusiasts are looking forward to the Canterbury Trotting Club's fixture, which commences on Thursday next, and will be continued on the following Monday. If the weather fiend is not troubled with a bad liver on those days, and on those intervening, the meeting is sure to be a great success. £he ■.eoretary of the club and the members of the committee are the right men in the right place, andare men who thoroughly understand, and attempt to meet, the wants both of the owner and public. It would be impossible to please everybody, ot course, and there are, as usual, the usual number of malcontents, many «

whom did they attempt to assist in running a similar club would most assuredly come to grief. Take, for instance^ the Sires' Race. The club, in making a 15sec limit, believed that in so acting they wore benefiting the owners of really good stallions, and, in addition, they had not forgotten the complaints made lost year when Blue Gown, withalong start, followed up his previous successes in the same race. The entry is certainly small, but all tho same it is a step in the right direction — that is, the int>odution of class racing. I quite agree with those owners who, after going to great expense in importing high-clasa stock from America, find their animals asked to give such long starts to mediocre horses objecting to a3k i thair animals such a question ; but, as the sport has bten carried on for many years, no other position could be allotted the high-class horso. Trotting clubs have to frame their f>rogr*tnmes so that all classes can bo provided for, and as thti years ' roll ou, so too will tho old-fashioned trotter roll out of the world of sport. The Canterbury Trotting Club attempted some four years ago to establish a Sires' Produce Race, but owing to what I consider an unpardonable apathy the owners of sires declined to assist the club even to the extent of the covering fee of each stallion. Sine* then the question has been revived again and again, only to suffer th'i same fate. However, n%xi year, all going well, a Sires' Produce Race will be decided at the show grounds, and cannot fail to arouse great interest. The advantages of suoh a race to tho owners of aire3 cannot be over-estimated, as the amount required ob account of each horse would be returned a hundredfold ; and how the owners of high-class entires could not perceive that the very enterprho which guided them to import such animals was again required to be shown in the establishment of Siras' produce races I cannot understand." Only let a sire prove himself, and how soon would every owner of a decent dam try to breed something able to trot. As Mr Albrough rightly says, " You've got the horae3 ; you'va got the breed ; you've got the climate ; why should you not produce the best 1 " There is certainly no reason why we should not, aqd I quite agree with thia well-known trainer that, seeing that we have some of the best lines of trotting blood running in the veins of our sires I Now Zealand should in a very few years hold her own with even the home of the trotter. I . am sanguine enough to imagine that this can be done without great effort on the part of our breedera But just as the colony can hold her own agaiaat any part of the world in the. production of the thoroughbred racsr, so too can she equal the world if the t*sk is taken in hand and carried to its logical conclusion by men who understand wh*t they are doing. We have every advantage so far as climato is concerned, and I feel sure that the day could come when not only would our flat race sirea be sought for, but our trotting stock would boom just as much as our Musket blood is doing now. Some may thiok I* am just a bit ahead of my time in my ideas, but who thought twenty years ago that this little colony .would be exporti 'ig horses both to England and to the land of the st*rs and stripes. Look at the great performances of Fritz. Here we have a great performer who has Bhown himself very little inferior to his American brethren, and this, too,- on tracks not nearly so good as those in Yankeeland. This suggests another thing which must be attended to 'if we desire to produce great performers, and that is— a good mile track. Let it be understood that I do aot wish to blame the trotting authorities in this matter— far from it— but without the track we cannot hope to see our trotters at their best. Trotting is still in its infancy here, and I have not the slightest doubt but that as tha-yeara go on, so shall we have tho mile prepared track laid down according to the most approved plans. Indeed, without this factor, we cannot expect to excel, as it has been proved again aud again that horses cannot show their best form, no matter how well they are bred, unless the tracks are as good a* the breed of the animals is excellent. I should like to spread myself on this subject, but space forbids, and I must get on to the coming meeting and try to show to those who will not have the pleasure of attending the forthcoming meeting what the show ground track and surroundings are like. With this object in view I paid a visit to the ground on Saturday last, and was pleased to find so many improvements had been effected, "Go down to the show f round," said Mr Rattray, "and ask for Dick." o to "Dick" I went, and have to thauk th*t obliging caretaker for his assistance in explaining what had been done. By the way, " Dick " seems to be a great favourite am ngst all classes of trotting men, and I think deservedly. It would be difficult, perhaps, to get a more painstaking individual, and to whom a great deal of the credit is due for the excellence of the_ general arrangements for the forthcoming meetiug. It is funny, too, to watch " Dick" as he informs a gentleman who has broken the rule 3of the track that " Thia is not Riccarton ; can't have galloping here,' ' or " Can't allow you to work your horses the wrong way." All done, too, in. a quiet, firm manner. "I don't go round to the trot* much mysalf," says Dick, " but when I'm here I like to watch a good hone, and sometimes I have a small investment on my fancy." Many a trial has I )ick timed, ajid if his watch sometimes goes too fast for the horse that is not the timekeeper's fault, as when "Dick" hauls out his wafeh the result is beyond question. The track, a« most people are aware, is half a mile, and if the weather holds good should prove good going.. It has, been widened considerably since the last meeting, a very great improvement, especially in harness races. The new grand stand is, of course, a gr*at boon to the trotting public, and although some objections have beep made aa to its position, a good view can b« obtained of all parts of the track, and it must be remembered that the stand was not erected with this object, but so that it should face the judging rings at show time. Tho Trotting Club ha«i obtained the use of the building, however, and' as it will neat 250) it will readily be seen what a benefit such a structure is to the patrons of the sport. Underneath the stand are to be found weighing and jockeys' rooms, secretary's office, publican's bar, and dining room, all being of great size aud handy to the paddock and stalls. A largs saddling paddock has been fenced oft, at the back of which are situated 32 stalls, all being sheltered from the so\ith-we3t. Trainers will therefore have no difficulty in housing their chargea. In addition to these stalls there are scores of others and boxes innumerable, so th»t all can obtain shelter, no matter what the weather may be. At the top of the stand provision has been made for the supply of afternoon tea— a luxury which, I have no doubt, will be appreciated by the ladies. A picket fence has been erected In front of the grand stand, and extends a faw chains on either side of the judge's box, which is situated just beyond the Centre of the stand, thus giving its occupants a good view of the finish of a race. Three totalisators .vill be provided — one for £\ investments inside and two for Wi tickets just ouiside the stand. These will be worked by Messrs H.obb« and Goodwin. f Both machines will pay out the same dividend. At the time of my visit the Hobbs brothers were ' touching up tho fences surrounding ths totalisator houses, and seemed to be equally at home with the brush as they are with the manipulation of the ".infernal" machine. There is a good training track maids the course proper, which is bein^ freely used by trainers. On Saturday I saw something like fiO horses exercising there, from the selling-class auimal to the highclass Viking. The latter is one of the finest-look-ing sires in the country, and is a beautiful mover, as also is Electioneer, who was also on the ground, though his style is entirely different to Viking's. Blue Gown was also sent round at his best for a few rounds, and is looking remarkably well. There is one thing in connection with trotting I cannot understand, and that is the lack ot interest shown by some clubs, especially in the south, to »tamp out the " ringer." This mu3t be faced by all clubs, and not left to a few to attempt to rid the colony of these swindling parasites of the trotting tracks. Week after week telegrams and letters are received here giving particulars of yet a few more " ringera," and unless some combined effort is made to Btamp out this undesirable element of tha sport, it will not progress in the way every honest trotting man hopes it will. Whether the action recently taken by the Geraldine Club will stop the ringer it U difficult to determine, especially aa it has yet to be decided whether the court has any jurisdiction. Whether it has or not, much could be done if All tbe clubs

were to pull together, butthiß they apparently ara not inclined to do. Mr RaUray tells me that ho has written again and again to some clubs, but often has the mortification to find his letters entirely ignored, aud that, too, by the very men who should be the first to assist him. Why is it? Why, if the whole of the racing bodies were to try, thoy could wipe out the whole ringing fraternity in short order; but I am forcad to the conclusion that some of the officials do not waut to discover these blackguards. Unfortunately, too, the men who gain the rno^t benefit are not the ones who nominate or ride this clays of horse. This man load* tho sun, and allowts some unfortunate dupe to suffer if he is causfht. I know what I am saying when I repeat that between Invercargill and Dune.-lin there are men who have, in concert with individual? of the same character in Christchurch and Wellington, secured animals which havo repeatedly been rung in, and yet these gentry are often allowed to escape scot free owing to (he wea te-kueed character of some of the racing officials. Only a week or two ago a complaint was made by the owner of a Becond hone in a trot not a hundred mile 3 from Dunedin, but so far the only inquiry made hss been of s> watury a nature that nothing has bean done. What chance has a man got to win a trot if these "rmgors" are allowed to Bte» in and scoop 'he poo', whilst the honest man's horsa can only get second. This has not occurred onca, but many times all over the colony, and rather than lose the stake in case of protest, some of the " ringera " are prepared to make any declaration short of making it under oath. Stewards too, are often quite satisfied with such declaration, forge'ting, apparently, that the man who hasenteied a horse in a false nauie is quite prepared io ttJll one more lie. The south is not the only happy hunting ground for the " ringer," for only last weak, wh-^n t'uo news was wired here that a horse named Saadale had won the Maiden at Hawera, Mr Rattray wired to the secretary of the club not to pay over tb.B stake until satisfied of the horse's identity. To this Mr Tristram, secretary of the Hsiwera Club, replied :—" fieadale declaration March hat. William M'Lellan, Canterbury, giving pedigree, perfornwucos, and declaration maiden. Will that suffice ?" Mr RUtray lepliod :— " Certainly not ; insist on declaration." So far nothing further has been heard of this matter except that inquiries are being made. Mr Rattray aluo wired to the Nelsou Trotting Club asking that body to exercise the greatest caution with all contestants unknown to it. It will thus be seen that the colony is honeycombed with the " ringey," and onco more I say it behoves all right-thinking men occupying official positions to put it down. Unless they do, the sport that might assume largo proportions if properly managed will be dragged in the mud in the -ame manner as it was in some of the other . colonies. All honour to the men who are trying to wipe out the " ringer," and so long as I have your permission so long will I assist; them in their self-imposed task of wiping out the worst class of r^CßCourt-e shsrp the colony has ever seen.