LENGTHENING THE RACES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2325, 22 September 1898, Page 36

LENGTHENING THE RACES.

As the result of the recent agitation in the English Jockey Club and sporting press in favour of longer distance racing, at a meeting of the English Jockey Club, to be held at Newmarket in the first October -week, the stewards will propose that rules 45, 46, and 47 of the rules of racing be altered to read as follows ; — q.5. At every meeting advertised in the Racing Calendar one-half of the total_ amount guaranteed for prizes shall be apportioned to races of a mile or over, for three-year olds or upwards only, and of this half npt less than a moiety shall be for races of a mile and a-half or upwards. 46. There shall be no race of less distance than five furlongs. 47. The programme of each day shall be subject to the following regulations : — (1) There shall be at least one _race~ of one mile and a-half or upwards. Neither of these races shall be open to two-year-olds ; and one of them shall be neither a handicap nor a race with selling conditions. (2) There shall not be more than two races, to -which three.-year-olds or upwards are admitted of less than seven furlongs, and of these two races only one may be less than six furlongs. (3) Of the races confined to two-year-olds there shall not be more than two races a day before September 1, nor more than three a day at any time. (4) Matches and private sweepslakes may be sanctioned by the stewards independent of the above regulations.