HANDICAPPING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2391, 28 December 1899, Page 40

HANDICAPPING.

j Although horse-racing had such a very long start of what, for the sake of couveniencs, are classified as athletics, the athletes have long since solved the handicapping difficulty, says the Field, whereas the governing body of the turf seems to be very far removed from the attainment of so satisfactory a position. One is even justified in baying that the movement towards the betterment of the handicaps has been retrograde from the days of Admiral Rous, let us say. Week after week "we see race after race won by horses that, cs Eoon as the weights are known, are pitched upon by the public as being the pick of the handicap ; in other words, horses that have been allotted \ a weight by many pounds too little in view of , their public performances. Far from' being , uncommon, too, is the spectacle of a horse i winning one handicap and within a short time carrying to victory a 71b, 101b, or 121b penalty thereby entailed in another handicap. When a horse can win a second race under these , penalised conditions, how utterly inadequate must have been the original impos-t in that race. Such occurrences were rare in Admiral Rous's day. The Admiral partook strongly of the nature of a dictator, and one is often led to ponder whether, in a pport like racing, a dictator is not a very good thing to have, provided you can meet with move than one in a century. The interests bound up in the turf are so weighty, and the ways of lnnny concerned in it so intricate, that the first conj sideration is a person of the highest probity and the sternest inflexibility. In the world of athletics the practice of running so as to hoodwink the handicapper as to the true merits of the competitor, is quite as much in vogue as it is on the turf, but there the running of the horse is b} r no means the only influence that is brought to bear upon the mind of the handicapper. .We would, therefore, suggest to the Jockey Club that the possesion of tho gifts of discernment and strength of will is of even higher value than a successful struggle with one or two test handicap?. In their endeavour to increase the number <5f lmndicappera, the Jockey Club instituted a kind of competitive exmamination, and of a large number of competitors three were selected. Not having seen much of the work of the three successful candidates, we are unable to speak on the success or failure of the experiment, but we hold the opinion that men should be selected, not solely upon their success in an individual aclu'evemcnt or two, but also with some regard to their individuality. This for their own sakes, for individuality goes a long way on tho turf, and it is the poorest sort of kindness to elect a man to a position if those most interested do not accept him in it. We are not at all sure that the Jockey Club were well advised in the sten they took which put a limit on the work which a handicapper might undertake. The idea was, of course, to obtain better work, Lut, in the limits of human capacity, the more work a handicapper of horses has, the more satisfactory should be his results. Tt is a gruesome • error to suppose that the highest perfection ' of handicapping would be attained by giving each race to a different handicapper, supposing enough handicappers could bo found. If handicapping were a mere question of back form, any clerk could perform the duty. The , theory'cf handicapping ihat each hoi"- r o shall ha\o an equal chance is one that leaas very uell. but it must be conceded that the handicap should be won by the improving competitor, be it human or equine. Apropos of tills i-3 the agitation in athletici in favour of scratch men, who, it is urged, have no c'ianc3 of winning. We June littb or no sympathy with scratch men in handicaps, fer they can. and do, win plenty of scratch race*, which is delved the inferior runner. To win a handicap each man should be expected to do a little better than he has done before, and a scralc'i '■ man eam.ot ask to be exempted from the general rule. Certainly if a sciatch man beats his i own recoul, and is not, at lea-st, pieced, ti-en ' it is a bad handicap. But tins r-ilo applies ' equally well to others in the race besides the | scratch man. In any case, none are striving I for glory so much as for tho prize to be won, j though we 'hould be sorry to withhold firm j any. athlete the credit of being actuated by ' love of his sport. There are numbers of . athletes who ncier win a first prize, even in a handicap, which would be highly treasured* in the horn- circle, and their case is quite as eventful foi .he cause of athletics as is that of tho scratch .tian, who inxariably can show a full sideboard of trophies. I