TOO FOND OF THE FENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2394, 18 January 1900, Page 44

TOO FOND OF THE FENCE.

Most riders like to go the shortest way, and it is often a good plan to follow the rails as closely as possible. There can, however, be no doubt, says " Reginald," that riiis liking for "the fence" is the cause of many a race being fairly thrown away. Even our most experienced men are sometimes guilty of allowing themselves to get fairly hemmed in through their anxiety to get up inside. That run •' on the rails " when the leaders swing out at the turn always looks very pretty when it comes off; but what is likely to happen if you are waiting for an opening, .and the first division are not obliging enough to make one> until it it is too late ! You are blocked then, and are justly blamed for taking the risk when there was so much room further out. Ifc stands to rea?on that a horse must feel inclined to extend himself to more purpose when he can see what he is doing. Shut up in a crowd, he may be really afraid to hit out, and, for all the difference the little extra ground covered would make, it would be better for him to be unimpeded on the outside, where he could fesl his legs under him. Our riders are too fond of taking risks altogether. Through, ir plenty of cases, their own fault, they get coopad up in positions which do not allow their mounts sufficient scope. Fancy any iran of experience getting " blocked " in the run home at Flemington, where there is nearly three furlongs of a straight after rounding the last turn, and room enough across the course for a fair-sized regiment of soldiers ! Yet we sometimes Foe horses hopelessly shut in even at Flemington. With so much good ground to choose from, any jockey who gets into such a fix in the straight at head quarters ought to be awarded six months for carelessness, or idiocy, or whatever you like to call it. Some riders would, it seems, rather lose the race than leave the rails;; but they should remember that when there are, say, half a dozen horses in a finish, they cannot all have the inside berth. A horse finishing on the outside has just as indisputable a claim to the prize if he happens to bs first home, and that is the main thing, after all.