THE RIGHTS OF TRAINERS AND TOUTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2401, 8 March 1900, Page 40

THE RIGHTS OF TRAINERS AND TOUTS.

A case of interest to the racing world was decided at the Wilts Assizes on the 15th January. The question at issue in* a civil action was whether two touts had the right to use the highway near Bishopstone Downs for the purpose of watching racehorses belonging to W. T. Robinson, the well-known Foxhill trainer, who paid £50 annually for a license to use such "downs. The point put before the jury was whether defendants had any right on the bighway other than as wayfarers, or whether they might frequent it as a means of obtaining a livelihood.' The judge held that it was not a legitimate use of the highway to ajequire and publish information of this kind for a livelihood. A verdict was returned for the plaintiff for Is and costs, and an injunction was issued to prevent the defendants from using the public path in future Excspt as wayfarers. Commenting hereupon, ihe Sportsman's special makes the following remarks: — I suppose W. T. Robinson is to be congratulated on the success of the action which prohibits certain men of observation from using a pathway across some of his gallops ior the purpose of watching the horses at woi'k. All the same, it is a case of much ado about nothing. The more mystery is made about hoi'Eas in a stable, the more surely -do the public fasten on and back them. Where everything is done in the open, as e£-?Jc7nnsrket, 1 do not think stables suffer in the smalJesi. degree, Tits public is so curiously constituted that it is inclined to discradit what it sees with its own eyes or learns from absolutely trustworthy sources, while it hankers after what is commended by •vague lumour, and reaches its ear through devious and unorthodox channels. It is very seldom indeed that those who see a trial run are any the wiser, for they do not know the weights crrried, and if they did they would also bear in mind that trials as often as not work out incorrectly in an actual race. I do not thiik the Foxhill stable will be able to back their horses one whit more easily for haying closed the path across the gallops. Mosi likely people will raason that there must*, be something extra good being got ready for -Lincoln, and will tako- the long shots about every one of EfobhiEon's horses so as to be sure of being on the right one. At Kingsclere, unless I am mistaken, the placings in the tiials ere actually given out for publication, as it used to be well nigh impossible for a man standing in the far distance to judge them correctly. Certainly the Kingsclere trials of this year have been correctly reported, and I have never heard that the stable has in consequence suffered in the slightest degree. It interests the public to read about such trials, and I am convinced that the damage to owners is imaginary. Similarly, 4ha authorities at one time looked with scant favour on training reports, and the profession ,cf a horse-watcher was precarious in more senses than one ; but that is all changed, and I believe any trainer — 3ay at Newmarket — would look upon it as a r slight if the work cf h's horses was not reported, for this would seem to be a suggestion that he was net of sufficient importance in his calling to merit ■attention. Morning work at Newmarket would not be half so enjoyable for visitors were there no harmless, necessary "touts" present, from whom they can learn what all the various horses are ; and really Ido not think it is more difficult for owners to back Newmarket- trained animals than those which ar-e kept with greater secrecy in the country. Is not a Foxbill or a Beckhampton favourite usually at a shorter pries than a Newmarket one? "Omne ignotum pro magnifico" is a very true Haying, and applies as much to racehorses as io anything else. How often does a horse show good form in public without caus.ing any rush tipon him for a future engagement, whereas if we had^ heard in some vague fashion teat he had 'privately done what we had just Eeen. him do in public we should have been eager to back him ! Sometimes, of course, thers is a trial which carries conviction to the mind of any intelligent person who sees it. Such a trial was Chaleureux's 10 days before the Cesarewiteh. Even I felt constrained to back him after seefing that. Another all-convincing trial was that of Flying Fox befcre the Two Thousand .Guineas. But, as a rule, trials leave us in an atmosphere of doubt : and though, as I .cay, Robinson is to be congratulated on havang won hie case — it being a grievous thing to be beaten in "the law courts — I do not suppose he y will find any material benefit from the enforced -absence of the gentlemen to -whose presence he objected.