THE M'COMB DISQUALIFICATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 54

THE M'COMB DISQUALIFICATION.

It was hoped in many quarters that the Canterbury Jockey Club would temper justice with mercy and remit a portion cf the disqualification imposed on J. M'Gomb, or at least give him permission to work in a stable, but the crack horseman's application to that effect has been unfavourably received by the northern olub. The writer witnessed the race which brought about M 'Comb's disqualification, and has always held the opinion that the sentence imposed on Canteen's ridei was on© of unmerited severity, and this opinion is also held by others who .witnessed the race, and whose knowledge and experience of racing is second to none in the colony. The fact of the rider being disqualified and not the horse was, strange to say, strongly criticised by the- Australian critics, but almost entirely overlooked by the critics in this colony, although possibly the former know as much about what happened as the latter. To disqualify M'Comb and at the same time give the stakes to Canteen was tantamount to saying that what happened did not affect the result of the race, and with this contention the majority of these who witnessed the raoe', and who are competent to judge, will agree, but it is questionable if the club acted rightly in fastening the entire blame of the matter on the rider of the horse, whose vagaries under silk are now almost as well-known in Australia as> they are in this colony. It is common knowledge what an uncertain brute the son of Vivandiere is when at the post for his races, and, besides his notable race in th© New Zealand Cup, his propensity for swerving was plainly illustrated in the- last Great Autumn Handicap, and when Bombardo beat him at Wingatui.