TURF TOPICS

Otago Witness, Issue 2660, 8 March 1905, Page 56

TURF TOPICS

A cablegram published .the other day said: ""While finishing in a race at Cannes 1 (France) a jockey named Flint, turning to look at his wife and child, struck the ' winning post and was killed." That re- > minds me (says " Bondi " in the Sydney Referee) of several things, the first being ; , that a jockey, while engaged in a race, ] should never do the Mrs Lot's act, and i look behind upon any consideration what- i ever; he will find plenty to occupy his attention in front of him, especially if he has j to look for an opening in a field of 15 or 20 ahead of him, with W. H. Smith (keep 1 your eye on the W. H.) and a lot of other clever jokers well on the job. If I were riding now, I think I would hobble my wife before I left home, so "that she could ! not get to the course at all, for wives seem j to bring bad luck to husbands who are j ] riding. I remember hearing of a field go1 ing out for a steeplechase spin at Flemington on one occasion, when the clerk ( of fche course asked a jockey why he was .so late. "Oh," said the jock sadly, "the j missus stopped me down there till the , youngster kissed me, and I wish she hadn't. I seemed to feel a shiver at once, and I know some bad luck will come of it." The poor fellow was killed at the third jump. On another occasion I saw a trainer's wife rush to the turn into the straight' at Randwick as the field was thundering along a few yards away, and just as the leaders began to turn, the foolish woman climbed on the fence, poked a flaming red parasol over the rails, and sent four horses (including her husband's) scooting madly to the far side of the track, and that of course put them out of t!he race, entirely. When Mrs Lot looked back, contrary to orders, she was punished by being changed into a pillar of salt, and as salt was scarce at the time, Mr Lot made a few pounds by breaking up the old woman, and selling her in chunks to small purchasers ; but when a husband iooks back as poor Flint did, he loses everything. A jockey's motto should be, " Look ahead, get ahead, and stay ahead — if possible!" The Special Commissioner deals as follows with the English Jockey Club's refusal to allow Mr Croker's horses to be trained at Newmarket : — In common with most people, I was not a little surprised by the report that Brewer had been refused permission to train Mr Croker's two-year-olds at Newmarket. Before commenting on it, I have ascertained that it is true, and even now I feel quite at a loss to understand the prohibition. One remembers how Mr Muir was prevented from having Parthian trained at Newmarket; but he had had some trouble with the racing authorities in Australia, which, though jt was a thing of the past, no doubt influenced our stewards ; but what has Mr Croker done that he should be treated in this manner? Of course, no imputation is cast on Brewer. All trainers have now to submit a list of their employers, and the stewards can rule out anything they think undesirable ; but v:hy rule out Mr Croker after a quiet, unpretentious career of a good many seasons on our turf, during which he has spent a great deal of money on racing, and, to the best of my belief, done no harm to a soul? It is surely incredible that American politics are to be taken into account by our Jockey Club? If the list of proscriptions is to cover such an outside area as that, who is not in danger of being classed as "undesirable" from some cause or other? Of course, there may be some perfectly simple explanation of what has been done, and it may be in no way injurious to Mr Croker; but, on the face of it, this is difficult Jo guess at, and it remains to be seen whether country trainers will also be forbidden to train for Mr Croker, as all now come under the same category in that they have to submit a list of their emt ployers, not to mention making a statement as to whether they possess a starting gate or any and what f&cilitiea for having the use of one. In the current number of • the lasihaniau Mail appears the following from the pen of " Galtee More :— "It was the late Mr E. S. Chapman who, in a reply to k correspondent' who asked wfhy a certain horse did not win a race that 'Augur' had tipped him to win, reminded the party asking the question and backers of horses in general that to follow sporting writers' tips did not lead on to fortune, but to the Benevolent Society. Sporting scribes can 6nly at best give ft guess at what's iikely to win a race, Ana

when they have conscientiously done this their responsibility to their employer and their readers ceases. In England writers in the sporting press are, as a rule, more successful in forecasting winners than what their brethren of the pen are in Australasia. But it must be borne in mind that a.n owner like, say, Lord Rosebery, who is a nobleman, a gentleman, and a sportsman, all rolled into one, is every ready to afford information to a duly accredited, sporting writer as to the condition and chance of success of even one of his Lordship's Derby candidates. But some of the common or garden variety of horse owners here seem to think it an impertinence for a sporting writer to as much as mention tho possible chance one Of their horses may have of winning -a, rac&. But in reality the impertinence come* in where an owner, hungering! for sweep money_, or blackmail, to give it its proper name," tries to discredit thoroughly reliable information that has appeared in the press. Of course, there are owners who are an exception, to the class to whom I allude, just as there are eld and capable trainers who are ever willing to show the horses in their charge to any representative of the press who calls on them at a convenient time, and no sporting scribe- who knows anything would think of calling on a trainer at an inconvenient time, or without giving due notice of his intention to call.- But both owners and trainers should bear in mind that they are , more indebted to the press than the press I are indebted to them."