TALK OF THE DAY

Otago Witness, Issue 2661, 15 March 1905, Page 54

TALK OF THE DAY

THE SCARCITY OF HORSEMEN. From time to time complaint 0 are heard from owners and public about the scarcity of good horsemen in this colony, and anyone who closely follows tin sport in this : part of the world can frequently see ample i evidence that the accusation against our ■ jockeys is not altogether groundless. Man3>races are lost which should have been won, and a prevailing idea with some of our knights of the pigskin (who would not win their spurs if they rode for a, thousand years, judging by the lack of progress made in the past) is that the winning-post is situated at the foot of the straight, whilst the number of races won -which could have been lost without the rider sacrificing his reputation are as rare as diamonds in a dumpling. The great lack of judgment of pace and the manner in which horses are liai^V d suggest that the Racing Conference should establish a riding school, and appoint an expert riding master to coach our Aixhers in embryo. Something of the sort is badly required, as, for example, it is not so long ago that the writer was an interested spectator of a trainer teaching a jockey (?) who had been riding for yars how to hold his reins. Poor hands and poor heads are all too common, and this is particularly noticeable at the starting { barrier, where it frequently can be observed i that many riders' idea of getting horses to stand up to the tapes is to have a pulling hold of their mounts' heads — hence the twisting and screwing about which is continually occurring at that stage of a race, Starters have to continually place their fields in position an 3 treat the riders as if they were a lot of raw recruits in tho riding school. They lead horses to the barrier, place them in position, frequently ad- ! just the reins, tell the rider not to hang I on too tightly to the horse's head, or to keep the spurs out a bit, and not niggle and annoy their mounts in a manner which some boys deem necessary to have their ( horses on their toes in order tc get well away from the mark ; and then at the \iltimate jump off it is alwf^-s a shade of odds on their being left, whilst she boy who, although all alive and alert, sits like a graven image on his horse is generally noticed to be first away from the mark. Our starters invariably waste a lot of time in placing their fields; but this waste is frequently compulsory, because some of the riders cannot get their mounts to the barrier without assistance, although in other hands the hoiso may have proven as tractable as one could desire. If our jockeys were more competent, they would be capable of handling their mounts without assistance, and the cannoning and bumping which is of frequent occurrence shortly after a start would not be heard about so often. The number of first-class horse-men who have come to the front in recent years by no means forms a startling array of talent, and there surely must be some reason for it. Perhaps trainers do not take the same pains with their boys as they did in former years. And there is some ground for this idea, as the writer has sev-eral times noticed boys doing things on Ihe training track which at one time would have called forth a prompt rebuke from the trainer of the horse which they may have been riding. Horses are jerked up too quickly after their gallops, turned back before they have been steadied and slowed down enough to avoid an unnecessary risk of wrenching or knocking themselves, when they are, perhaps, a bit leg-weary after being asked a more or less severe task. And as it happens (fortunately without any apparent or immediate damage) on more than a' single occasion, it is safe to assume that the offence is unnoticed and unchecked by thos-e who should do so. Then, again, horses which have been galloped on a cold morning will be noticed being- 'brought Back to the scraping sheds in the dilatory manner which marks a want of thought on the pait of the rider. It is the same class of boy who commits the many little things which go so far to ruin a horse's temper, whilst it at tho same tim-3 servce to mark that the boy is not being properly taught, or el-& "locs not take the great interest in his business which results in his being turned out an accomplished horseman. Many jockeys who do a great deal of riding appear to obtain mounts solely because their light weight permits of their appearance in the saddle, whilst the que.it ion of horsemanship is evidently a secondary conskbration. Cthers again are cast in a generous mould, and can only get into the saddle 'at medium weighfs required by light scales of handicaps after a severe wasting to got down their bulk. This frequently compel* ; a letirement from the saddle of promising riders just when, experience kaa jaiven. them

an ltlea how to show to the best advantage on a horse's back. At meeting after mooting' capable rider? who can go to ccaleat, say, a little over Bst en be roen valking the paddock, but only on lare occasions wearing s'lk, while a string cf in-capa-bl-es who tip the- beam under 7st rid© in e\ery race. Tn this is found the chief explanation why there arc so few good riders about, and if that is the reason a i remedy is not hard to find. Whilst the featherweights a:e doing all tho lidmg, experienced but slightly heavier riders are standing dowi <c eioo are in the saddle at the expen-o of their wasting powers, which prevents them riding as well as they could if they had not to take off that last couple of pounds, which is more difficult to remove than the 12 which preceded thorn. If the reports of our race meetings are examined it will be found that in many cases of large fields the- top weight earned does not exceed 3.7 or 8.9, whilst a whole string of minimum weigh ters follow on in a manner which cannot help suggesting that there are many more lightly-handicapped horses than there are I featherweight jockeys capable of ridinsr ! them. Naturally poor racing and baS bad finishes result, as the feathers who can. nurse their mounts and then finish on them are painfully rare. Their sole idea is generally to let their run their races from, end to end, and finally flounder home a3 best they can — or the horse may be going 1 well enough, but the boy on top is too weak to make a proper use of the animal's powers. Then are heard complaints of ba<3 handicapping bringing about tame and unexciting finishes; but it is horsemanship in many cases rather than carefully compiled handicaps which go to make racing interesting. But that is another story. Tho writer is not advocating that a higher scale of weights should be adopted by cur handicappers. bat if our club adopted a rule that had for its effect that when the highest accepting weight w lower than 9st, then the handicap should be proportionately raised to the svpight mentioned — over short races it could go up to, say, 9.7 — if this ■wore done we would be continually seeinsr races contested by horses which are all steered by half-experienced riders whilst their more accomplished brethren of tho pigskin ar-f* idle, and our jockeys would not be compelled to keep out of the saddle at I a period when they were best able to fill it most brainily, or eloe forced to use one 1 which has not enough material in it to r rnako a decent-sized glove.