TALK OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 2727, 20 June 1906, Page 50

TALK OF THE DAY.

By Sentinel.

A QUESTION OF RULES.

'Although tho racing season in New Zealand never actually stops, still it hesitates a ' bit at this period of the year and gives

-&. chance to our turf legislators to amend, strengthen, or weaken tho laws as the case may- be/ Already there is a fine crop of additions and- alterations booked for discussion at the" coming conference, and no doubt -the end of the month still more food j. for argument will find its place on the list It is always desirable to have improvements or attempts at improvements being made, but apart from the question as to " -whether new rules are necessary or that jold one* should be expunged from the list it Lfe regrettable that our present laws have not always been used as well as tkejr miebt have

been. We have as fine a bunoh of rules as exist in any other part of the world, but it is no use having' them when - they are not applied. Rules are made by the inch broken by the mile, and they areallowed to remain dormant or rarely need by the racing -officials who are supposed to administer them. Sometimes the officials are dormant, and when they wake some comparatively innocent offender is punished by way of making an example. Good rules capable of being interpreted by the lay mind are, cf course, necessary, but tbe trouble is not the lack of laws, but the fact that they are not enforced ; and thc-rein is the eeat of the trouble. What is needed are officials who will capably do their duty and not search for reasons why they should not try to prevent or correct abuses. Sportsmen cannot be made by law, but good imitations would be plentiful were our racing lews not allowed to be so loosely observed as at present, and when stewards are lax, who can blame the workaday owner who is in the business for money beeausehe absentmindedly n&g'ects to label his steeds full speed ahead ocasionally? During the past year gome of the racing which has taken place would not stand too dose a scrutiny, and, deploraH© to relate, moTe than one case of packed fields could be quoted; but still the records do not show that any punishment has been meted out. Sometimes not even an inquiry hee been held, and in other easts milktand-water .affairs have glossed over what "has" lasted very badly in the mouth of everybody, bar the stewards who have 'sat in judgment. Doings <at some of the_ minor .meetings-* would have caused a castiron man to 'blush, and aatixiugh racing circles fairij rang with cases which were widely discussed, still -the ■metropolitan -foik, whose duty it was. to have maters fully.Trentilated, took no action. There is .anrple proof -that ■ new rules «i» not remnred so much as good administration, «yen of the unwritten laws whioh govern eport. For instance, horses have been noticed racing in ordinary shoes, but no official notice has been taken, although it is well known what a material difference it makes in a horse's form. Then, again, we have the ease of a horse whose nominations were refused by the Australian Jockey Club being allowed to appear in the list of entries and acceptances for the Hawke's Bay meeting which takes place this week. There is supposed to be some reciprocity existing between Australian and New Zealand racing clubs but here we have a hoTse whicn has had its nominations refused in Australia allowed to be entered here. If the A.J.C. had reason to refuseto accept nominations, the horse's entries should not be received unquestioned in this country. And as there has been no official notice taken of the case it must be taken ac a case of official laxit- For this reason it is to be hoped .that the motion of the Auckland Racing Club that metropolitan bodies shall have power to appoint an advisory steward for any race meeting of a club* in its metropolitan district will be made into law when the Racing Conference meets next month. By all means let us have laws, but if 'the* are not going to be administered as they should, let a Moses rise up and destroy them.

THOU"RT PASSING HENCE— PERHAPS.

One of, the most notaibfe things which. ; have occurred during the present seaeon is the exclusion, -of -bookmakers from race-^ courses where they formerly made the welkin ring and plied their business — if j not as -welcome guests, at least with the I licensing that resulted from making a. virtue of necessity. Where meetings were held on xeserves the fielder oould don his \ accoutrements and bet to his heart's content, whilst there was no necessity to have an open sesame in ordor to get on the field j of battle. Tonnerly the bookmaker was j considered as much a part and parcel of i raoing as the horse, trainer, jockey, or j owner; but now if he is not beyond the pale it is not because efforts are lacking ! j to push him in that direction. "But yesterday he might have stood against the j world; now none so poor as to do hhn reverence." And when the .fielders were ousted from Ellerslie, which had always been regarded as their stronghold, they received th« greatest blow that lias ever been accorded them in New Zealand. The tinkling of the totalisator bell was the cackling of the geese which warned the clubs that their citadel was in danger, and when it was noticed that the tinkling was louder and longer when the fielders were absent it did not take the members of i racing bodies long to decide that ye metal- j lieian had ye room* whioh was more i desirable than his company. The substantial increase in the totalisator fijrur«s which has been registered at the AJI.C. ] meoringfc debars ons from entertaining the : idea that the bookmakers will again be licensed at their -gatherings; whilst other i dubs give strong indications that they would not willingly allow a fielder inside their gates if it wero possible to keep him ou<-.it!e. No one who is closely identified with a racing club can be blamed for being desirous of keeping bookmakers off their racecourses when they are, rightly or wrongly, convinced that the fielders' presence is not conducive to the large financial returns which nowadays tform ilhe standard of success by which our race meetings are gauged. Fluctuations in. totalisator figures cause people to base statements as to whether meetings are good or bad, according to how the totals increase or otherwise. The racing itself is nob the all-in-all. Many things are looked on with unseeing eyes which deserve censure; tracks are almost neglected, or have as little as possible dome to them, and other things passed over in a manner which goes to show that only a superficial interest is being taken in the sport. Finance is the dominating chord struck at every meeting, and the first evidence of that is furnished by the fact that all clubs crowd as many races as possible on to their programmes, not so much with a desire to cater for horse-owners and public as with a desire to get as much money as possible through th© totalisator. The petard which has hoisted the bookmakers off our racecourses has been charged with the powder of finance, but it cannot be claimed that any improvement has been worked in our turf morals because the fielder is absent from a number of our meetings. It has been claimed that suoh i 3 tho cass ; but if our bookmakers are not on the actual" field of battle they can, like prudent generals, be outside the zone of fire and still near enough to control operations. The best critics claim that the turf in England is on a higher plane to-day than ever, but that has not been brought about bj safeguarding the totalisator returns ; and although we have in New Zealand authorities who have more nower

than racing authorities acting in any other part of the world, still, taking things all round, it is doubtful if our sport is one iota higher in tone~ than anywhere else. If our turf morals have improved, the exclusion of bookmakers cannot be tho reasotn for the change, as there is not the slightest doubt that we have far more bookmakers to-<lay than ever, and proportionately the turf should be in a very low state if that contention were a sound one. The attempt to kill off the bookmaker has apparently rendered him hydra-headed in effect, and it is safe to aay that, like our troubles and poor relations, they will always be with us so long as racing and betting form a pastime for the human race.

A CAMBRIDGESHIRE COMMISSION.

An early favourite for the Cesarewitch of 1860 was Killigrew, who was in the same interest as Dulcibella. grand-dam of Sir Modred- A few days before the race a friend asked Mr SwindeJl what he should back. "Tha' must back Dulcibella." said Frederick. "But what about Killigrew?" asked the anxious backer. " I have backed Dulcibella to win Bill" Day £60,000," the commissioner replied; "so what's the use of bothering tha 1 head about Killigrew?"' Dulcibella, as the book tells us (says an English paper), came in by herself, and &z once became a 4 to 1 chance for tbe Cambridgeshire, which appeared to be ai her mercy. The stable, however, seemed to have a better candidate in Weatherbound, who had belonged to Tom Brown, and the great question then became how to back the latter. If Dulcibella had a 4 to 1 chance, what hope was there of being able f-o get money on an animal in the same interest who was superior? Just before this 4ime the firm of Steel and Pcech had begun to occupy a commanding position in the ring, a fact which Mr Swindell had not failed to notice. Consequently, when he had the great double -event of Dulcibella and Weatherbound in contemplation, Steel was entrusted with the sole responsibility of working both commissions, which he satisfactorily carried out. The plan of campaign in working the Cambridgeshire commission was that all the agents throughout- the country should be at their posts, and at a given moment should begin to back Weatherbound. The matter of odds they were not to consider, but simply to book whatever was offered. They found plenty of " bookies " who. not desiring to lay at all, offered them a shorter price than had b^een quoted, but all who did so were had over Weatherbound. Manchester bookmakers laid Vhat they believed to be a short price, expecting to cover the money in London. One metropolitan bookmaker wired to his agent in Manchester: "Cover me a thousand on Weatherbound at the best price you can," but immediately after sending the message he received one in exactly similar terms from his Manchester confederate. _ The next morning-, to the general astonishment of people who were not in the swim, Weatherbound was quoted at 5 to 1, these odds being i speedily reduced .to 2 to 1, at which price the horse started. Weatherbound only won by a short head, a mare named JSTdlle. do Chantilly, who started-- at WO to 1, and was ridden -by a French tailor, nearly beating the. favourite. "Lucky for me!" said Fred Swindell, "that tho party who owned Mdlle. de Chantilly did not know Fordham was without 'a mount in the race, or I should certainly have been done."

TO BET OR NOT TO BET?

More people bet on racing in Australia lhan wag the case 25 years ago; but th© year's turnover then was probably much greater than it is now. Silver betting in the early eighties was almost unknown; but men of means, who in those days thought nothing of risking a hundred on a horse, now look upon £5 as a considerable investment. The change not only (3av3 the Ausfcralasiain) applies to the rank ancl file of backers, but also to rioh owners. Mr G. G. Stead, we liaye been told by Mr W. E. Dakin, who trained the horse, "backed Le Loup for th© Melbourne Cup of 1879 to win something like £80,000, and we know from Mr Stead himself that he backed Lochiel for £4f1,000 in the Newmarket Handicap of 1887. Now, Mr Stead never bete a shilling. He say« he -gets more satisfaction out of rumning for the stakes alone. Prizes, of course, are much better in New Zealand than in the days of Le Loup and Lochiel. The totalisator is responsible for this, and the money the public put through the machine provides tlie revenue which enables the chibs to give stakes sufficiently large to enable owners who are not making a profession of eport to race without betting. They may not be large enough to make racing a profitable business to the owner; but they give him the chance to keep hor«?s at a moderate cost. If t!u» totalKator \.ero legalised in Victoria and New South Wales, it would be blamed as tho cause of tho increase in silver betting during tho last two decades. In bidding good-bye to the totalizator when it was repealed m 1884, the editor of the South Australian Register said the Totalisator Act should have been called "an act to popularise betting in small amounts." Tho description <~semed to fit at the time; 'but to Fhow< how things have changed — the lowest-priced ticket in the totalisator then cost £1! Bookmakers in those days were apt to turn ut> their noses at a sovereign, amd certainly " would not look at silver. Now the average bookmaker will take ss, or even less, while in the Bourko street rlobs the humble shilling is welcomed. The legalised totalisator can hardly ba accused of having brought, these modest punters to th© front, but it certainly can claim credit for having shown owners and well-to-do backers the folly of heavy betting.

A FRENCH STUD

The demand on Flying Fox is very great (writes tho " Special Commissioner" in the London Sportsman). No French breeder is allowed to have a nomination, and M. Blanc does not like even an English breeder to have a Flying Fox foal produced m France lest it should be kept there until such time as would qaulify it for racing. This is the real secret of his retaining a monopoly of the horse as against his fellowcountrymen. Numbers of great English mares .ire now on a visit to Jardy, and among them Amphora, the property of his Majesty; Mary Seton, owned by Lord Clonmell; Gallinaria. who belongs to Major Eustace Loder ; Vichy, Memoir, and Mneme, the property of the Duke of Portland, and they are not all to Flying Fox, for his son, Ajax. is being well patronised. Thus, Col. liall Walker sends Bella Gallina, in foal to St. Gris, and Rod Virgin, in foal to Diamond Jubilee, to the young horse. That cood mare, Sjrenia, has arrived to Flying

Fox, but Semitone (dam of Mark Time), in foal once more to Marco, is on Ajax's list. Perfect Dream, in foal to Ladas, visits Flying Fox. Mr Brice has sent to FlyingFox Miss Langdon, who is half-sister to Hampton, and has a rare good foal by Forfarshire ; and mares have also arrived from Russia and even from Roumania. All the buildings and general arrangements of the stud are as nearly perfect as you can make them, and if the land is not quite what a stickler for limestone would desire, what, after all, can you want better than its results of the last few seasons? Anyhow, it suffices admirably for visiting- znarea, whose stock will be reared elsewhere. Does not all this show how the French are going ahead, and in a measure attracting the blood stock to their country? That they cannot permanently do so is the accident of climate, but from their- State support of racing and horse-breeding they deserve to knock us right out. M. Edmond Blanc has 63 brood mares in his latest book, and how seriously he has studied the figures. Time was when he did not believe in Bruce Lowe, but when he found that French classic results almost exactly corroborated the Figure Guide as at first constituted he quite reconsidered his position. The only running family not up to the naark_ in France was No. (4), and that for the simple reason that there were but very few mares of this figure. M. Blanc set himself to remedy this, and has now 10 No.- (4) mares at his own stud. If other French breeders were to follow M. Edmond Blanc's example No. (4) family would soon ,be established in that country on its- proper lefel.