INCONSISTENT FORM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 54

INCONSISTENT FORM.

The control of racing at Tahuna Park meetings has improved considerably of late years, but even so it is highly desirable that there should be a stricter supervision of the running than was the case at the recently-concluded gathering. Our meetings nowadays are managed in a model manner as far as the routine business is concerned. The various events are got off promptly to time, and here, as at all meetings of any note, the details of a programme are carried out with commendable precision and despatch, but that is not enough. It is the racing, what tak«s place during a race, end howit is regarded and controlled by the officials that should be, and has to be, the giant factors in the game if good clean sport is desired. Nowadaye there is, apparently, a tendency to ca^er more for what might be termed the appendages of sport rather than for the sport itself. The lawns and stands may be' in excellent order, the mu3ic delightful, the refreshments all that ought to be. end everything concerning the details of racing carried out with promptness and despatch, but there it is sometimes found the energy of the officials apparently becomes exhausted, or, takes a reprehensible forty winks when the horses are on the track. The reverse should be the case. Every steward should remember that the raceis the main thing, not a mere incident in the proceedings, end that all other things in connection with a programme i« subservient to the actual running. .The "glorious uncertainty of the turf is a stereotyped phrase, which was, no doubt, created by inconsistent running in the days when the control of racing was laxer than it is, or should be at present. Even nowinconsistent running has to be progressive in its action, and not retrogressive before stewards take it up, and then it is genet*

ally as the result of a protest. That is to say, a horse may win on the first day of a meeting, and be stopped on the second without any notice being officially taken. It is only when a horse runs badly in a race, and subsequently comes out again to record a. win and better form that the cry of inconsistent running is heard. If a horse runs a couple of stone below form right through one meeting, and a few days later comes* out and wins at another, there is seldom any comment on the matter. This is why the honorary eteward is only a. partial success. He is only m charge of one particular meeting, and the running at other fixtures regarded as being entirely out of his pro* vince, consequently there is no continuity in the supej^ision of our racing, and until something is effected in that direction we- cannot hope for much improvement in the general tone of our sport. At the Tahnna Park spring meeting there was too much of the retrogressive inconsistent running which generally escapes official notice. Horses were winning in good style on the first day, and running at the other end of the* field on the second. d»v, despite toe fact that harsh handicapohur could not be held solely attriiutarfle to the change of form. Instances of this could be quoted, but as it is unnecessary to strain the point, n<r names will be mentioned. In fact, it is not .necessary to quote names to anyone who was present' on both days. It is high time that a stop was p.ut to horses running in, say, 2.30, and later coming out and . never showing better than a 2.40 gait, for the simple reason .they are "not wanted on the voyage." If a horse is palpably not wanted on the voyage those responsible should be promptly "wanted on the mat." Some riders and drivers can handle a- possible winner, but make an inglorious snow when they are, to put it mildly, out to improve a horse's handicap. The type alluded to is the one who is either right in or right out of a Tace, going with beautiful frankness from one extreme to the other. There is no gainsaying that the evil exists, and if that is so a remedy should be, sought, because the first naturally suggests the second. The writer suggests that the starting clock should be used for a dual purpose. It should, after the start, be set back and the horses timed as they past the post behind the winner. It could then be seen how far out a horse was acting from his. record. and_ when the margin is too wide, together with one or two other littl*» things, such as the j betting and method of being handled in j the race, a question should be asked. If this method yeas adopted and officially { carried out with & split second watch or | starting clock, it would, as the Americana say, tend to wake up the "no thin' -do in' " brigades and punctuate their sonambulancy by either making the sonambuiists hurry up in their sleep or else have a wakeful^ moment or two in order to escape trouble.*