GOING ASTRAY.

Otago Witness, Volume 06, Issue 2899, 6 October 1909, Page 55

GOING ASTRAY.

At different times during the past few years the writer has advocated the introduction of a new rule by which horses would be debarred from wearing ordinal y shoes whilst running- in a race. No om with any knowledge of racing would require to be told how much the few extra ounces of iron affects a horse's .ipoed, particularly when the going is a bit deep and a judiciously wide berth is given to the rails during a race. A horse can, to the casual observer, be to all intents and purposes a legitimate trier in a race. He can bo apparently ridden to win in .he early part of a race, and in the straight the rider can put in a demonstration of a more or lees vigorous finish, and then the horse, if he is running in his class (not a Carbine amongst donkeys"), will be beaten on his merits. The- unseen handicap will tell its tale just as well as a more palpable method of dropping the anchor. It is not necessary to tie a garden roller to a horse's tail or to lave a rider ree.'ing at his mount as if he was pulling the national debt up a mountain &ide in order to '"steady" " a horse in a race, although some stewards really appeir to want a demonstration of the kind before they take action to guard and protect the honour of the -turf. It is not sufficient for a horse which should be by all the rules and regulations of the game a etrong favourite, but on the contrary is just so much abso-

T lute carrion in the market to wake up our stewards and prepare them for a horse being hopelessly " left" at the start. When will some officials who are the custodians of the honour of he game with which they identify their hcnourable names wake up and see the shadow, which clearly indicates the substance of what is likely to be found •in the race. Such a thing happened last week at Geraldine. Such a thing happened at Ashburton, but not a word. it ie really some consolation to a mere lookeron such as the writer to see a racing '"joke" cracked in a race when the perpe-tratoi-3 oannot laugh when the time for hilarity is usually due. It is readily granted that the turf is not so bad as some people believe. Not so bad as it is painted, as it were, but there are times when a "daub" is most inartistically and palpably a blur on the racing scene, and yet the stewaids remain colour-blind. The present racing season is jet young. In the South Island it is only two or three- meetings old, but the infant is already straying from the path of rectitude. Straighten him, gentlemen, straighten him up !