THE TUAPEKA MEETING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2906, 24 November 1909, Page 55

THE TUAPEKA MEETING.

One was inclined to predict that the Tuapeka County Jcokey Clmb's meeting would fall off when prohibition was carried in the district), but such has not proved ■ the" oase. ' In fact, very much to the contrary, as last week's gathering at Tuapeka was the best the olub has (had 1 for years past. When prohibition was carried in the district, the leading members of the olub bestirred themselves, a»d gathered a large number of new members into the fold, and to-day the T.C.J.C. is a stronger body than it has been since its creation. The meeting attracted much larger fields than usual, and that fact naturally helped to swell the number of visitors, and 1 the tax on accommodation was rather above tiban, below the comfortable capacity *of the town. Still, it was not so great as at some of the old gatherings, when a few considered themselves lucky to get a skoping space in the railway carriages, or other places not so comfortable. In the old days there was generally the "sound of revelry by night," but on all sides last week's gathering was deadly dull. Tlhe town bore a deserted appearance, sven with the racing visitors on tfce soeme, ana the ualighted streets at nijjht did no* enhance the joy of being in the oncefestive village. The departed 1 glory, however, was not noticeable on the racecourse, where the attendance was above the average, and included a goodly number of sports from outlying districts. The ohangpe in dates made by t£a club appears to have been a wise and lucky move, as it evidently brought more foreign capital to the course than was the case when the meetings were held in January. .For the first time in its history the club made use of the starting barrier, and the dispatches were a distinct and pleasing improvement on what has been noticed in recent years. In fact, all the starts were good sxcept the one in which Mangonel got away on tlhe move. fhe xyne> of the eport also showed an improvement, but, sad to say, there, were two or three cases of stoppages, which were made more noticeable by the fact that the horses under suspicion were rushed in the market when they next appealed as starters. They were not particularly glaring cases of the pulling up the anchor type, but still they were on hand, and no notice taken of them. Some people might say that the running was above suspicion, but those uttering that remark would betray a lack of knowledge of the sport. On both days there was some very interesting races, and a few good finches had to be decided by thp man in the box. One was =o close that the judge failed to find the third horse. The racing results are reported elsewhere, and it is not necessary to run them over acrain. but, apart from the sport, the track itself calls for comment. It should be widened at the starring posts, ar..d the o?ub should really make a<n attempt to fill in tba cavity which runs along the outside of the straight. They miarht hold racinp on the course for years without any aoqident happening, but that does not do eway with the fact that the track is a dangerous one. If the flub can attract good patronage for another year or two they should be able to make" the Tuaoeka meetings a very pleasurable outing. Last we<r(k's fixture was an all-round success, and the financial return would have been much greater if the weather had proved more favourable.