TALK OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3148, 15 July 1914, Page 49

TALK OF THE DAY.

Br Sentinel.

THE RACING CONFERENCE. The Racing Conference will have a fairly long programme to consider this week, but some of the proposed new rules, amendments, and supposed improvements in the laws which govern, the sport will bo promptly knocked on the head and passed “on the voices” to at least temporary oblivion, even if they are resurrected again twelve months hence. No doubt some of the proposed alterations sent up are the outcome of deep thought and the individual experience ot a ciub, and so worthy of consideration; but regarding them in a broad spirit leaves little doubt that they are not likely to find places in a new issue of rules. The amount of overweight carried at Wingatui has suggested to xuo D..J.C. that the minimum should be lifted to 7.0. It is not so very' many years ago that the minimum was 6.0, and even down to 5.13, and Progress carried 5.10 (including 31b penalty) when he ran second to Grand Flaneur in the Melbourne Cup. The Dunedin Jockey Club is up against the fact that racing in the north carries far more money in its wake than it does with us, and hence it is that capable light-weights are scarce at this end of the world. The experience of the D.J.C. in the matter of too frequent overweights is not the experience of many other clubs, and their proposal is not likely to find general favour. Another way of lookmg at it ; Sprint racing is the general rule at Wingatui, and sprint handicaps are usually compiled at a higher scale of weights than those put together over a distance of ground. A few pounds 'extra may not tell any great tale over five or six furlongs; but a club partial to that state of affairs is hardly in a position to dictate to clubs catering more liberally for horses racing over a distance, when as a general rule fields are small, and the demand for light-weights correspondingly less than when a “flock” of horses are flying for a little over a minute. The D.J.C. could introduce a club rule to the effect that no handicap be declared over a mile and a-quarter or less should start ■at under 9.7. Ry this means, instead of clapping a compulsory 71b on to the rubbish, a higher scale of weights would help matters. Under the proposed rule handicappers would have liberty to start at 9.0, and surely 71b at one end of a handicap requires a little balancing at the other. The Canterbury Jockey Club arc out with a proposal to increase the distance of a couple of races on a card, and this in a sense seems unique for a club which- caters so largely for the early development of speed in the baby thoroughbreds. The Welcome Stakes, for instance, was the most valuable two-year-old race in New Zealand until the present season, when their Champagne Stakes, run in the autumn, got a lift to lOOOsovs Still it stands as a step in a desirable direction which is supposed to have for its object an improvement in the stamina of our horses. What it really means is that horses will have to undergo a different system of training to find out if they possess any stamina to go a journey, as well as the courage to race at the very highest pressure over a short course. One of the minor clubs is out with a proposal that stewards of every toialisator club should get free admission to any other course. Clubs such as the C.J.C., W.R.C., and A.R.C. would have to bear the brunt of such a rule, and it is hard to see why they Should bo forced to keep open house. No doubt every club is prepared to grant hospitality to a representative or two of any ether club, but it should not be overlooked that some clubs have a very lengthy list of stewards. Many riders who have suffered injury or illness at some period of their career in the saddle will cordially agree with the Southland Racing Club’s suggestion that the accident funds should be administered with more liberality—presumably, of course, to thoroughly deserving cases. Only lately we have seen a case where private subscription amongst sym pathisers was deemed necessary to swell the somewhat meagre assistance granted to e disabled jockey from a plethoric fund to which he had contributed for many years. It is also an excellent suggestion that any rider or trainer carpeted should be permitted to obtain legal assistance to assist his cause, or he might bo allowed the option of selecting some steward or other responsible person to be present on his behalf on any occasion when his license is in jeopardy. Under the proposed rule in this direction it is suggested that legal assistance be allowed" at the hearing of an appeal. The right should be allowed at any inquiry in which a licensed person is on his trial. The good ship “Rules of Racing” goes into dock for annual repair and overhaul. It will be interesting to note how' she emerges from the inspection, and it is to be hoped that wdiilst the authorities are strengthening the machinery they will not overlook the fact that the sporting spirit which should drive them is fostered for all it is worth.

IMPROVING THE HORSE. The president of the Trotting Association delivered a somewhat lengthy speech as his address at this year’s conference, and, although it was not devoid of interest it seems to have carried a huge void, because it did not express one solitary Avord of resentment at the fact that the bulk of our light harness racers aro carried to their speed by the aid of artificial assistance in the Avay of Hopples and other contraptions that make some horses look like a fullrigged ship. People may prate of an improvement in horses as a result of racing, but it really seems as if the trotting (socalled) authorities are out to breed horses whose sole mission in life is to wear as much gear as the leather merchants can devise. In fact, one'can be pardoned for entertaining an idea that light harness racing is being conducted more for the benefit of the gear merchants than it is with any desire to make a genuine improvement in the horse. The bulk of our light harness racing goes to the support of horses racing in hopples, and although wo may talk of improving the brood of the utility horse, how often do wo see hunters wearing hopples when they are following hounds, or a round-up of cattle by men mounted on a horse with hopples and overcheck, standing rein, knee-spreaders, or the multitude of boots? What a loud “Hal

Ha!” would greet their appearance in the field. Breeding hopple-wcarers for military purposes would be a splendid idea it the enemy’s horse wore them; but the enemy seems to have too much common sense to agree with such a preposterous idea. no long as the present conditions of light harness racing continue to exist, it seems as it the sport is kept alive -with the main object of bringing about an improvement in leather and the leather trade, and with a minor object of improving the horse. There is no doubt that many horses are more valuable for their hide than what they carry underneath it, and, as we appear to be rapidly approaching the horseless age, perhaps it does not matter much for what object racing is kept alive. On the other hand, if the utility horse is to bo kept going in the face of strong competition, it seems imperative to improve the type as much as possible. A “NATIONAL” HERO. Zcphuron, the winner of the V.R.C. Grand National -Steeplechase, was performing over fences round some of the country meetings last season, and scored his most notable w r in at last season’s national meeting at Flcmington, when he won the Footscray Steeples, run on. the last day of the fixture. Me w 7 as got by Wcsterley from Eleanor, by Wellington from Bohemian Girl, by Panic from Gipsy, by Yattendon. Wcsterley was bred in New Zealand, and got by Westmere, eon of the Musket — Rosette horse Escutcheon) from Martha, by Cadogan from Maritana, by Traduccr. Zephuron is obviously bred to stay and crosscountry. His dam was got by Wellington, who sired Dungan and Mysore,' two winners of the Y.R.C. National Steeples, as well as Apsley and Marmont, a couple of winners of the V.R.C. National Hurdles. His second dam was got by the famous Panic, whose blood figures in many of the best performers over hurdles and fences in Australia. Zephuron’s win stands as a triumph of the good old strains, as Wcsterley, who by the way ran third to Marmont in the National Hurdles of 1903, runs back through Maritana to a mare of unknown pedigree that was brought from New South Wales about half a century ago. Eleanor finds -her Auetalian taproot in Manto, a mare bred in England in 1817. Manto threw, amongst others, Cornelia, who was got in England and foaled in Australia. Cornelia threw Flora MTvor, the dam of 10, and Waimea, the granddam of Mata 10, a sister to Waimea, became famous as the granddam of Frailty, who threw Trenton, Niagara, Cuirassier, Cissy, and other notables, terminating with a last foal in the shape of Siege Gun. It is rather interesting to note how some of the old strains have bred on, and although it- is close on a century ago since Manto produced Cornelia the line is still well represented by good winners, oven though it has received no “fashionable” infusion, as far as spmc of the best representatives are concerned, of recently imported blood, except that of the famous sire Musket. In fact, it seems that real stamina is more likely to bo not infrequently found by sticking to the good old stock lines of proved merit than by seeking to breed ft from most of the more recent importations, which perchance is considered riffraff in England, no matter how it may bo boomed in other parts of the world. THE DISTANCE START. The question of handicapping trotters and pacers by distance and from, of course, a consequent standing start has latterly been occupying attention, and stands received with official approbation. Until the moving start became unsatisfactory, simply because the method, or lack of method, in carrying it out created antagonism, nothing "was ever heard of a reversion to the old system of dispatching a field. It was the unsatisfactory starting rather than the system which created trouble, but some at once jumped to the conclusion that things were the other way round. In much the same manner the owner of a first-class gun can frequently be hoard explaining away a miss on account of a faulty cartridge, but never by any means to bad marksmanship. For the same reason we notice a bad stroke at billiards followed by a squint along a cue, or halfdozen changes of stick made during the course of a game. Seldom, indeed, is it found that a candid admission of incompetency occurs. So long as wo have mixed fields of trotters and pacers—the latter keyed together by straps—the standing start will be unfair, because the latter can hit their gait twice as smartly as a trotter, and it is a very poor method of controlling sport which favours the artificial horse to the detriment of the -genuine goods. A slow beginner always has to concede more than his handicap, and proof ‘of that can be found by anyone who has noted how very few trotters win over a short course of a mile. It may be taken for granted that a 4.40 pacer is more likely to go 2.15 for a mile than a 4.40 trotter, although the latter may stay the former to a standstill. The basis of the present trouble consisted in the fact that some starters wore apparently unable to distinguish the difference between a walkup start and a racing start. The standing start may be Worth a trial, but to make it fair all round the officials should insist on hopples being discarded, otherwise we will still have horses getting a catapult start whilst others have to commence without any artificial aid. r