THE ASHBURTON MEETING.

Otago Witness, Issue 3348, 15 May 1918, Page 41

THE ASHBURTON MEETING.

The Ashburton County Racing Club was fortunate in having beautifully fine weather for their autumn, which this year had to be confined to a one-day fixture. The withdrawal of excursion trains prevents the club from receiving the liberal patronage which it received in the "pre-war days; but motor oars were in strong force, and the attendance under the circumstances must bo regarded as very satisfactory. Tho totalisator registered £14,272, or only £4911 less than the total recorded for both days of the autumn meeting held in 1916. The club abandoned their autumn mooting last season. Hence the financial result should be considered satisfactory by those in control of tho club's coffers. Tho track was in good order, and fields generally satisfactory. It was, however, disappointing to find such a small field going out to do battle for tho principal event, which carried tho substantial stake of lOOsovs. Tho Ashburton Cup, however, proved an interesting raco, even though there was only two in it when it came to business. Majestikofi '.von meritoriously, as she was always prominent, dvA gamely fought out the finish. It seemed an error of judgment not to have made more use of Adjutant when there was only a slow pace on in tliC first half-mile, as ho was tho only proved stayer in the field, and hence it was to his advantage to establish a sound pace. A rather better field mustered for tho principal sprint event; but the dispatch was not too happy, and Mortham, getting well away, practically won from end to end. Furling ran up to him in tho first quarter. and was joined by Donnata; but the former soon got sent back, and none of tho others were capable of threatening danger. Tho balance of the card also provided some interesting sport, although Braid, Gay Lad, and Silver-and-Black each scored rather comfortable wins. THE STARTING QUESTION. It would bo very difficult to establish a Strong case in favour of tho standing start on the evidence supplied by the majority of dispatches witnessed at Forbury Park on Saturday. In tho principal event two horses were left absolutely, and two more failed to get going, making four in a field of 15, whilst a couple of others did not begin as smartly as their supporters ex-

pectcd. In other events there. was also a large percentage of horses that either tailed to begin or tangled up in the first few strides owing to tailure to jump into their hopples from a flat-loot start. In the Flying Handicap a good get-away is a big factor towards success. In this raco seven lined up on the scratch mark, and only two in Homeland and Giayeyo hopped away smartly, whilst others hung on their marks, and it was obvious that the result lay between three before half a mile had been covered. With such a state of affairs it cannot bo said that the standing start is within gunshot of success, and it is a matter which demands the. most serious consideration of not only the Forbury Park Club, but also every other club catering for the sport. Some uniformity in starting is undoubtedly one of the first, if not absolutely the first question to be settled by those in authority. The writer had always been antagonistic to the standing start, because careful observation shows that only a small percentage of hoppled horses will get well away from a flat-foot start. Even where a certain amount of success has been achieved, it has always been noticed that the riders and drivers endeavour to keep their horses as much as possible on the move whilst lining up and waiting for the final word. This clearlv indicates that the horsemen are by no means anxious to begin from a dead flat start. In other words, the standing start in very many cases exists only in name, but not in fact. With a more prompt and authoritative marshalling at the post better results might bo achieved, but standing starts with "hoppled horses forming high-class fields going to the .speed limit seems too difficult to achieve with satisfactory results. It might be successful with slow horses that cannot go fast enough to tangle, but with the top-notchers it is a different proposition. One, for instance, never hears of it occurring in America —the home of light-harness sport. If, however, wo are to have the standing start, let it be a standing: start, but let us have uniformity. and stick to either one or the other method until it has been demonstratetd a failure or success.

THE FORBURY PARK MEETING. Although the weather was fairly fine for the autumn meeting of the Forbury Park Trotting Club, the track conditions were once again anything but favourable towards cuccesstully carrying out the programme. This is a matter of much regret, as tho card was rather attractive, and with good going would in all probability have provided one of the best .meetings ever held on the course. There was an excellent attendance, but many speculators were rather diffident about risking their coin on horses forced to act on bad' going. Nevertheless the totalisator handled £22,928, as against £17,146 10s registered on the second day of last season's autumn meeting, and would have gathered considerably more but for tho fact that the accommodation was not sufficint to cope with tho rush of business, and the club will soon bo forced to make further provision for their betting patrons. It, of. course, goes without saying that every wide-awake club is keenly anxious to gather all the support that is going in order to keep catering for the sport on progressive lines. Bad weather appears to be growing chronic in connection with autumn meetings at Forbury Park, and the club should seriously consider the question of holding their final fixture so late in tho season. At this time of the year frost is generally in evidence in Dunedin, and under such conditions even a slight fall of rain makes bad going on a dirt track, and leaves only a remote'* prospect of improvement. Looking back through tho Turf Register for the past 10 years or so it is found that only three times in that period have tho track conditions been really favourable to good sport. It was wet last year, but fine in 1916. Wet again in 1915 and 1914, and still worse in 1913, as the meeting had to be postponed, and then finally got off under very bad track conditions. _ In 1912 the track was quite good, and evidence of that was supplied by Emmcline, who put up her track record of 2.8 4-5. Notwithstanding the threatening weather and bad track conditions on hand last week, the meeting has to £'o on record as being a very successful affair and a pleasing climax to the season's sport. Stilh one cannot help remarking that it would have been even more successful with more favourable track conditions on hand.