TALK OF THE DAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3403, 4 June 1919, Page 47

TALK OF THE DAY.

By Sentinel. THE REAL NECESSITY. The Dunedin Jockey Club contemplate making extensive improvements at the Wingatui Racecourse by reconstruction of stands and enclosures. Before that work is done the writer, in. the interests of trainers, would liko to see- the tracks and the going they supply placed beyond criticism. Wingatui is very badly in need of a winter or wet-weather track, as the grass tracks become too dragging and holding in wet weather, owing to the clayey nature of the ground. A cinder track would bo much appreciated by trainers, who would then be able to work their horses in any sort of weather. In bad weather the grass tracks get chopped about a good deal, and thoy are the only gallops available when the plough track is out of action. As a matter of fact, grass gallops should not be used in bad weather, as they take too

long to put In shape again after a largo number of horses have been worked on them. This particularly applies to Wingatui, where there is not too much ground available for training purposes. The.course f roper also requires attention. In therst pace, either tan or cinders should be placed on the crossing, which was as hard as a macadam road prior to the rain which set - in last week, and when the frost got to work afterwards some trailers would not take the risk of galloping their horses over it.. Others with more courage or carelessness than discretion did so. The course proper requires a complete top-dressing with the best available soil. To the casual glance the course looks in good order, but that is because the growth of grass blinds the actual state of the ground, which can be discovered only by walking the course, preferably with a pair of light boots on the walker, to see the correct feel of the going. As far as the writer can judge the caretaker has not sufficient assistance at his command to keep both the lawns and tracks up to the mark, and that is the crux of the track troubles. A FALSE MOVE. The Dunedin Jockey Club has decided to reduce the Dunedin Cup meeting _ to a two-day fixture next season, and retain the present three-day card for the winter meeting. There is no doubt that the winter meeting has become very popular since cross-country events became established on the programme, but many patrons of sport will regret the permanent curtailment of tho old-established Dunedin Cup meeting. The club hung up a liberal programme for this season's winter meeting, _but it does not require a very searching analysis of the nomination-list to find that the fields in the principal events are rather disappointing. The lOOOsovs stake attached to the Otago Steeplechase found the acceptances . reducing the strength of the field to eight second-class cross-country horses, and such a response does not stand as a pleasing return for the handsome prize offer. It has to be remembered that the Dunedin winter fixture clashes with the North Island cross-country circuit, commencing with Wanganui and Auckland; thence back by Napier, Hawke's Bay, etc., to Wellington. The northern eeries_ of fixtures supply very formidable opposition to Wingatui, and so long as they continue to progress we are never likely to see many horses cross the strait to race at our winter meeting. There is no doubt that the Dunedin Jockey Club hold excellent dates for the winter meeting, as the combined attraction of show and races help to fill the town; but it would perhaps have been wise to see how this week's three-day programme pans out before deciding to make it a permanent affair. Evidently the club regard the meeting as a foregone success, and it is to be hoped that such will prove the case; but even so. many would : still prefer three days at Wingatui in February tO t three- days on the same course in the winter month of June. SPRINT EVENTS. From time to time more or less feeble protests are made against the existing preponderance of sprint events on our racing programmes, but a staunch and compelling advocate of turf reform in that direction has yet to arise and create real reform. Some years ago the Racing Conference carried a rule which made it compulsory for racing, clubs to provide at least one race over 10 furlongs on their programmes", but. having done so, the authorities are content to see the spirit of the rule evaded, with the result that the worst class of horse at a meeting are found figuring in the regulation long-distance race and the best saddle up for snorter distances. If increasing the distances of races is a turf reform, then the observance of the rule in that direction is allowed to be side-sEepped, and so is practically a dead letter. There is no doubt we have far too many sprint races on our programmes, but it should not be overlooked that it is not distance alone Avhich is the test of etamina, but rather the pace at which a distance is traversed. The C.J.C. Stewards' Handicap, of six furlongs, and tho same "club's Great Easter, seven furlongs, are two of the most difncult ,, races to win on the New Zealand Racing Calendar and demand a combination of speed and stamina that may not be necessary to win 50 per cent, of the races run over a mile and a-half. Every effort to improve the turf should be appreciated, but whilst it is easy for the member of a metropolitan club to advocate what may be deemed reform in that direction, it may sorely tax the resources of small clubs to obey a rule that would sweep out sprint events. Some effort should, however, be made to improve the existing state of affairs. After all, it would bo just as interesting to see sprinters scrambling over a distance as stayers scrambling over a sprint course. AUTOMATIC HANDICAPPING. The adoption of the automatic increase of a horse's handicap when the highest accepting weight is under 9st seems to have enjoyed a rather brief favpur in Australia It has already been suggested that it should bo abandoned in favour of a 7et minimum. Good grounds can be found for objecting to both ideas, particularly the automatic increase of weight, and in general principles every care should bo taken to avoid tinkering with a handicapper's adjustments after they have been posted. It is repugnant to common sense to make a rule which will automatically lift a handicap, say, 101 b all round, with tho result that one horse goes up from 8.4 to 9.0, and another from 6.7 to 7.3. Such a system is obviously unfair to those near the top of a handicap. It would be open to less objection if tho automatic increase Was made on a. sliding scale, calculated to balance the increase of weight. Horses handicapped between 6.7 and 7.7 should be increased 101 b; between 7.7 and 8.7, the lift should be 71b, and from 8.7 to 9.0 slb, or in some such proportion calculated to equitably adjust an automatic increase of the weights. Another objection to the automatic increase of weights consists in the well-known fact that it may more seriously affect some horses than it does others. An increase of 71b or 101 b to one horse may bo equal to clapping a stono or more on others —or, in other words, there ai - e weightcarriers and others who can only go a good race when acting under something like a feather-weight. The objection to the 7st minimum consists in the fact that it undoubtedly tells more against the top-weight division than those deprived of the margin between 6.7 and 7.0. With the 6.7 minimum a few individual owners may occasionally have to suffer the disadvantage of over-weight, but with a 7st minimum all the more fully-exposed horses receive extra weight. It is an undisputed fact that races are run at a more solid pace nowadays

than -what was the case from 10 to 20 years or more ago. The increased pace unquestionably is dead against topweights or best horses, whom the public liite to see out, and yet, despite this fact, wo have advocates of automatio increase of the burdens to be carried by the top-weights. Advocates of automatically bumping up the load of a top-weight seem to havo a rather crude -idea of the value of a handicap. Personally, the writer fails to Bee any great reason why fully-exposed horses at the top of a handicap, where overy ounce tells, should be automatically penalised through the rough element at the tail of a handicap.

THE OTA GO HUNT MEETING. The Otago Hunt Club Steeplechase meeting will take place at Wingatui on Saturday, Juno 14, when one of the best hunt programmes ever put forward in the Dominion will come up for decision —in fact, as far as memory goes, it was the best hunt programme ever issued up to the time it was placed before the public, and the sporting spirit behind it merits the patronage of all racing men. A fairly good list oi nominations were roceived in connection with the meeting. Handicaps will bo declared on Saturday, Juno 7, at 9 p.m., and acceptances fall due on Juno 10 at 5 p.m. The committee has decided to cut out the post-and-rail jump and water jumps out of the events for hunters, but the Open Steeples will be run over the full steeplechase course. THE STATE OF THE TURF. Judging by the remarks made by Mr A. Boyle, chairman of the Canterbury Jockey Club, at the annual meeting held last week, the state of the turf is a matter which calls for close investigation. Those who possess more than a superficial knowledge of racing have been long aware that there is room for considerable improvement. There is, however, no need for great anxiety,_ as matters are not so bad as some are inclined to paint them. At the same time a more strict and. let it bo added, a more capable supervision of the actual running i 9 required. Nowadays race meetings are got off with clockwork regularity. Races are off up to time, and the minor details generally carried out without a > hitch. The •weakness which exists arises in connection with the supervision of the riding and running. Racing Stewards are inclined to attribute the blame for anything questionable to outside influence —to the _ bookmakers, for instance, —but the writer is quito positive that the groat evils of the game are based on efforts to beat both the totalisator and the bookmakers. It should never be _ forgotten that anything which happens in a race must take place _ under tho eyesight and in front of the racing knowledge of the stewards themselves, and hence tho officials are directly responsible for any weakness of supervision which allows questionable practices to go on without prompt attention. At meeting after meeting one can see something or other which warrants, but apparently escapes, official notice, and whilst that is Bo the stewards have only themselves to blame for whatever is lacking in the tone of the turf. "When stipendiary stewards were appointed it was thought and hoped that the turf would become as clean as expert supervision could bring it; but whilst the trimmings may bo kept straight and in order, real business is not so well handled as it might be. So much so is that the case that the stipen-' diary system has fallen into disfavour, but ■until one knows the full extent _ of the power held by the paid officials it would be wrong to disparage a system which, .properly worked, would clean up the turf in a very short space of time.