OPENING FOR THE ROGUES

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 87, 4 July 1927, Page 6

OPENING FOR THE ROGUES

CASTLES INCIDENT REVEALS BIG ECCENTRICITIES For a racecourse crook the Australian Jockey Club’s Rules of Racing: should prove an interesting study. A criminal brain, judging on recent happenings, might be able to find an easy way of beating the racing' game. At Randwick the stewards were forced to declare Castles ineligible to start in the Hrudle Race, yet they were powerless to declare all bets off. That suggests an easy avenue to , wealth for an unscrupulous owner, j In this manner the Sydney critic (already known to readers of THE { SUN) takes up the Castles case again. Provided an owner can fill in a | nomination form incorrectly and have i it accepted by a racing club he is in a | get-rich-quick position, he says. And it isn’t so hard to do. AT OWNER’S MERCY In the rush of entries clerks are especialy in the case of little known horses, practically at the mercy of the owners. The owner states definitely the breeding of the horse and there are a hundred and one other things besides entries to engage the attention of the officials prior to the meeting. Partnership agreements or leases may not be in order racing colours may be wrongly given; a horse registered as a colt a year or so earlier may have been gelded in the interim; to mention a few of the more common mistakes made on nomination forms by owners. All these things must a clerk look for in his attempt to ensure that there will be no chance of an invalid entry being accepted. MANY FAULTS Much work would be necessary to investigate every possible fault in he entry of every horse entered for any Sydney meeting, and the often recurring “permission was granted So-and-So to amend the entry of the horse What Not by the payment of £1” shows how many times such faults are discovered. So an owner might easily enter a horse with the sire or dam incorrectly described and be allowed to accept. CHANCE FOR ROGUES Where a bare-faced rogue gets his chance is the compulsion put on the stewards under the section of Rule 48, which states: . (the committee) may permit any accidental or inadvertent error of ! omission to be corrected or supplied at any time not less than half an hour . before the time fixed for starting the ; race in respect of which such entry was made upon payment of a fine of one pound.” The error must be corrected before L the half hour prior to the advertised starting time of the race. NO ALTERNATIVE ! After that time the stewards are left with no alternative but to refuse the entry. An astute crook could back his own . horse with pounds, shillings and pence. The more money he puts on his own i horse the better prices will be available about other runners, and in small fields ‘ it is usual that the winner can be picked in at most a couple of attempts. The crook can then send in commissioners to back other runners who appear to have bright pros- • pects, and, because of the heavy support for his own horse, he will l get good prices about the others. [ Then another confederate can ap--1 proach the stewards and inform them that the horse owned by the crook is wrongly described. l COMPELLED TO SCRATCH The stewards are compelled to order l that horse to be scratched. r What is more it would take a care- ■ less crook to leave definite evidence that it is his money which has been ' placed on the other runners, so the ’ chance of his being disqualified for ! improper practices is as remote as I Mars. t The crook’s horse is scratched; I the other horses shorten tremendously in the betting; and the crook is left with bets on his own horse which must be repaid by the bookmakers and with excellent bets . about the other runners. The fact that the A.J.C. stewards i are powerless to compel all bets off on r a race under their regime causes the : loophole for fraud. WRECK THE A.J.C. If the Castles’ finding establishes a [ precedent there will be a howl one of • these days that will wreck the walls ; of the almost impregnable Australian l Jockey Club. Imagine a race with a long odds-on favourite with the books betting say four to one bar one—and imagine the favourite being declared a non-starter, with the stewards powerless to declare all bets off! There will be murder in the betting • ring that day. ! . SURPRISE WIN VICTORIAN G.N. HURDLES [ MELBOURNE, July 3. • The Victorian Racing Club’s Grand National meeting opened at Flemington yesterday in wet weather. Heavy rain fell during the running of the Grand National Hurdle Race. The following was the result of the leading event: GRAND NATIONAL HURDLE RACE Of £ls each, with £2,000 added; 3 miles. COYBEAU (E. M. Pearce), ch g, by Bowman—So Shy. syrs. 9.0 .. .. 1 PILDIN (T. Davies), bg, 6yrs, 11.5.. 2 ROISEL (R. T. Patterson), br g, aged, 11.5 3 Twenty-two started. Golden Fox was most in evidence in the early running. Coybeau, gradually moving up, went to the front at the seven furlongs post, with Jollity, Woolpaek, Roisel and Nobility handy. At five furlongs Coybeau led by three lengths from Tolarno, who was followed by Pildin, Roisel and Grosvenor. The placed horses entered the sti*aight almost on even terms, but Coybeau, coming away, won by two lengths. Time, 5.40 J. The victory of Coybeau was a great surprise. The winner was a rank outsider. MEETINGS TO COME July 12, 14, 15—Wellington R.C. July 21—Walmat* Hunt Club. July 23—Canterbury Hunt Club. July 28, 30—Gisborne R.C. July 30—Christchurch Hun» Club. 1927-28 Season August 6.—Poverty Bay Hunt Club. August 9, It, 13.—Canterbury J.C. August 20.—Pakuranga Hunt Club. September 3.—North Taranaki H.C. September 7, B.—Marton J.C. September 10.—Otago Hunt Club. September 14. —Dannevirke R.C.