EPSOM INELIGIBLE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 376, 9 June 1928, Page 7

EPSOM INELIGIBLE

OWNERS’ COMPLAINT FORCED TO THE COUNTRY CHANCE FOR 0.8. AND T. ASSN While the Auckland Trotting Club’s programmes this year have been of the highest standard the tightness of the limits in the minor events has precluded many owners and trainers with horses known as improvers from taking part in the various fixtures.

When the programme for the first meeting of the year—October—made its appearance many owners expressed the opinion that by reducing the limits of the Secondary class events the club was forcing them to take their charges to the country and that by racing on the country tracks their chances of even qualifying for Epsom was minimised. These and other arguments were advanced and published in The Sun at the time. The hardships complained of by owners was borne out by subsequent results, as the great majority of locally-trained horses travelled the country circuit, but those who succeeded in securing stake money found it impossible to improve their time

sufficiently to allow of entering the select circle at Alexandra Park. Subject Revived Th© question has been revived, since the Auckland Club offered the stake for the two-year-old bout between First Wrack and Koro Peter this month. The owners contend that if th© club can give such a stake for a two-horse encounter, it should be able to put on a race each day for the improvers’ class, which is at present barred by the restrictions on the contests. There are quite a number of horses trained in and around Auckland capable of creating an interesting contest at Epsom, that have not yet qualified for such events as the Mangere and Manukau Handicaps, but who, if given the opportunity of competing at earlier meetings on the central ground, would no doubt get on the “eligibles” list. There is certainly something to be said in favour of the contention of the owners in this respect, and had the Owners’ Breeders’ and Trainers’ Association been in existence and functioning in the proper spirit, any defects in this direction could probably have been remedied. Another question, while on the programme subject, and one the club will require to consider in future, is the arranging of an event for the second day of th© spring carnival that will suit th© Derby candidates. These are important questions with which a “livewire” association could deal to the mutual satisfaction of all concerned, and now is the time for its revival.