TURF AND STUD.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 885, 11 December 1916, Page 2

TURF AND STUD.

DOPE OR NO DOPE? By Pelronel. The Racing Conference Appeal Judges 'decided two cases last week which are of more than passing interest to the racegoer, while they are of vital importance to trainers and owners. Both cases arose out of occurrences at the annual meeting of the Horowhenua Racing Club, and the judges in both cases were Messrs E. Goodbehere, <i. Hunter, MA'., and Air B. A. Campbell. The Keynote episode was a case of "shouting." Keynote's trainer, W. G. Trask, gave his'horse a little whisky and water prior to the start of the Ohau Hack Welter, and the stipendiary steward, Mr Angus Gordon, thereupon "informed," ami the stewards duly sat and eventually disqualified Trask for two months for administering a stimulant, thereby committing a corrupt practice. Trask appealed to the Wellington District Committee, which body upheld his appeal. Mr Gordon appealed to the Racing Conference, whose judges decided in his favour, their finding being that, the administration of whisky -was a breach of Part XXXIIL, Rule 1, Clause 0. The judges therefore confirmed the two months' disqualification but, desiring to do a little bit of ornamentation on their own account, imposed an additional penalty by lining- Trask £5. Altogether this lias proved a very costly experience for Trask, and I do not: suppose he will be very anxious to give any horse of his a "drink" on a racecourse in future. The clause referred to reads: "If in this or any other country any person shall administer or cause to be administered, for the purpose of affecting the speed of a horse, drugs or stimulants internally, or by hypodermic or other methods, lie shall be ' deemed guilty of a corrupt, practice." V\'e have never seen or heard of any evidence in the Keynote case which proved that Trask gave the "drink" with the intention of affecting the sliced of the horse, and equity would seem to demand that this point. should be made absolutely clear before Trask could be convicted. Presumably this is a clause framed in the interest of temperance trainers, for apparently it is not a corrupt practice to "affect the speed of a horse" by giving him a bucket or two of cold water! Really, one cannot feel any surprise at the action of the Wellington District Committee in upholding the appeal of the trainer, for only by the wildest stretch of imagination could anybody import "fraud" or "corrupt practice" into Trask's aid ion. Before this clause was incorporated in the "Rules of Racing"' there was the memo able case of Sir George Clifford's Fh etfoot, who. prior to the start, of the Champagne Stakes, won by Golden Slipper, had cocaine injected to deaden the pains in her knee, or knees. That, course was adopted for the purpose of "affecting the speed," and as soon as the efforts of the drug wore off poor Flee<foot stopped like a shot rabbit. There has never been any suggestion of this sort in the Keynote case, and the attention of the Racing Conference may well be drawn to the matter, in the hoce that some more equitable clause may be framed.

Martingale or no Martingale? The Master Moutoa ease was a question of gear. The winner of the Horowhenua had a strap with' rings attached to his bridle, and the rider did not put this in the scales. > Mr S. W. Tatk*.m, owner of the second horse, Orleans, appealed against the Wellington District Committee's decision that this strap was not a martingale. The Conference judges agreed with Wellington in this ease, anil found that the strap "was not a martingale" within the meaning of Part XXIV., Rule 7. which Tcads: "Any muzzle, iitartingalo, breastplate, or clothing (other than Loots or bandages), in which a horse runs, shall be put into the scales and included in the jockey's weight, otherwise the horse shall be disqualified for the race." I have not seen the strap and rings concerned, and therefore cannot offer any opinion on the matter. lam told, however, that, the latest racecourse riddle is: "When is a martingale not a martingale?" About Racecourse Detectives.

One of the planks in the platform of the Stipendiary Stewards' Committee is the appointment of racecourse detectives by the racing conference. If Sir Boyle Roche were alive he would probably say this would be a pretty rotten reed to make a plank out of. As the Government derives such a very large income from direct taxation on racing it is quite justifiable to expect the Government to provide adequate police protection for the public who visit our racecourses. There is a false idea abroad that the Police Department cannot legally protect the people on racecourses from "guessers" ;ind other "spielers"; but even if more power is required surely to goodness Mr Herdman can draft a "five minute" Act of Parliament which will fill the bill. Oaring ;i recent visit to the North Island it was made, plain to me that the present, system of non police intervention is absolutely dead against, the best in terests of the sport. T know that the heads of the police would welcome a change which would give them proper control on the racecourses. As the racing clubs and trotting clubs provide the Government with so much revenue for general use, some of it, comes back to racing, surely it. would not bo too much to ask the Attorney-General to provide the care that the private detectives cannot give. At the last racing Conference the report of the Stipendiary Stewards' Committee contained the following: "efficient cleansing of racecourses is still retarded by the nonemployment of efficient racecourse detectives. This is a very important matter, and wc trust the Conference will see fit to give it (he attention it deserves. In our opinion the present system of racecourse detectives has little or no effect in stamping out undesirables, or curtailing book-making. It certainly keeps the above classes off a course here or there; but that has no general effect. We might state that one of the present racecourse detectives informs us that under present arrangements it is not to his interests to drive those people out of the country; but freely admits that it can be done if the system is placed on a sound footing." I do not know that there was ever more damning evidence of failure than is contained in these detective's words, an-! il is clearly the duty of every racing club and trotting club in the country to ask the Government

to us proper police control on our racecourses. It is a duty the Stale owes to the people to provide this protection just as much as it is the duty of racing and trotting clubs to ask for and see that they get it. Work for Sports League.

The Sports Protection League might very well take this question of racecourse protection in hand. It is customary to speak of this organisation with bated breath, and the-Racing Conference always now goes into committee when considering the amount of the annual subsidy it shall vote for the upkeep of this ornamental society. Here is some work for the league in inducing the Government to cleanse our racecourses and give the pleasure-loving public adequate protection against the pick-pockets and other undesirables whom the police say are largely on the increase nowadays. The private detectives employed by racing clubs are practically only concerned in stopping "bookmakers"' from competing against the totalisator by betting "tote"odds. So far as they are concerned, all the thieves in the country may ply their calling unmolested, so long as they are not taking trade from the totalisator. But the racing public want considerably more attention than that, and the sports Protection League would accomplish a really great work if it used its forces in the direction indicated. ,lust a little organisation aud the Racecourse Police could be made a most effective body; but as things are now, there is no security for the people at the majority of our race meetings. Racingclubs go as they please on this question, and secretaries will say that the local private detective docs the work of preventing the laying of "tote-odds" really well. Still totalisator protection is not the beginning a.d end of the work of the racecourse detective, aud it is quite time that the racing and trotting authorities agreed on a policy of improvement. The Auckland Meeting.

After all, Mullingar was paid up for in the Auckland Cup, though, as his name was not telegraphed as au acceptor, he was left out of the calculations. There is no doubt that Mullingar is a very useful horse, and it is said that Deelcy thinks he ought to have won the New Zealand Cup. He (Deeley) made the mistake of imagining that Ardenvhor was sure to come hack, and being unable to get rid of that impression, he let Ardenvhor get too far away in front before realising that the Martian—Mary of Argyle colt could not be caught. Deeley is not going to be caught napping any more, so they say, and Mullingar is to run the race of his life in the Auckland Cup. So, they tell me, will Chortle, who has a really respectable weight to carry over the two miles. But Chortle is a very high-class horse, and is fully entitled to his 9.0. We know he stays, and therefore we may confidently look forward to a fine exhibition from the son of Multifid and Amusement. Blackall, Depredation, and El Gallo are three of the lightweights for whom the ante-post betting people have a pronounced liking, ami Taranaki sportsmen will persist in claiming Alteration as a horse with a secoud-to-none chance. Alteration is by Elevation from Eduam, and is therefore half-brother to that good mare' Labour Day, who was well in the limelight a few years ago. Ardenvhor, The Toff, Wishful, John Barleycorn, and Colonel Soult ate all in the public eye, and likely to remain there, so long as they remain in the Cup field. Apparently the Great Northern Derby will resolve itself into a triangular battle between The Toff, Sasanof, and Egypt. There may be other runners, but the three named represent the best form. And they ought to give a good race, although on paper Sasanof looks to have a bit the better prospect. The Melbourne Cup winner has beaten better horses than The Toff has, and that about sums up the situation. . Kilboy's withdrawal 'from the Derby occasioned some little disappointment, for New Zealanders were naturally anxious to see the A.J.C. Derby winner in action here. However, we must wait a little while for Kilboy's reappearance on a New Zealand racecourse. By the way, I think it should be made quite clear that the Kilbroney colt never had a suspicious tendon before he went to Australia. As I have remarked in these columns, his work at Elderslie was of a very searching nature, and I am sure George Matthews would have discovered it if there had been anything amiss with a tendon. As a matter of fact, Kilboy, like all Gyre's stock, is "apple-jointed," and it'may be that this appearanee had something to do with the veterinary reverse Kilboy met with prior to his A.J.C. Derby success. Lately I believe the colt has been suffering from muscular rheumatism, an ailment which is considered to be merely temporary. s The Northern Foal Stakes is full" of promise, and keen judges are anxiously looking forward to the renewed antagonism of Biplane, Simonides, and Estland, while the presence of some smart local-ly-trained youngsters will add much /est to the two-vear-old racing at Ellerslie. ' ,