ALEXANDRA RACING CLUB

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 60, Issue 4231, 15 January 1940, Page 5

ALEXANDRA RACING CLUB

EVENTS OF TWENTY YEARS AGO. HORSEMAN DISQUALIFIED FOR LIFE. Browsing through the minutes of the Alexandra Racing Club, which recently celebrated its seventy-fifth annual meeting, one comes across uni usual happenings. For instance, in the minutes of a meeting held on 28th December, 1921, there appears an item: “Secretary was instructed to write to the Auckland District Committee regarding S. Glover and the mare Matangi.” A meeting on Ist February, 1922, has the following to say about the same matter: “The case of jockeys was dealt with, and after careful consideration it was decided to warn off Glover for life, and disqualify Hunt for five years and Mullins for one year. Dobbs and Scally "were next heard, the firstnamed .being in attendance. After due consideration of the evidence of both parties it was decided that Dobbs had a good case, and that if the District Committee endorses its action the stakes won by Gipsy Quin be paid to Dobbs. The committee wishes to express to Dobbs appreciation of the straightforward manner in which he laid before it all available evidence.” Members of the Club for the season 1921-22 were shown as: Messrs F. Potts (president), A. E. Hood, J. C. Potts, R. F. Bollard, A. Orr, A. Ormsby, Jnr., F. Seccombe, W. J. Woolston, M. Hall (vice-presidents), Sil F. Lang (patron); Messrs T. Brown, J. Livingstone, F. Cuff, S. Sifleet, M. Hart, T. Steel, S. Bean, F. E. Thompson, A. W. Thompson (committee; Messrs M. Hart, W. Chappell, J. L. Macky, A. W. Thompson, C. C. Berry (stewards); Mrs W. Perrin, Messrs John Munro, A. Wyllie, A. Williamson, A. Young, J. Dixon, L. Peat, W. Retemeyer, Tom Brown, S. Sifleet, Geo. Belly, W. Scott, H. Raynor, R. Ormsby, V. Sittauer, J. Read, H. Horst K. Smith, H. Teddy, P. Real, H. Urquhart, H. Irwin, E. Beet W|m. Smith, Wi. Beet, J. Shaw. .At the meeting on 9th September in that year it was decided to reduce the stake for the Alexandra Cup to £25, and to keep the members’ subscription at 7s 6d each. The executiv ehad regard for maintaining the course in good order for race days, for in one place it was recorded that “ it was decided to have a good working bee on Saturday afternoon” and, a little later, “notice is to be put up notifying all horseowners that no work other than walking pace will be allowed on the course within 24 hours after heavy rain.”

Everything seems to have gone on serenely thenceforward, but at the fifty-ninth annual meeting of members, on 4th August, 1923, the bal-ance-sheet showed a profit of £27 Ils on the day’s racing, and after doing improvements at a cost of over £27 the Club had a bank credit of £34 12s 4d. Discussing the programme for next Boxing Day, it was decided to delete the two trotting events and substitute a welter handicap, of one mile, and a farmers’ handicap, seven furlongs. A committee meeting on 27th October, 1923, accepted Mr Geo. Miles’ offer of a cup trophy, in which the donor expressed a wish that the winner- of the event receive £2O. The committee decided to increase the stake for this event to £27. The sixtieth annual meeting of ■members was held on 9th August, 1924, when the balance-sheet showed a profit on the Boxing Day races of £l4 8s sd. The following officers were elected: Patrons, Sir F. Lang, Hon. R. F. Bollard, and Messrs J. A. Young and F. Lye M.P.’s.; president, M!r F. Potts; vice-presidents, Messrs F. Seccombe, R. T. Seccombe, W|. McCarthy, J. L. Mjacky, F. Quin, D. Orr, A. Orr. A. E. Hood. W l . J. Woolston, Geo. Miles A. Ormsby, Jnr., J. Punch, C. M. Alexander, A. E. Miles; judge, Mr F. Pots; handicapper. Mr H. W'eal; starter, Mr J. C. Potts; stewards. Messrs M. Hart, J. Livingstone, W l . Chappell, J. L. Macky, J. Harper, Jnr.. C. C. Berry, and Adam Currie: clerk of scales, Mr T. Steel; clerk of saddling paddock, Mr W. Retemeyer; treasurer, Mr T. Steel; auditor. Mr W. McCarthy; secretary, Mir W. G. Sim; committee, Messrs T. Brown, T. Steel, J. Livingstone- S. Sifleet, M. H. Hart. S. Bean. W'. Beet, E. Beet. F. E. Thompson, F. Pope, F. Meyer. A. W. Thompson A. Chappell, J. Turner; advisory steward, Mr W,. Perrin; clerk of course, Mr E. Beet; timekeepers, Messrs F. Fotts and J. T. Young; gatekeeper, Mr T. Brown.