RULES OF RACING BROKEN

Taranaki Daily News, 15 March 1928, Page 11

RULES OF RACING BROKEN

TRAINING OF DRESS CIRCLE ONE MAN DISQUALIFIED FOR LIFE. LIGHTER PENALTIES ON OTHERS. By Telegraph.— Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. The ownership, training and connections of the horse Dress Circle during the period August, 1927, to March 7, 1928, have been inquired into by the Auckland District Racing Committee at the request of the president of the New Zealand Racing Conference. Its finding was issued this afternoon.

Dress Circle was purchased by William James Burnett about the beginning of September, 1927, says the statement, and was removed temporarily to the charge of Andrew MacKlin Robertson, trainer. It was afterwards transported to Devonport, where Leslie Henry Wynyard, an unlicensed trainc and a disqualified person, took it over.

It remained under his care and management until November 13, 1927, when it was sent back to Robertson’s stables to be trained. The horse was returned to Wynyard, ’/ho continued to train it until December 9, when Thomas Richards, at the request of Wynyard, took charge of the training, ostensibly under the direction of the owner.

The committee finds that prior to Christmas until after the Rotorua races the horse was trained by T. Richards, an unlicensed trainer, and not by the owner. Robertson, who is a licensed trainer, Charles Norman Carmont nnd Leo Raymond Coleman, licensed jockeys, and Hilton Gussey, a stable hand, admit having acted under instructions In regard to the horse given by Wynyard, a person whose name was on the list of disqualifications in the official calendar. They were liable to punishment under the Rules of Racing because of thia. The committee is satisfied that the owner of the horse was 'rif’ty of corrupt practices in terms of part XXXII., rule 1, clauses (C), (B) and (I), and that he also committed a breach of part XIX., rule 7, of the Rules of Racing. He was therefore disqualified for three years from March 14, 1928, and was fined £2O.

Th© committee is also satisfied that Wynyard was guilty of corrupt practices in terms of part XXXII., clauses (H) and (N), rule 1, and that he also committed a breach' in that he acted as trainer of the horse when not licensed so to do. H© was disqualified for life. Robertson was found guilty of misconduct in terms of part XIX., ru> 9, of the Rules of Racing, and his trainer’s license was therefore suspended for two months from March 14, 1928. Th© committee is satisfied that Carmont and Coleman acted on the instructions of Wynyard well knowing that Wynyard was a disqualified person. Their jockey’s licenses were suspended for one month from March 14, 1928. Richards, the unlicensed trainer, was found guilty of corrupt practices in terms of part XXXII., rule 1, clause (H), and he also committed a breach in that he trained Dress Circle without being the holder of a trainer’s license. He was disqualified for two years from March 14, 1928. Hilton Gussey, the stable hand, in making false statements to tho caretaker of the Takapuna Jockey Club’s racecourse when attempting to work the horse at th© bidding of Wynyard, was guilty of misconduct, and he was severely cautioned.