Editorial TARANAKI'S DILEMMA.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 December 1929, Page 5

Editorial TAR ANAKI'S DILEMMA.

The fact that the Egmont Racing Club has broken away from the regular Hawera-New Plymouth-Wanganui autumn racing circuit, and has made an apparently successful move is causing members of the Taranaki. Jockey Club, and members of tlib Wanganui Jockey. Club to.'a lesser degree, to sit up and do a bit of serious thinking. . , . - • ‘ , That the cycle of race meetings mentioned above has been responsible for attracting some of the best horses in the Dominion to Taranaki is undisputed, and. it'is’a moot point whether outsiders will see in four, days, racing the. attraction which six days-offered in the past. Without striking a pessimistic note it might be well to consider the. position from >alk points, and if possible discover the solution of what has all the appearance of a knotty problem. It .has been suggested that the Taranaki Cup should be transferred to the ’Christmas meeting;; in fact, to make the Christmas .meeting the principal race gathering of the year in New PlymouthThe idea seems to be to so augment the stakes attached to the Taranaki Cup and other important open events—all run at the Taranaki,Christmas meeting—that Taranaki owners of the best, horses will be induced to race in their own province during the .Christmas holidays. ‘ •’ ’ ’ . ' The proposal seems to be an ambitious one, and it does not appear likely that a holiday carnival of two days at New Plymouth and two at Stratford, even.with larger stakes, would weigh greatly against Auckland, (with fits four days) ‘or Mariawatu' (with three). . The Taranaki Christinas meeting, by reason of favourable, holiday dates, has generally Been the best:paying meeting in the.club’s (racing year, arid it might be wise policy to leave well alone. Whatever the class attracted to the Christmas meeting there is no charice of lack of public patronage. - But- the autumn- gathering might be istrengthened with stake money sufficient to draw, horses whieli are bound to be brought) to the Wanganui J.C. autumn meeting following. . ' ’ ■■ .* * ■ v ••. - ...... ••; Wanganui) though faced with grave financial responsibilities, is in the field this year with a £lOOO cup race, o and if Taranaki followed suit there would be little need for either club to be concerned about the breaking of the autumn circuit. There can be such a thing as too much gracing, particularly for horses racing over distances of-ground, arid in past seasons it has been.a common practice for owners to give at least one meeting of the three the .go-by. After the strenuous November carnivals a number of good horses drop out each year, and the additions to the ranks of holiday performers rarely make up the deficiency. It follows that there is Only a limited number of what might be rightly termed first (class ‘/handicappers” in commission at Christmas, and Auckland and Manawatu monopolise them. • Auckland with its magnificent, well-endowed and varied programme, and Manawatu with its good stakes, topped off by a geographical position, appeal to horseowners in Hawke’s Bay, Wairarapa, Wellington and various parts of this coast. To cause a further “split” in the ranks would not be to the benefit of any club, and least of all to Taranaki, which is badly situated and overshadowed in more ways than one by the clubs which it is proposed to bump up. against. Some years ago the, Marton Jockey Club had a good run at New Year by offering attractive stakes, but Stratford followed suit and took most of the good horses which were racing at Awapuni the (week previous. Now Wairarapa has stepped into the limelight with a £7OO cup race and a good all-round New Year programme, and Tauherenikau is likely to pull a good share of Marton’s.usual fieldsThe split will make competition keen for the good ones, and Taranaki, if the cup were transferred to the Christmas meeting, would be in the same unenviable position. .... “MOTUROA.”