FOXTON’S EARLY DAYS

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1931, Page 4

FOXTON’S EARLY DAYS

SOME WILD TIMES RECALLED.

(By

“Paritutu.”)

There has been racing at Foxton for over fifty years, and the writer’s, memory of such gatherings goes back over thirty years. In JS9B the. Foxton races were something in the nature of a show, all sorts of “cheap Jacks” operating with "the three cards,” “rings and tables,” “roll down, coloured cubes,” and suchlike, and more, interest was taken by many in these easy methods of losing money than in the totalisator. “Two-up” flourished, back in the ti;ees, and various nimble-lingered gentlemen taught , the “mugs” the art of playing poker and nap.. It was - great “outfit.” At one of these early meetings an outsider won the Hurdles, and all the tickets on the winner were held by a Chinaman. When the fortunate celestial went to the machine to collect he was mobbed, and the police had a strenuous time for several minutes. Eventually he was rescued, and placed in the tote house, the crowd surging round outside, and kicking up a great noise. A double buggy was secured from the township, and after being paid, the Chinaman was driven off the course, accompanied by three men in blue, and amid the hoots and counter cheers of the mob. There were some pretty tough customers at Foxton in those days, and it is safe to say that John Chinaman would not have been allowed to get away with his winnings but for the intervention of the police. ■Nowadays nobody gets into the Foxton course without presenting a ticket,.

■but ’ one 'time, many years ago, the amount taken at the gates was practically nil. Travelling down from Palmerston North by train, the writer was “hit up”' for a ‘‘threepenny' collection” for the enginedriver and fireman. The response was good, but nobody appeared to know what the collection • was for. Howeverj when the train pulled into Foxton it over-ran the gates by nearly three hundred yards, and the crowd swarmed over the fence, free gratis and for nothing. The. reason of the collection was ; then evident! Down in Foxton they recall that the last occasion on which licensed bookmakers operated .on a course in New Zealand was in Foxton, and the scene at .the. close of the meeting was a memorable one. Bookies and punters joined hands and sang Auld Lang Syne; cheeps were given all round; and bookies’ signs and stands were thrown to the four. winds. One large sign stuck bn a, pine tree, and remained there for many years. It was afterwards rescued by 1 a member of the club, and is kept as a memento of “the good old days.” . .. It is a good many years since Windage won a hurdles double at Foxton, and the secpud day’s performance did not find favour with certain people who thought that “ a joke” had been arranged, and backed Himatangi. When the jocksters returned to the weighing enclosure many hard words were said, and in the jockey?’ room riders and trainers came to blows. In spite of intervention by police and officials, the battle raged for a long time, and much blood was shed, one party cracking his skull on the weighing machine. Lengthy disqualifications were dealt out. subsequently, and the participants deserved all that came to them.