TROTTING IN NEW ZEALAND

Taranaki Daily News, 13 July 1933, Page 3

TROTTING IN NEW ZEALAND

MEETING OF CONFERENCE PRESIDENT REVIEWS SEASON. ALTERATIONS MADE TO RULES." By Telegraph—Press Association. Wellington, July 12. The New Zealand Trotting Conference was opened this morning. Mr. H. F. Nicoll read his presidential address. Interpretation of the word “handicapper” was altered to read: “A handicapper means a person to whom an annual licence for the purpose of handicapping is granted by the Stipendiary Stewards’ Committee on or after August 1 of any racing year.” The following addition was made to rule 11: “Every club shall be represented at meetings of the conference by one of its own members of officials, but with the permission of the conference it may be represented by some other person.”

The question of regulations of the system of win and place to totalisator betting was left in the hands of the executive to negotiate with the executive of the Racing Conference with a view to establishing a uniform system of dividend payipg, particularly in respect to the division of the pool in the case of dead-heats.

The conference gave power to the Stipendiary Stewards’ Committee to appoint one or more persons to act as handicapper or handicappers for racSs on such terms, with such powers and subject to such conditions as the committee might prescribe.

A Hawke’s Bay remit was carried that, subject to the approval of the Racing Conference, any club shall be entitled to include not more than two hack races for gallopers on each day’s programme. Mr. J. Rowe (Auckland) was elected the first honorary life member of the conference. • ‘ It was decided that the allocation of totalisator licences be on the same basis as last year. The following officers were elected: President, Mr. H. F. Nicoll (Ashburton), re-elected for the twelfth year in succession; vice-president, Mr. B. S. Irwin (Dunedin); executive, Messrs. W. Perry (Wellington), C. M. Olliver (Christchurch) and H. Morpeth (Auckland). ‘ The president in his annual address said that the last twelve months, compared with other years, might be considered to have been uneventful, and there was little that called for more than ordinary notice. The racing throughout had been of a high order, with the quality of the competition ever improving and the speed of the horses showing a further marked increase. The clubs were to be congratulated upon the satisfactory manner in which their race meetings had been conducted, and at the same time the administrative work of the Trotting Association had been all that could be desired. Clubs had continued the fight to carry on under the existing adverse circumstances and when they came to hold their annual meeting of members there was little doubt that most of them would have to disclose another lean year, yet there were signs that they had touched bottom, and that the new season would prove to be the inauguration of a new era. Regarding profit and loss account, amount of stakes given and Government taxes paid, although all the figures for this year were not yet available they would probably be much similar to those of 1931-32. In that year only five clubs showed a profit totalling £1515 and 27 clubs made a loss totalling £12,205 (one club did not race); the stakes offered amounted to £105,040 and the Government taxes £95,671. ' USE OF LICENSES. This year one of the two-day clubs deemed it advisable to give up one of its days, and another club did not race at all, and two totalisator licenses which became available were lent to other clubs. Haying shown good reasons for desiring a'change of venue, three clubs were allowed to race on other clubs’ courses, but it had been stated by the Minister of Internal Affairs that the principle was unsound and a greater effort should be made to confine the sport to its home district in order to justify its existence. With this contention the executive was in agreement.

The deduction of 1 per cent, from the totalisator duty, authorised under the Finance Act, proved to be of so much essential importance to the welfare of all the clubs that urgent representations were made for the continuance of that concession. In a report of a discussion of the matter in the House it was disclosed that the losses made by the racing and trotting clubs amounted to £76,000 and gains only £5OOO. As mentioned before, only five trotting clubs out of 33 had paid their way. In the peak years the State had been drawing up to £750,000 in taxation from totalisator transactions. In 1931 the State income from that source had declined to £500,000, and last year and this both show a further drop. A member of the Cabinet stated that the resources of clubs were disappearing and the Government had to consider whether racing could be maintained under the present burden of taxation, and in the Government’s own interest it was considered advisable to lighten the load that clubs were carrying. The reduction was for the purpose of preserving Government revenue and was not relief given at the expense of others, but was to ensure that the Treasury funds could be maintained in order to assist the country. The decision to continue the remission of 1 per cent, of the tax for a. further twelve months was timely and much appreciated, and undoubtedly assisted clubs to carry on where, otherwise, some would have been compelled to hand in their permits. SYSTEM OF HANDICAPPING, The system of handicapping which was now in its fourth year had stood the test of time. When they looked around at other countries-they found that they all appeared to be more or less in trouble, whatever their system might be, and that owners and trainers were continually protesting against the handicapping of their horses. In New Zealand the regulations under which the handicapping was being administered were giving ..Imost universal satisfaction; but they did find owners and trainers occasionally finding fault with the different interpretations given by the several handicappers to the system. They had considerable experience at this stage of the vagaries of handicappers; some did not appear able to grasp the essence of the regulations and and others did not keep proper records. Clubs had no idea of the time that had been given, and the work entailed, in checking and correcting handicaps issued by some handicappers. The work of handicapping was already centralised as a fact because all handicaps were checked by an officer of the association, and the stipendiary stewards’ committee considered that it would be very much wiser to have this regularised under the rules, more especially as the new arrangements suggested would not only undoubtedly give greater satisfaction to owners and trainers, as was evidenced by the unanimous support given to the propcsed new rule by the Canterbury

Owners’ and Breeders’ Association, but also if adopted they would result , in a saving to clubs under this heading. The existing system had undoubtedly made for better and keener racing, owners and horsemen were quite content to run their horses right out, and nowadays they heard no complaints concerning fast tracks and the discrimination - to start horses thereon. It had improved the racing all round. HORSEMEN. . There was a matter that needed consideration, namely, the goodwill of horsemen. It was a question concerning which the stipendiary stewards had reported to the executive on several occasions during the last two or three years, and the conference might well give an indication relating to their views upon the subject. ' They all knew how when observing, a fast class .harness race, they viewed -with wonder the almost uncanny skill' of the drivers, and with a big field bunched together—often with only fractions of an inch dividing the sulky wheels one from the other—how they emerged time after time without an accident or a collision. The suggestion was that horsemen should be classified somewhat on the following lines:—A grade licenses, holders eligible to drive in every . class of race; B grade,. holders eligible ,to drive in all races slower than, say, line 32 or thereabouts; and C grade, holders eligible to drive in all classes slower than line 24 or as may be fixed. Such a system would not only serve to protect clubs and horsemen froir immature and incompetent drivers in the faster class races, but would also serve another useful purpose, inasmuch as the stipendiary stewards report that, more recently, judicial committees when considering reported breaches of the rules by horsemen were, inclined to be easy in their treatment > with offenders, considering that a heavy fine, suspension or disqualification inflicted too severe a punishment, because owing to the existing hard times, such a punishment probably would leave the offender stranded and unable to obtain a living outside of his profession.