What Racing Costs.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13438, 9 November 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

What Racing Costs.

INTERESTING FIGURES. Until the day when air-ships- have their vogue the racehoree will stir most quickly the sporting sense of man. Millions ** have been spent in the pastime. All .the world over hundreds of thousands, have known no other calling than the tending of the horse in its effort to excel. ; Here in Victoria alone"', (says the Melbourne "Age") . the people have given,' through the premier club, over, a million pounds in prize-money during forty years. Breeders and owners have added a,T quarter of the amount, and gladly expended thrice a million and a quarter in gaining;,; the prizes and the honoun-. Then, since 30 years ago, the people have, through' still another club, encouraged the \ breeder and owner^with W"ward. '.3n : £5,000,000 have been.spent in the .luxury of being able to get one animal p'aisfc the post. - -," •'■ , '.':'' ''.-. i -'■ .' There is no abating of the. struggle. tlie present moment there are;.,soo well- ■ bred horses within 20 miles of Melbourne, each .in training for the winning, post. There must be 400 more of only -slightly legs quality, in the remoter parts'.,of th© State* Their value is probably in early.-a quarter of a million pounds., That Would be their worth in the; sporting world. As -a business, investment they , would: inever return a. dividend., -The most, cunning.actuary in the world would fail to devisea table by 'which' horse-racing could, be made to yield a certain profit. It is"-almost as much a matter of chance to the individual as. gold-mining has been. More so even, for in ho one year in> Victoria:' havej the prizes raced for nearly 1 ' equalled. ;the money spent in' gaining thehi. It has some-.'■■,. tiiks happened that owners have, in the aggregate,', paid' twice as much for the right of racing for a stake as the-stake isWOrtlu -,IV nnnr ihn • : To those lees—they come to £20,000 in a year—must be added the cost'of training. owners have to pay>"£2 f lCs a week for each horse in training. Mirny of them pay as much as.£3. A -racehorse ■ cannot be made prepared, for less than 3fe a week. So that, striking an average the 1200 racehorses in Victoria to-day are costing yearly £125,000 a year intlle pre-, paration.". ■ The fl7 jockeys who. will ride them will share'. £17,000, and the racecourse charges • will mean to the owners £20,000 more.. Add registration-fees, ,;rail- < age, equipment, and the total; can:, be set doVn ati£lso,ooo. .. : ; -,', ' This to win the £7S,CCO : offered by the racing : clubs. Lest it : might, be; argued that the stakes are mean it should-be remembered that the public arc, the dictators of what the,amounts should be. Itis the" public who, by the extent .0f... their patronage,: put-,it in the power .off;the premier race clubs in the State to' increase or'decrease the prizes offered, and-to: add, to or neglect racing.:- And example .set by that club which isv Mlbwed throughout the'"State. ; While it is true that hot more than';., one... in -twenty houses' in training abbut Melbourne to-day will win a race at the coming spring meetings, so long as the ''glorious uncertainty" of happenings continues as it has done in the past, not one of .the; animals will be Steadied in its tasks. The records of racing teem with slirprises. Only "a day or two ago at Flemingtona 24-guine'a",youngster triumphed " at -,' the firet attempt, whilst in a box a few yards away was a 2000-guinea aristocrat' that had hardly paid for her oats bill. Sudbury cost 1750" guineas, and never once, passed the post first. York was bought lor 30 guineas and won three Grand Nationals; whilst Wakeful, originally priced at 310 guineas; scored victories worth -nearly i) 17,000 to her owners. It is this' element of chance that, sustains owners. - ltt a much less worthy manner, perhaps be-, cause they are less fortunately' situated, there are many of the public who court the same element in the betting' ring, and" many owners spice the genuine flavour of the sport in the same way. But there are and always have been, owners who have never spent a shilling on a horse that did not go in feed and wages and keep. And there are many patrons of the racecourse who can see "something in a flying lionse" without a thought of gainl ■ '