Sporting Notes.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5280, 10 June 1895, Page 4

Sporting Notes.

(Canterbury rimes.;

Recent events show that it it absolutely necessary to place greater restrictions upon jockeys. The system of licensing ridors which was recently introduced is good, but it is not sufficiently far reaching to accomplish much towards improving the manners and customs of the profession as a whole. Several important alterations ought to be made in the rales whioh govern jockeys and apprentices. In the first place the period of apprenticeship should be filed for a certain time. As matters are

at present a youngater after being a few months in a training Btable may display some ability, and .he >b immediately allowed to ride in races. Perhapß he is fortunate enough to ride the winner of an important event, and in nine cases out of ten success turns hie head. The period of his apprenticeship iB soon afterwards over, and then the lad eets up as a full-blown jockey. Then is witnessed the remarkably ! pleasing spectacle of a youngster who i is just at the proper age to be birched once | a week in Bchool, strutting about in com- ! pany with some of the lowest blackguards | connected with the turf.diinking, smoking, '■ and rapidly acquiring all the worst vices that it is possible to acquire. Probably the lad's career is spoiled. He loses the . confidence of all honest men and he is asked to ride only when dishonest people wißh to narDetrate a fraud. On the

other band, supposing the period of a lad's apprenticeship were fixed at seven years. The boy haa then plenty of time to learn something more than the rudimentß of bis profession. He is compelled to submit to the discipline of the stable, and even if he is fortunate to ride the winners of some important events he ia not allowed to conso.rt with bad characters and acquire vices innumerable. The conßequence is that by the time his indentures are cancelled he ia a sober, Bteady youth, well grounded in his busineae. He is quite old enough to resist the blandishments of those blackguards who are the parasites of the turf, and he is in a fair way to become an ornament to his prof eesion. _ It is by a lengthy term of apprenticeship that the high-class horseman is produced in England. In that country a jockey's profession, instead of being looked down upon, ia regarded as a lucrative and useful business, and the average English rider is a man of education. In a young country iike New Zealand it is not, of course, possible to elevate the profession to euch. heights, but it is possible to improve it, and this may be done by insisting upon lads going through a proper and lengthy course of training before they are permitted i to take out jockeya' licenses.

A writer who is described as " a corres- ! pondent of considerable experience/ has ' Bent to the Sydney Referee some particulars of what he describes aa the state of racing affairs in New Zealand. The gentleman in question may have had "considerable experience " in New Zealand racing, bat at the same time some of his remarks are calculated to give Australians a decidedly wrong impression of the state cf the Turf in this colony. The statement that Mannlicher is a little, nuugeby colt, is not, of course, of very much importance, but it •serves to show that the correspondent ia nob afraid to write upon subjects about which he has only a limited knowledge. Hie remarks with regard to the totaliEator are those of a prejudiced observer. He Btates that " the totalisator is having a detrimental effect on the local racing.man in corrupting his regard for truth-telling." How very dreadful ! But the correspondent must have been unfortunate. He states that " thieves and spielers Bwarm on the principal courses," so, perhaps, his experience of the want of truthI fulness of New Zealanders was gained among these gentry.. But are there not liars even in New South Wales ? Either the correspondent must have been very fortunate during his residence in Sydney or New Zeaiandera who have visited the other colony have been equally unlucky in their experiences. The correspondent goes on to etate that " most of the stables are either empty or close to it," and he cites, aa an instance, the establishment of £. Cutta, which, he states, contains one horße in full work. Perhapa our friend ia not aware that horses who race on the flat here are not, as a rule, in " full work " at this time of the year. It may be news to him that at one time or another during the BeasonCutts has had at least nine horses in "full work," and even suoh a decided opponent of the totalisator can hardly ascribe the fact of a considerable portion of the Chokebore horses breaking down to the evils of the machine. It is true that comparatively few horse* are being trained at Riccarton now. But our candid britic might have stated that Mr Stead's large ♦earn is trained only a few miles away. In addition, he might have mentioned that whereas before the introduction of the totalisator, there were comparatively few courses upon which horses could be trained,, the very best training accommodation is now provided on many country courses. Then again, Hawke'e Bay, a province whioh contained very few owners ten years ago, is now the headquarters of the richest racing men in the colony. All this is bound to have an effect upon a town like Christchuroh, which does not now poseeeß many wealthy owners. The fact that there are no rich owners in Canterbury is due, not to the totalisator, but to the bad times. The correspondent is certainly correct when he states that Middlepark and Russley are practically going to ruin. The glories of those once famous studs certainly have departed, but in Victoria and New South Wales, where the tot&lisatior is not in üb9, the principal breeding establishments either have been, or are being, abandoned? Our critic is of opinion that racing is steadily declining in New Zealand. If he means that there are now fewer opportunities for unscrupulous professional racing men to make money by racing in a dishonest manner he is correct. If, on the other hand, he means that racing as a clean, healthy pastime has deteriorated, he is very much mistaken. In Victoria the position of the principal club has become so bad that strenuous efforts are being made to introduce the totalisator. In New South Wales affairs are certainly better, but a careful comparison between the state of the turf in New South Wales and New Zealand will show that the smaller colony ha?, thanks to the totalisator, come through the period of unfavourable times quite as well as, if not better than, its elderly neighbour.