HANDICAPPING TROTTERS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17461, 12 February 1925, Page 2

HANDICAPPING TROTTERS.

A USTRAM A N SY SI EAIS. Trotting owners in Victoria have Horn for some time exorcising their minds on the question oi handicapping 'I he result of the last Thousand caused a great deal of dissatisfaction, says a. .Melbourne writer, and sonic o' the bolder spirits, after the race, drew up a petition which was freely signed urging a change of system. What became of the petition is not known. There were all sorts of threats nfa.de at the time—even the possibility of a boycott of the meetings at Richmond was suggested—but the bark was apparently louder than the bite, H Yin Direct had not been on scratch in the Thousand, maybe thi grievance would not have been ventilated. Yin Direct won a Richmond £SOO, and it was claimed that because of that he had no right to be on scratch. There was at least one other £SOO winner in the race—Abbey Wilks and he was back on 42vds. .1 he difference in the handicapping of these two was, no doubt, duo to the tact that Abbey Wilkes’s success v.as the more recent. \ in Direct had won his hdOO twelve mouths previously, hut .subsequently lost term. In the few months preceding the Thousand he failed repeatedly in races, and it is quite obvious that he "a* handicapped for the Thousand ou that form. There lias been a good deal of discussion lately 0,1 the various systems of handicapping, and the matter came up at the last meeting of the Trotting Owners and Breeders’ Association. One suggestion is that- a system of automatic handicapping should be enforced. I he meaning of this is that a horse woold handicap himself on his perform, anecs. Ho would remain on a certain nmrk till he won or ran into a place, " Hereupon he would go hack a given number of yards According to the time registered. The idea then would l,c to keep him on that mark until another victory sent him further back' or a run of ' 1 outs ” justified his being Jet up. That. sounds all right, but there arc objectors to this system. Commenting 0,1 lt n ,n ** recent issue of the “ Trotting Record. ’ the officio organ of trotting 111 this State, Mr J. S. Walford, a wel -known authority, says such a mode , handicapping would favour a dishonest owner. “The dishonest horseman." he , avs -has only to keep out of a place for a lew ineotings tq get up on scratch again, while the honest horseman who runs lus horse right out and gains a Place is penalised. 7 A trotter or pacer that has once pur. up time is alw-ays liable to put. it up again, and T am with the Americans m that a horse that makes a record remains in that class for the term of Ins natural life. Tn the old days, when nonn nations were hard to get.' it might have been all right to let ahorse up as ho lost form or got old and inirm : bet ,n these days, when the trouble is to deal with the big fields, there can be no excuse for it. It is pitiable to see a horse which has been m tne first class going down the scale and in the end receiving a start in a slow class race, much the same as it is to see a one-time world’s champion boxer m his declining rears actiu '*■ as a chopping block to a third-rater” A recent- ease in Sydney of letting a horse up on the supposition that it had passed its day was that of Clavne Italy. I'rom memory T think C'lar'-ia had a record of a fraction worse than 2mm llsec > and_ was handicapped oil two seconds behind in the 2n:in jasec or better flying Handicap at Kppiug. (.iai-rio Daly won in -->llllll 1 (t was manifestly unfair i.» f.'hnl l-ho, who was properly handicapped scratch, and finished second, to be beaten by a horse 2fy, ls bch'inrl, bm who on his record should hove been at least 72yds behind. \‘ , ' lu - consensus of opinion among trotting men best qualified to judge is thai a horse should not be handieapi»od on a place perlormance. That it not conducive to the best in racing j. s shown at any meeting, when a driver who sees that his chance of winning is hopeless pulls out of a place, and the honest ‘mug’ races liis horse out. puts up good time iu a place, and is penalised. As a case in point, take Tor pedo Hnon, one of the handsomest three-year-old colts seen on the Sydney tracks. Handicapped 12yds behind in the \ ictoria Park Encourage Handicap, a mile and a half race for horses handicapped to trot or pace 2min 2Ssce or better to the mile, he chased the winner. Rude a, on scratch, in a hopeless chase, putting up 2min ‘’.‘boc to the mile, finishing second. N.S.W. CLUB’S ATTITUDE. “ The New South AValcs Trotting Club very properly does not take cog nisanee of place performances, and hr was again placed on 12yds behind in a mile and a quarter race. However, even then .he did not w in. as lijddv Hogan won off scratch in 2min 57.Jsec. a 2min 22sec gait. These times will give some idea ul. the class o| pacer now coming forward on the Sydney tracks, when' two comparative maidens, oil scratch, win a mile and a hall race at a 2min 23sec gait, and a mile and ■> quarter race at a 2miu 22scc gait respectively. “This plainly shows that if horses arc to be handicapped on place performances, the honest driver w-'lio runs his horse out and into a place stands a good chance of never winning a race. Had Torpedo Huon been handicapped on his'place performance of 2inin 23sec to the mile, he would have, been on. say. 72yds behind, and would have had to pace at about a 2niin 17sec gait in win. The New South Wales Trotting Club is on the right track in not penalising a horse, for a place performance, but in handicapping on winning times alone, and 1 venture to prophesy that the system will prove so- successful thai: in the near future the other clubs will fall into lino." An effort is to bo made to institute a change, for at the last meeting of the Victorian Trotting Owners’ and Breeders' Association a committee was appointed to go thoroughly into the matter and place whatever conclusions they reach before the body controlling the sport in this State.