JOCKEYS SEARCHED.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 375, 17 March 1932, Page 16

JOCKEYS SEARCHED.

Some Thought it was a Joke. BATTERY POUND ON TRACK. (Special to the “Star.”) MELBOURNE, March 5. An electric battery of the type carried in the hand by some jockeys was found on the Flemington race track yesterday. Few knew of this, but the stewards were informed, and a formal search for batteries was made before the running of the Leonard Stakes. News of the search spread about the course very quickly, when half a dozen jockeys were seen coming from the inquiry room, fastening their jackets. The jockeys concerned were: A. Goddard (Cleave), J. Pike (Greenline), W. Brady (Comic Song), E. Britt (Tenterden), W.. Duncan (Blematic) and E. Bartle (Old Ming). In the inquiry room the boys were asked to hold out their hands. None of the six having a battery in their hands, and their pockets being then felt, they were told that they might go and take charge of their mounts. From what could be gathered, the jockeys treated the affair as trifling and humorous.

“ The examination was very cursory,” said one. “It was taken in good part, and everyone left the room smiling.

Bartle, the Sydney jockey, saw it from another angle. “ Just fancy picking on the riders who weren’t winning,” he remarked. Another rider denied that the jockeys had been asked to take off all their clothes and pass them over for examination.

The search for batteries is a periodical business in Melbourne. Usually these searches follow the receipt of letters by the stewards, but yesterday’s affair is reported to have followed the finding of a hand battery on Flemington track. Both Used an Urge.

Tt is related that after a race on a suburban course in Melbourne some years ago the jockey of a beaten horse .said to the rider of the winner, “ That’s a pretty decent nag you rode, boy. He'll win a Cup one of these days.” “ He might not be so good,” retorted the other. “ I had something on you.” “You had nothing on me, boy,” answered the other.

Notes were then compared, and it was found that both riders had used batteries in the race.