The Late Wairarapa Jockey Club Meeting.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XVIII, Issue 1680, 2 March 1885, Page 3

The Late Wairarapa Jockey Club Meeting.

To the Editor of the Standard. Sot, lu your report of the Wairarapa Jockey Chub meeting, you wind up by saying that it was a most successful one in every respect. On behalf of myself aud the general public (those who were not in the swindle), I must take exception to this summing up of yours ; if you had added after the word ■ respect,"—to Messrs Taucred and Hill — you would have hit the work fair in the middle. When two men cau make a clean sweep of a two days’ meeting as they did (barring the hurdles), I think that, so fur as they are concerned, it was eminently successful, very much so ; in fact, too much so. Allowing that everything is fair in love, war, and also in races, I say that when ■iur leading meeting is emireiy at the mercy of two, or you might almost say, one man, it is time a radical change was made in its management, that is if lire club is to continue in existence ; hut from the very strong feeling existing at present against it, I prophesy that unless this change is made, the club will either fade out of existence or have to take a back seat under the name of the Greytown Jockey Club, because it will surely lose the support of every other part of the valley. I will not go into the question as to whether the nets were all run on their merits, because a discerning public can form their own opinion about that ; in fact I daresay you heard that opinion rather forcibly expicssed several times after the races were over, and yet all we get from the public Press iu this part of the district is that the meeting was very successful. Speak out manfully on all matters affecting the public welfare, and you will find that you will be appreciated, for there is notiiing a Britisher likes better than pluck and fair play. Now, after this British growl, I will give you ray idea as to how things can he to a great extent remedied. In the first place it must strike everybody full in the face that our leading club frames its programmes witli a view of discouraging outside entries, and that in this respect it is very successful, the result being that two owners have been able to “ skin the ring,” or to speak more refiuedly “ scoop the pool,” owing to want of competition. This can all be changed by putting some good men on the committee, and so arranging the programme that it will prove attractive to outsiders. A district like this ought surely to give more than LIOO for the principal event at a two Jays’ meeting. It should he at least L 250 and there should lie one or two other substantial amounts for the shorter distance, so that outside owners could enter for the lot aud lake their choice as to which to accept for alter they saw the weights, aud last, hut by no means least, the handicapping must he placed in thoroughly competent and disinterested hands. The last handicap, though not thoroughly had, contained oueor two glaring errors, notably the weighting of the much wronged Kata. It was a curious tiling, but nobody knew who made the handicaps. This sort of thing is far from reassuring aud would alone, if persisted in, quickly give the club its quietus. It’s mainstay at present is its Secretary, and to give the devil his duo, as we say iu Germany, you won’t rub him out ; he is in fact Al. Talking about the stewards, it was amusing to see how iudefatigably some of them performed their duties during the ’two whole days, for uo sooner were the horses out, than you would see them carefully watching the 11 Totalisntor,” to see that •• Dick ” made no mistake, aud when the time came they would go up to Dick and whisper softly in his car ‘ Just before the battle mother,’ or something like that. I’m told ; soon after the machine would take a fit and people would ask “ When is it going to stop.” A peculiar circumstance too was that whenever the big steward went up to “ put it ou,” he was invariably followed by a large crowd of sympathisers with eyes and mouths wide open (your reporter being in the front rank). “ After the battle was over ” those young men generally found that they • had make a mistake, not Dick. I am happy to say that for myself, after a lot of scheming I kept a little ahead of it : put in £2 sometimes, and got hack a little lees. I state this to show there is no animosity ; hut though I am joking now, I mean what I said in the earlier part of ray letter. I am, Ac., “ The Governor. ”