TROTTING IN U.S.A.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 226, 24 September 1938, Page 4

TROTTING IN U.S.A.

NEW ZEALANDER’S OPINION

PUBLIC NOT CATERED FOR. LOSING HORSES PENALISED. So much has been written from time to time about trotting in the United States, whence the best breeding lines in the world are sought, that it is indeed refreshing to get a candid criticism of the control of the lightharness sport in America from a man who is a whole-hearted supporter of trotting in New Zealand. Mr. J. R. McKenzie, of Christchurch, whose interests are Dominion-wide, is such a man. Just returned from the States, where he witnessed racing on the Grand Circuit, Mr. McKenzie told a South Island newspaper man that the sport is not popular with the public in America because the controlling authorities do not cater for the public. "They have wonderful owners, wonderful trainers, wonderful drivers, and wonderful horses,” he said, "but they do not know how to run a meeting. False Starts.

"It is quite common to see a dozen false starts so that the public never know where they are. It is their system of starting that is to blame. They have the flying start, as against our standing start. What is tne result? With the flying start a horse might gain a break of 40 yards on others with a bit of luck. My horse might get going just right, and yours be hopelessly left—the sort of thing that very seldom happens with standing starts, with every horse on its propet mark. As far as I could see, there were two or three horses left in every race, so that trotting is a chancy thing for the public in the States. “The moneyed men who are interested in trotting in America concentrate on one thing—time. They want to equal or break records all the time,” continued Mr. McKenzie. “The public does not count; nor are they Catered for. They are not catered for anything like they are in New Zealand. You cannot get a cup of tea on a trotting course over there; the best you can do is to get a bottle of gmger pop and suck it through a straw under the grandstand.”

Owners Provide Stakes. Mr. McKenzie said that he had met Bob Plaxico, a driver who had been with his stable some time ago, and found that he was a keen advocate for the New Zealand system of starting and the strict supervision over drivers. He had done more than anyone else in America to get a better system of starting. “In America they penalise the losing horse,” he said. “Every time a horse wins a heat he is given the inside next time. As a consequence, after a horse wins a heat he would then be the only horse backed. They, therefore, have to bar any betting on him, and the result is that there is very poor betting.

"The owners are racing for their own money,” he said. "This is shown by the fact that in the Hambletonian Stakes, which this year was a race of 40,000 dollars, it cost £2OO for nomination and acceptance, while in the championship race of 54,00 dollars it cost £5O for nomination and acceptance.’'