Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW . . AND . . LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Thursday, June 30, 1898. THE EVILS OF SPRINTING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VIII, Issue 414, 30 June 1898, Page 8

Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW . . AND . . LICENSED VICTUALLERS' GAZETTE. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD. Thursday, June 30, 1898. THE EVILS OF SPRINTING.

The cable brings word that at the meeting of the English Jockey Club held on Friday last, the Earl of March protested against the frequency of sprint races, which he declared ruined the stamina and temper of thoroughbreds. The Earl of Harewood agreed, and suggested as a cure for the evil the doubling of stakes for long distances. This same protest has been put before the Jockey Club before, but then as now, beyond the plain speaking of one or two stewards, nothing has been done in the direction of cheeking in some degree the increase in the number of short distance races. There can be no doubt that the sprint, is a popular race with the public and with the majority of present-day owners and trainers. But a look ahead proves that the encouragement given to the short distance race is confidence misplaced. It suits the public, it suits the bookmakers, it suits the racing clubs, and it suits certain breeders. But at the same time sprint racing at an early age is destructive to staying power and makes a horse eviltempered if he has a tendency to bad manners. Here in New Zealand and in Australia the same story is plainly written, by too much encouragement given to races under a mile we are gradually losing stamina. Speed instead of staying power and let the future look after itself seems to be the maxim nowadays, but it is a mistaken one, and time will prove it to be so. Perhaps it is true that sprint racing and the frequent running of two-year-olds are doing more harm in the Old Country than in the colonies, but here as there the spirit of the times is leading to the deterioration of the racehorse. As an example of the havoc wrought amongst thoroughbreds by the present system it may be mentioned that a few years ago 1,1081 wo-y ear-olds ran in races on the English tracks, and of these only 779 turned up in the following year. Another year 723 three-year-olds sported silk, but only 417 turned out as four-year-olds It is only right to surmise that a proportion of the youngsters were tried once and found wanting as regards racing power and that as they possessed good blood were retired for stud purposes. But even allowing a big percentage for breeding the above figures show what a duffing lot of youngsters carried colours in the years mentioned. This two-year-old racing is somewhat similar to the desire in the Old Country for “ baby beef.” Of late years it has been the ambition of feeders to produce at the big cattle shows two-year-old bullocks fit for the butcher. Their object has been attained, though the beef while tender and choice to look upon has lacked flavour, and by the “ old school ” —no mean judges—has been pronounced insipid to a degree. By a careful system of feeding the calf is now made to put on flesh and fat right from its birth, there is no “frame first and flesh afterwards,” as was the practice of our wise forefathers, and the consequence is that the modern product while good for the raiser and the retailer is not of much account to the consumer. So it is with two year-old

racing. While stud owners are beset t with the demand for forward youngsters so long will they breed and force so that the supply shall be equal to the requirements of owners and trainers. And so;:£ long as four, five, and six furlong races 1 are popular with all sections of the racing world so surely will the thoroughbred gradually lose the staying power which used to be the hall-mark of its Here, in Auckland, there have lately ;: been attempts to shorten the distance of established races. The only two mile';/ flat race of the year, the Auckland Cup, | was threatened with the curtailment of half a mile, but happily the full was retained. The proposed Century Stakes is to be run over a mile and a half $ if it comes to pass, but the original"-.! framers of the race could only see them| way to make the journey one mile and a, i quarter. This increase in the distance iBf| a step in the right direction, and a®, honour is due to the men who suggested $ and embodied in the conditions the ad- ? dition of another quarter of a mile. In the colonies as at Home the longdistance, races want fostering care. The words of the Earl of March should sink deep into . the minds of racing men in New Zealand". He is a man who has a complete know- < ledge of racing, and he is a steward of A the most influential jockey club in the world. His suggestions are in the beat' interests of the future of the Turf, for he/; foresees that the present system is trending in the direction of the extinction of the stayer and towards the manufacture of a flying machine of service for a season or ' so as a stake winner, but’“ only that and nothing more.” Here is more work t 3 the hands of the delegates at the approaching Racing Conference. Let them,as New Zealanders in other walks of life/:" have done, “ hold a beacon to the world by pressing home the necessity for long distance races. There is not a first-class racing club in New Zealand which has® not had a successful time during the past season, and it would indeed be a red letter year if the Conference could establish itself upon the memory of the racing world by its resolve to spend some of the big profits upon the revival of weight-for-age races and long distance handicaps. Such a resolution carried into effect would do much to revive the glories of the past, while it would materially decrease thej/j ranks of wretched weeds now appearing /£ as sprinting stars for “one season only.”