WANTED A TIME LIMIT.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 452, 23 March 1899, Page 8

WANTED A TIME LIMIT.

Weight for-age races are frequently ruined by the way they are run (writes the Melbourne Herald). Take the Essendon Stakes recently. That was a time affair indeed. Any little sprint on the outside Courses would have ar >used just as much enthusiasm. From the onlookers’ point of view it was really a farce. What was intended to be a test of merit over a mile and a half was reduced to a five furlongs dash after a canter. Of course, if a solid rate of going had been set all the way, Wait-a-Bit might have won just the same. But that is not the question. We maintain that the race, as a race, went dangerously close to being a failure. It was intended as a proof of stamina, but that quality got no show at all. The contest dwindled down to a trial of speed absolutely. This will be better understood when it is pointed out that the first part of the journey occupied considerably over “ even time, while the last five furlongs were run in Imin 3sec ! What possible chance/could a stayer of the “ stonewall ” type have with the Strathroys and the Wait a-Bits in such an egagement ? Five hundred sovereigns were expended over the Fssenden Stakes, and it must be said that the V.R.C. and its supporters, the public, got a very poor return for such a liberal outlay. The same thing is bound to happen again and again if something is not done io guard against it. The V;R C. authorities some ytars ago, in ordert> preserve the prestige attached to the time-honored.

Champion Race, very wisely decided on a time limit. If the three miles are not left behind in smin 40sec or under, only half the first money goes to the winner, and a like reduction is made with the place prizes. It is evident that this system will have to be extended to all weight-for-age races of distances ranging from a mile and a quarter upwards if the hardy stayer who advertises the country and delights the true sportsman is to be encouraged. Under ten furlongs the rule is not necessary for the pace is usually quite sound enough up to that stage, whether it be at weight-for-age or in handicap class. With the Champion Race regulations applied more generally, we could hope for something better than the last Essendon Stakes. All the rules in the world and the reductions would not, perhaps, entirely do away with these farcical races, but a move in the direction referred to would at least tend to improve matters. Ago ahead body like the V.R.C. management will seracely be living up to its reputation if the present unsatisfactory state of affairs is allowed to exist. The weight-for-age horse is always well provided for at Flemington, and he should be made to earn the money allotted for his benefit. Five hundred pounds is rather too much to give for the sake of seeing a field canter leisurely to the turn and then burst home pell-mell. We get quite enough of “ scrambles ” through the year, and we naturally expect something of better class when we turn to Flemington big meetings. By all means give the weight-for-age a show, but, at the same time, ask him to act up to his pretensions.

At the Woolthorpe races last month a jockey named James Moran was so badly injured through a fall in a jumping race that he died on Feb ruary 25. The unfortunate young fellow was a son of Mr W. Moran, a well-known Flemington trainer.