Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS’ GAZETTE WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD THUSDAY JUNE 11, 1903 INCONSISTENT RUNNING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IX, Issue 692, 11 June 1903, Page 12

Sporting and Dramatic REVIEW AND LICENSED VICTUALLERS’ GAZETTE WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD THUSDAY JUNE 11, 1903 INCONSISTENT RUNNING.

One is often asked, by visitors to the Colony, what constitutes inconsistent running ? The answer is certainly much harder to give than would at first sight appear to be the case; If such a query were put to them, mo doubt, nine men of ten would immediately reply that a very glaring reversal of form was the correct solution of the conundrum. But is this borne out by facts ? Take for ex, ample the recent big meeting at Ellerslie: Perhaps the most noteworthy incident of/ the meeting was the remarkable out-' burst of resentment shown by the public ' when Batttleaxe won the Grand National Hurdle Race. There was scarcely an individual of the very large crowd present on that afternoon, who was not of the opinion that it was a of inconsistent running of the most glaring nature. They argued, and perhaps not without reason, that as the horse was beaten on the first day by Lingard and Lady Bell, it was incohsistent to find him fairly running away from that pair s on the second day, and that despite an accident which prevented him from finishing on the first occasion. Were the public right, however? Evidently, from the finding bf the Stewards,.they were not; for the connections of Battleaxe were exonerated from all blame. Tlie Stewards were, in fact, fully convinced of the fact that the

first gallop, in the Remuera Hurdle Race, in which it was admitted that the horse was injured, did him so much good as to improve him out of all recognition. The Stewards, being the custodians of the public interests in the matter, having decided that all was in order, one is obliged to concede the fact that this was not a case of inconsistent running,— although certainly one of reversal of form.

Take another instance. On the second day of the meeting, in the Hunters* Steeplechase, Kiatere was never able to foot it with the others. , He was beaten a long way from home and finished at least a hundred-and-fifty yards behind the winner Mark the contrast on the concluding day, when in the Hunters’ Steeplechase the son of Castor immediately went to the front and, outdistancing the field, won in the easiest of canters by many lengths from the same horses who had beaten him in such a hollow fashion, and this despite a very little alteration in the weights. Here was a case in which the running must have been deemed highly inconsistent by many, but evidently it was not so, or j resumably the Stewards would have acted on their own initiative instead of letting it pass in silence In what way do these cases differ from others which have gone before, notably the Romeo affair ? It is a query which will take a lot of answering, if, indeed, any satisfactory answer is forthcoming. Without, however, in any way wishing to doubt the accuracy of the Stewards’ action, or want of it, in the two cases mentioned, many instances might be cited in which prompt action by the Stewards is absolutely necessary, and in this connection there seems but one way out of the trouble, and that is by the appointment of Stipendiary Stewards. It is altogether unreasonable to expect a number of gentlemen to continually and gratuitously give up their afternoon’s pleasure in the attempt to checkmate the dubious practices or to detect cases of inconsistent running. Even if they wished to do so, the Stands from which they are expected to witness the racing at all three of the leading Auckland racecourses —but especially at Ellerslie and Avondale —are in absolutely the worst places on the ground to detect anything of the sort. Take Ellerslie for instance. The view from the Stewards’ Stand shows the horses running almost directly towards the onlooker, and till close to the winning post it is virtually impossible to tell even wha horse is in front, let alone what is happening in the race. There should be a small Stewards’ box in the vicinity of the present bandstand, and there should always be a Steward stationed at the home bend and at the starting place. If paid officials were posted at these spots there would be fewer cases of things transpiring on the course—of which the public are fully aware—but of which the Stewards are in entire ignorance. If action of this sort were taken by the time the next season commences, there would be no reason to consider what really constitutes inconsistent running—for there would be none.