RUNNING OFF WEIGHT.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 830, 1 February 1906, Page 8

RUNNING OFF WEIGHT.

The edict of the turf authorities that owners must not complain persona ly to handicappers with regard to their horses recalls good stories in that connection. They reveal the humorous s de of a rather d’.fficult situation. Natura'ly (says “ Ranger”) it is not easy for an owner to bottle up his wrath when he considers

that his horses are treated wth injustice, and he wou d be more or less than human if he did not blow off a little froth, so to speak, occasional^'. But effervescence in that d rection is usually a mistake. It is as foo ish as to argue with an autocratic body; neither one’s soul nor one’s money ’s likely to be saved. Thus not long ago at a north country race meeting I heard a “ clever” owner accuse the handicapper of “ umping” his candidates w th special severity, and the conversation that ensued bristled with personalities. “What you do,” said the rascible proprietor, “is to handicap men, not horses, and if you were handicapping asses you could not bring out results more perfectly ridicn ous.” Reply was ’n kind as a matter of course. “ What you try to do,” said the other, “ is to th rhrow dust into my eyes, and because I am not blinded on each side, you dare to address me in terms of vituperat on. Go away,” he cried. “ or I shall come with you—to the stewards.” The fact was subsequently noticed that even when the horses run by that “ clever” person were beaten i’ittle weight was taken off the’r backs, and it required a ’arge number of outings to get them down to what may be termed a winning mark. Exposed Corin is not reduced with rap’dity. I are familiar w'th the case of a horse which ran six times unsuccessfully; ho may not have been always try ng but he was always beaten pointless; yet he was dropped in the scale so s’ owl v that his owner fumed. The latter did not complain, however, to the handicapper. To that expert, indeed, he spoke softly, affecting to a dm’re the profile; and when at last that horse was “ slipped” he had about ICPb in hand. Mora 1 : Do not speak rudely to the man at the wheel in routrh weather.

It is a turf axiom, too, that one cannot get weight off in the stable. A horse does litt e except eat there, and constant eat : ng—whether one does it oneself or by proxy to save appearances—is proverbially expensive. So, if we possess a “ flyer” who is at the top of the tree, we may have to encourage him to grovel amongst the roots as the saying is, for a wh le, in order to reduce the burden allotted to him, and with a view to our backing him at the psychological moment w'th (he courage of dispair. Some men are very patient in that capacity; women in a bonnet shop are not comparable to them for tenac ty o f purpose and grim determination. One of my friends kept a horse for near :y two years until his good time came. Punters had forgotten all about him; he was generally assumed to be dead or draw ng a cart; his age was thought to be phenomenal. In effect, he had been slightly lame. The handicappers had grown to regard him as a neg’igible quantity, as a light of other days; he was “dropped” accordingly to such an extent that, v’ctory was a certainty for him, barring accident; and he won with his head in h s chest, doing no better than a nice exercise gallop for a purse or two of go’d. Then his owner was congratulated in sat rical fashion, for the punters had been left out., “ Such •’ readying’ tactics as you display,’,’ a speculator of that class told him, “tax our memory too severe’y, and a ghost from the grave with his cerements unrumpled would not appear less belated than one of your well-kept ‘ good things.’ ” It was a fierce thrust, but perfectly ’nefficacious. The owner did not care what peop e, said to him so long as his jockey weighed

in all right. “ A horse,” he repl ed, who is worth keeping is worth keeping we.l, no matter how long, and when I draw the cork at ~ast”—he made an alluring gesture—“ the explosion means noth ng less than generous effusion.” If one wishes, alas! to deceive a handicapper, one should assume not on.v that he has a b ind side, one should credit him wth two. That is about the average number with which humanitv is afflicted, especially ’n authority.

“ Why are O d Judge cigarettes like the New Zealand football team?” This is a conundrum wh ch is puzzling many just now. We are not much good at guessing, but think the answer should be “ Because they can’t be beaten.” While this is quite true of the c garettes, it is not quite so of our boys, judging by the wails from Wa’es. Anyway, a! you’ve got to do to find the right answer is to look on the front of the Old Judge cigarette box.

The Ngaruawahia annual regatta will take place on March 17th, and, as usual, promises to be one of the great aquat’c events of the year. Thousands of peope attend these sports, which are popular with all classes of the community. The secretary, Mr. E. Rathborne, is calling for tenders for Nos. 1,2, and 3 luncheon booths and the publican’s booth. Tenders must be in by noon of February 14th.