“JACK” WREN.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XV, Issue 861, 6 September 1906, Page 9

“JACK” WREN.

AN APPRECIATION.

(By

W.E.H.)

“Jack” Wren, as both his friends and enemies call him, is probably the most prominent figure in the sporting world of Australia to-day. His name is known throughout the Commonwealth as a straightgoer, a generous patron of an classes ot spor L , and a man with a determination to keep the game clean, if his efforts can make it so.

Mr Wren, who is only thirty-.wo years ot age, was born in Collingwood, and was originally a boot factory hand, but a lucky coup during Caroine’s year (1890) gave him a start, and since then he has never looked back, until now he is in possession of a considerable fortune, and if he carries out his intentions will make Melbourne a veritable Mecca for all those who believe in the promotion of honest sport, and who have not forgotten the ancient cry of the Roman people tor “Panem eth Circenses.”

Some few years back Mr Wren made up his mind to get together a racing stable, and naturally looked to New Zealand for some good stock. He purchased Melody, Gapon, Tom Moore, Grand Rapids, Pius, Murmur, and a number of others; winning the Caulfield Cup of 1904 with Murmur in 2min. 37|sec. The win was a popular one, and he decided to add to his string of horses and start a breeding establishment in New Zealand. In 1905, however, the Victorian Racing Club, for no apparent cause, refused to allow his horses to run at Flemington, and he was therefore compelled to dispose of them. The Committee declined to bring any charge against him, and admitted that his conduct on’ the turf had always been exemplary, but at the same time they would not let him race under their rules. The situation was a peculiar one, and gave rise <.O considerable talk, but the real reason soon became public property, and was as follows : Mr Wren was associated with the totalisator, an institu.ion which has the Government support in New Zealand and in most ot the States of the Commonwealth, but which is not allowed on the racecourses in Victoria, and the V.R.C.’s trouble was that a great many people who would otherwise attend the race meetings, were kept away through the facilities offered them for wagering in town. Rather a paltry excuse for shutting out an enthusiastic racing man but the decision was final, and thus debarred from the registered courses, Mr Wren turned his attention to the ponies and entered upon the Herculean task of making pony and galloway racing in Victoria both reputable and popular. That he has succeeded, is clearly ev.denced by the pos.tion that pony racing holds in Melbourne at the present time. He bought the Fitzroy, Richmond, and Ascot Courses, and immediately set to work to make the necessary altera .ions and improvements, and in December, 1905, the Ascot and Richmond meetings were inaugurated. Mr Wren realised that the first to do was to adopt measures to cleanse pony racing of its bad reputation, and gain for it the support of the better class of racegoers. He is not a man who believes in half measures and the methods he introduced were drastic, but they proved successful. He engaged stipendiary s.ewards and made it a rule that every race should be ridden out. the punishment for any crooked running was prompt, inevitable and severe, and jockeys, trainers, and owners, soon found out that he would stand no nonsense. O 1 course at the start, a sheaf of disqualifica.ions took place, and the public began to recognise the fact that their interests were being looked after, while on the other hand owners received every encouragement to run straight through the increase in the stakes, which were raised to £5O, £lOO, and £250. The result was a foregone conclusion; it paid to run ponies on their merits, and it was disastrous to try any funny business. Keene ed stewards were stationed at intervals around the track, and dis. ualificat on meant warning off in both Sydney and Melbourne as the clubs of the two cities became affiliated.

At the present time the Richmond and Ascot Courses are popular places of resort. The former disreputable frequenters have been weeded out —for Mr Wren reserves the privilege of refusing admission to questionable characters, and of expelling them from the grounds if they have slipped in, and the visitor may always be sure now of protection and a pleasant afternoon’s racing. At the comipg -Summer Meeting, Mr Wren has decided to initiate an annual event to be known as the “Ascot Thousand,” to which he will give a /uooo added money. In connection with the popularity that the Victorian Pony and Galloway Racing

Clubs have achieved under Mr Wren’s management, it may be stated that when the Bush Fire Relief Fund was started, Mr Wren offered to give the returns of one day’s meeting to this charity. The races were held on the .7th of February, the same day of the Caulfield Meeting, and- despite the opposition the handsome sum of 10s was handed over to the fund.

As intimated in the commencement of this article, Mr Wren does not devote his entire attention to racing, he is an enthusiastic supporter of all healthy sport, and has done a great deal to revive good boxing in Victoria, believing it to be an excellent training for young men, not only physically, but teaching them to control their tempers and giving them pluck and confidence. He organised the big fight between Murphy and Squires, and has arranged for the meeting between the latter and the American pugilist O’Brien. He gives a £2OOO purse and allows O’Brien for expenses. O’Brien leaves San Francisco in Septemnber and will arrive here in October. It had been Mr Wren’s intention to pit Squires against Mike Wi’liams, the South African Champion, bu: as Williams didn’t accept the overtures made him in time, O’Brien was com nun.cated with and took on the figh’. Williams has since then arrived in Aust alia, and Mr Wren will in all probabi :ty make a match for him with the w nner. He is also making arrangemen.s to

bring out Tcmmy R an, the champion middleweight, to meet Murphy. While attending to all his other engagements, Mr Wren has found time to interest himself in cycling. In 1904 cycling appeared to be a moribund sport, but “Jack” tcok the matter in hand and made a success of it. He was promoter of the matches in which Major Taylor, Ivor Lawson, Floyd, MacFarlane and others appeared, and gave a fillip to the sport that placed it on its legs again in Victoria.

During “Cup Week” of this year, Mr Wren intends to provide a very carnival of sport that will outrival anything ever previously dished up to the public in Melbourne. His fixTures for the “week” are: The Ascot Thousand, for ponies and galloways; the Championship Match between Squires and O’Brien; a Sheffield Handicap Meeting, with a £5OO prize for the chief event, and a monster band contest at the Exhibition Gardens. He has taken the latter for the week, and other entertainments will be provided. You may say “we fully appreciate and accept the “Circenses,” but of the “Panem?” what of that? Well ,the answer can' easily be given by anyone who knows Melbourne. For years “Jack” Wren has been a practical everyday philanthropist, not of the type whose

name always appears at -he head of subscription lists in the daily press, but of the kind that relieves suffering wherever he sees it and goes on his way without advertising it. Collingwood, the suburb in which he was born numbers many hundreds, who thank him for help given when it was needed. He has paid the butcher, baker, and grocer on more than one occasion when that individual was a power to be appeased, and if we are to believe those who have tasted of his generosity, he has never disregarded a genuine appeal lor help. Melbourne has lately been seeing bad times, and there have been many unemployed ; when their cry went up for assistance, “Jack” Wren the gambler, “Jack” Wren the sportsman, was one of the first to respond. He gave £3OO at once to the most needy, and found immediate work for 300 men. To sum him up briefly he is of the people and with them, and they appreciate the fact. He is a hard worker himself, a non-drinker, and a non-smoker, bur his creed is akin to the truly liberal one laid down by Herbert Spencer. Every man should have the liberty to do what is right in his own sight, always providing that he is willing to help his fellow man and does not infringe on his neighbours privileges. Mr Wren is shortly bringing out a democratic daily paper in Melbourne, to which he intends to devote £150,000. His picture appears in this issue.