PENALTY CONDITIONS IN NEED OF ALTERATION.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 956, 2 July 1908, Page 5

PENALTY CONDITIONS IN NEED OF ALTERATION.

It would seem that the Canterbury Jockey Club is not desirous of seeing the Wellington R.C. go ahead, at least so it would appear from the altogether absurd conditions imposed in the way of penalties at the Riccarton fixture. For instance, in the N.Z. Grand National Steeplechase the winner of any steeplechase of the value of £3OO is penalised to the extent of 141 b, and the same applies to the big hurdle event at Riccarton. Now this must tell very hardly indeed on the Auckland brigade, such as Kiatere, Loch Fyne, Shrapnel, or Lady Hune. If any of these were to race at Wellington and win, say, the Winter Hurdles or the Wellington Steeplechase, they

would immediately be mulcted in a 141 b penalty, when the only thing to do would be to send them straight home again instead of going on to Christchurch. If a horse has a light weight, an additional stone on his back for winning may be no great hardship, but a very different tale has to be told when the original handicap comes in the list or 12st list, as will probably be the case with the Auckland horses. Therefore owners must either race at Wellington and take the risk of being crushed out of the Riccarton events, or else pass Wellington altogether and miss the chance of winning some nice stakes. This seems manifestly unfair to owners who are willing to incur the risk and anxiety, to say nothing of the expense, of sending their horses so far afield in the middle of winter. It also seems to mean that the C.J.C. does not wish that the interest in its big winter fixture should be any way imperilled by the success of the Wellington gathering. , As our Wellington correspondent points out, a far more equitable plan would be to adopt the Victoria Racing Club’s sliding scale of penalties. These run as follows: —Winners of a hurdle race after the declaration of weights if handicapped at 9st 101 b, 71b extra; lOst lib to list 61b, 51b; list 71b or upwards, 31b. An even better plan would be to allow the weight adjuster to re-handicap winners if thought necessary. Suppose a horse like Kiatere were handicapped at 12st 101 b for the G.N. Steeplechase. If he succeeded at Wellington he would have to carry 13st 101 b at Riccarton, which is simply farcical, whereas if rehandicapped Mr. Henrys would not allot him more than 13st. The conditions put such a bar on our best horses being sent South that the wonder is they have not been altered before. But we trust before the next meeting this will have been done.