THE CLUBMAN.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1240, 22 January 1914, Page 10

THE CLUBMAN.

The cable furnished us with an item of news of more than ordinary interest just as we were going to press last week. Two horses ran a dead-heat on the Ascot racecourse and in the run-off the same result came about, and they ran a third time before a winner could be declared. The spectacle of seeing a couple of horses so equally matched has been witnessed before. Double dead-heats are uncommon, however. In New Zealand they are not possible. Races which end in dead-heats are not run off in these days in the Dominion, and heat racing or running races in divisions, such as is the case in Australia on some of the proprietary courses, is not permitted or, thought necessary. Racing in some respects in Australia is carried on in the old-fashioned way. The old practice was sometimes inhuman and occasionally led to unpleasantnesses over btetting transactions, and apart from betting considerations to feelings of disgust. When horses are fit and have run a dead-heat and owners decide to let them run off there is something sportsmanlike in the decision, but after a second dead-heat owners must be hard to satisfy when they will not divide the stakes. Surely horses have done enough when they have come struggling to the winning post-twice in one afternoon as in the case of the two horses, Tourmaline and Glarebrook. Running them a third time could not be put down to friend?' rivalry, and if betting consideration were not at stake it is hard to imagine what else induced the owners—assuming they were both present to go to the bitter end. This is one of those cases in which owners can do as they like with their own, and there is no law of racing which prevents horses being restricted to any number of starts per day or per meeting,, or of racing as often as owners may elect to run them, but our racing friends on the other side of the water, and occasionally some of our country meeting owners in New Zealand, think three races per day not too much to extract from their steeds, and would be all the better for some restraining influence, and as some of our clubs havejtheir honorary veterinary surgeons would be well were they to be asked to decide whether starting j some horses even once a day should be allowed. The majority of owners and gainers are sufficiently good i judges decide these matters, btit they |are not all so. Three and four mile|heat races, more often run at a slcfev pace for the greater part of the distance, once the vogue in England, wefe dispensed with to redeem the character of racing from the charge of qruelty, some of those eauine contests Toeing nothingshort of distressing triads of constitutional strength rather ftan tests of real racing merit as we gauge it now. The horses that ran three times at the Ascot, meeting in New South Wales may be little, if anything, the worse for their experiences, Mit such contests will not appeal to the feelings and tastes of those who look upon horses as something more than mere money-making instruments.

There are some owners who are prepared to brave public opinion and laugh at public censure as well as despise public approbation, but they have at times to submit to all three, and their turf policies generally are what they are judged on by the bulk of those who go racing. The racegoer is very often wrong in his deductions, but perhaps he is as frequently right when looking closely into racing affairs, and though he has no right to dictate to an owner as to how he shall or shall not race his horses, or to order the running of them in races in which they are engaged, yet a majority do think that directly a horse is nominated, handicapped and paid up for in a race they b.ave some reason to look upon that horse as, to some extent, their property. The extent of their belief leads them into supporting their fancies heedless of whether the owner has done so, or has given them any lead in the matter. They go on betting, and in the belief that they have gauged the owner’s intentions possibly make his horse favourite, and are very much chagrined or disappointed to find that they are, after

all, not going to get a run for their money. An eleventh hour scratching discloses to them the ugly fact. Their bitterness is uncontrollable. They may have had some warning which they have misinterpreted, but they lose their money with a very bad grace indeed. They should always remember that owners have so many races to select from, and things to consider, and that they have always the right to select their company when they know what the probable opposition may tye, and if they take their horses out of engagements a reasonable time before, they cannot be held blameable. It was the much-quoted Admiral Rous who said that if people will back horses over which they have no control, and over which other people have, so long as an owner has not connived at causing people to back them, then backers have themselves to blame. This is a sound argument which punters should bear in mind.

The Takapuna Cup is one of the long established races of the North Island, and is growing in importance. Though the course upon which it is run is probably the most circumscribed in Australasia upon which a

race of such value is decided, it is certainly most popular, since the runners are right under the eyes of the spectators throughout and are at no time more than about twenty chains away. The people dearly love a race, or races, they can see, and for that reason many Auckland racegoers prefer the Takapuna course, with its natural coigns of vantage, to some of the bigger ones. Owners don’t all appreciate the course, because it is small and because their horses are not calculated to race well there, while some have no objection to it and are regular patrons of the meetings, and possess horses that are accustomed to racing on it. Time was when the circuit was only half-a-mile or thereabouts, and then there were always owners who sent their horses to the marine suburb to race on its prettily situated course. The charge for a ferry steamer run of about twenty minutes each way to and from Devonport and admission to the course is claimed to be, and probably is, the cheapest outing of the kind in the world. The nimble shilling does the business, and a short walk to and from the course, or a ’bus or cab ride which costs sixpence each way. This year the Takapuna Cup is worth 600sovs., and the probabilities are that when the numbers go up there will be a fair field of competitors. Mr. Morse handicapped all the horses so recently for events at the Auckland Racing Club’s summer meeting for

distances over and under the length to which the Takapuna Cup extends that most owners could, with some degree of certainty, estimate within a pound or two of what weights their horses would receive, unless the weight adjuster should prove inconsistent in his apportionments, as only a few of the horses had raced since they were last weighted by that official.

It was necessary to find a top weight, and Prince 'Merriwee, who only started once at the Ellerslie meeting, was placed in the premier position with 9st. This is 91b. more than was awarded the Prince in the Grandstand Handicap of lOOOsovs., run over a mile and a-quarter on the last day at Ellerslie, and for which he was not a competitor. His owner has elected to scratch him, and will rely on Jolie Fille, who wen the race last year carrying 7.7. Some horses run better on one course than on another, some prefer rig Tit-handed to left-handed tracks. Cheddar, who, since the scratching of Prince Merriwee, figures at the top of the handicap, should gallop well on the course. A comparison of the handicaps shows that he has been

raised 81b. above the weight that was given him in the Grandstand Handicap at Ellerslie, while La Reina, Jolie Fille, Kaween, Kakama and Devastation have been relatively raised in the same proportion, which is consistent. Allegation has been raised 71b., Tiresome 101 b., Royal Irish 61b., and Almeida 21b. Some people may wonder why the same proportional treatment was not extended to each of these. The running of Cheddar, Allegation, La Reina, Kakama, Jolie Fille and Royal Irish in the Grandstand Handicap would suggest that if there was anything to be done to bring about a more equitable result it would have been to raise Cheddar and Royal Irish in the same proportion ,as they finished in front of the others, in sixth and seventh positions respectively. The fact that Royal Irish beat Tiresome handsomely over a mile and a-quarter in the St. Andrew’s Handicap at Takapuna a month previously, at a difference of 41b., and Jolie Fille in the same race at a difference of 61b., and again finished in front of this pair at the same meeting over a mile at level weights with Jolie Fille and at a difference of 11b. with ITresome, and over Jolie Fille for the third time in the Grandstand Handicap, a mile and a-quarter, at Ellerslie, at a difference of lib., makes it appear that through some of the horses Royal Irish has been given just a little the best of matters if he can stay the extra little bit further

than he has got so far. Tamainupo's double win at Whangarei impressed Mr. Morse, who had him at the minimum the last day at Ellerslie, but has now thought fit to raise him through other horses from 15 to 181bs. Ruatangata beat Jolie Filje over the last fifty yards of the Whangarei Cup, and is asked to meet that mare 21b. better. Devastation has gone up 21b. since he ran about sixth in the Goodwood Handicap. Admiral Soult has come down 31b., Ovation has gone up 11b. and Almeida 21b. Devastation beat Royal Irish, Tiresome and Jolie Fille, amongst others, in the Spring Handicap, one mile, at Takapuna, and is meeting those named on a good deal worse terms, but may run very well,and Ovation may possibly demonstrate that he can stay. The race should prove an interesting one.

It was a long time before the Racing Conference would agree to the appointment of stipendiary stewards. Each time the question came up at the annual meetings, there was sufficient opposition to the proposal, some of it on the score of the expense that would have to be met. There were other reasons. Many members of clubs who had been acting as stewards considered that they were competent to manage their meetings without the assistance of paid men, and were not in favour of their duties being delegated to others. There were others who were in opposition because they feared that there would ce some difficulty in getting competent men. The paid steward has teen given a trial. There were three at first, and now there are more —how many more wo cannot say, but there is hardly a meeting of any importance in either Island that is not represented by an official acting on behalf of the Racing Conference and at the request of the clubs holding such meetings. Some of .the clubs manage to worry along without outside assistance. Some apparently would be pleased to cqntinue to do so, judging from the outspoken remarks of Mr. .Donald Munro, president of the Tuapeka County Jockey Club, at the annual meeting of that club, held recently, who, possibly speaking as the mouthpiece of the stewards who had acted last year, took exception to the way in which the paid official of the Conference had carried out his contract with the governing body. According to'Mr. Munro, the then stipendiary wanted to run.the whole show. Mr. Munro evidently does not believe in one-man shows, but that is really what some of our racing institutions have been, and though some secretaries have had very little assistance from stewards and committeemen, and have really been given a free hand in running meetings, they have teen placed in a very unfair position. One-man shows are not desirable. Secretaries should look to their stewards and committees for instructions and assistance, though there are minor matters about which there is no necessity for ' the secretaries of clubs to trouble the stewards. Stewards as a rule do not appreciate being told of their shortcomings, though there are always some who are not competent to carry out the ordinary duties the office of stewardship entails, and as' for being judges of racing prepared to take the initiative when occasion demands, they are sadly wanting. Hence the necessity for having expert assistance, and when reasonable and sensible advice is tendered in a proper manner, reasonable and sensible men should be prepared to give it consideration. We don’t know what grievance there may have been between the Tuapeka County Jockey Club stewards and the paid official of the Racing Conference, but we do know that this is not the first lime that soreness has been occasioned at the actions of representatives of the Racing Board of Control, and it behoves that body to enquire into the circumstances of the case, and if their official has exceeded his duty it is in the interest of the system that he should be restricted to details that come within his province. If. on the other hand, he has acted as he should have done, within bis rights and in the interests of racing, then he should have the protection of the Board that appointed him, as every man should who has proved himself worthy of his position,