PULLING THE STRINGS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1244, 19 February 1914, Page 11

PULLING THE STRINGS.

According to Mr. West F. de WendFenton, in the London “ Sporting Times,” the English turf is suffering from the machinations of a turf Machiavelli. That writer remarks that the denunciations of the forward seat, which has been blamed for swerving, inconsistencies of form, and various other evils, are so much nonsense, as are the dissertations on the reasons for unsatisfactory starting. The fact of the matter is that Engl’sh turf at the present moment is under the control of a modern Machiavelli, though those writers who are aware of it have not ventured a hint upon the subject. Mr. de Wend-Fenton first says this individual, whoever he may be, controls a chain of jockeys, trainers, and owners whose ramifications are extensive enough to undermine the entire fablric of the English racing world, and then adds: —“We are not so hysterical as to claim that the turf of yesterday was as spotless as the driven ;snow, whereas to-day iti is a sink of iniquity. Ramps there have always been and always will be—handicappers and the public have been hoodwinked, horses have been readied, favourites have been scratched, there have been periodical jockey

rings. But what we do say is that never within our own recollection, which extends over some 12 years, nor within the recollection of those who have been in the inner ring of the turf world for double that period, has there been such a remarkable organisation, with one man as its presiding genius.

“Herein lies its great power, both of offence and defence. Here are no divided counsels —no recriminations, no jealousies. There is a dictator as absolute as Napoleon at the height of his power, who pulls strings with exactly the same assurance as a railway signalman pulls levers. Occasionally a coup miscarries. Horses are not machines, and a racecourse is not absolutely a chess board. But week in, week out,, month in, month out, the Napoleon is swelling h s already bloated bank balance, and the satellites are rejoicing in the crumbs of comfort thrown from the rich man’s table. Fir in spite of all the public money that has been lost during the season, it has not been a wonderful year from

the bookmakers’ point of view. The big firms, both on the course and in London, will tell you, if you are honoured with their confidence, that they have won heavily from the ‘mugs’— so heavily that in many cases the backer has given up any attempt to settle, and retired into winter quarters less warm than those to which his creditors have consigned him. But they will add that the bulk of the money that they have taken on the swings has gone on the roundabouts —into a few shrewd hands who will cling to it with tenacious fingers. Some of the starting-price bookmakers have been particularly hard hit. Some of these impossible horses that have kept rolling up to the confusion of students of form, have been quietly supported away from the course to win a small fortune.”

Several cases of what he regards as remarkable happenings during the past year are then quoted by Mr. de Wend-Fenton, who concludes his comments as follows: —“The point we wish to make is that no review of the flat-racing season of 1913 is complete without a mention of the sinister influence which, over-rid’ng the intentions of owner, trainer, or jockey —individually and sometimes collect tively—hung like a blight over thei sport, and succeeded in engendering a lack of confidence which will eventually disgust the public with their favourite sport. ‘You can fool all the people half the time, and half the people all the time, but you can’t fool

all the people all the time.’ ” The writer should be conversant with his subject (says an Australian exchange), but it seems almost impossible that any man should possess the power of wrong-doing inferred, nor is it probable he would escape unscathed. The English Jockey Club may be slow to act, but when t moves there is nothing uncertain in its methods, and this knowledge would probably have a deterrent effect upon anyone possessing the incl nat on to transgress to the extent suggested