THE CLUBMAN

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1312, 17 June 1915, Page 6

THE CLUBMAN

Fresh totalisator records at Ellerslie is a subject which is engaging attention just now, and when the records for the whole of the clubs throughout the Dominion are aggregated it will be seen that the Auckland Racing Club’s business, large though it is, and the largest by far per day of any of the New Zealand clubs, is only one of the many that will show a very large increase over the douigs of last year. There are other clubs that have had larger proportionate increases in their totalisator figures, and a good many that have had smaller, but no club has done such a huge volume of business. No club has given quite so large a sum in stakes during the season, and no club in the Dominion could accommodate such large crowds so conveniently were the same demands made upon them. Some of the clubs, however, have appointments which are more up to their present requirements by comparison. It is very pleasing that so many are in such a healthy financial condition as to be in a position to cater so wen for their patrons, and it is through being so well equipped that the racing clubs enjoy so much of their popularity. Most people study personal comfort, and while there are many who make hard work of their racing there are those who would take little pleasure out of it if they were not able to get accommodation on the stands. This applies to those racegoers who do not enter the paddock and lawn enclosures, and more so to those who do and who pay for the extra consideration. The outside public have not been very well provided for at Ellerslie, and have been long suffering in that respect. Ere very long they will find their domains better found.

At Riccarton the outside public have less room in their ei closure than those who go a-racing at Ellerslie, but they are provided with a good stand and can get close up to the judge’s box to see the finishes and the horses in th© birdcage before and after they race. In this latter respect they are on the same footing as those who are in the paddock or lawn enclosure. All courses cannot be fashioned in the same way. They are planned on so many different principles and to the shape of the grounds. With limited areas some of the clubs find it difficult to plan their racing properties so as to please the greatest number of their patrons. The Canterbury Jockey Club have no end of room for courses and for providing standing spaces for their audiences, but it has always been thought that they could have laid off their tracks and galloping grounds and their enclosures more satisfactorily than they have done. There are other clubs to which a similar remark applies, and many dubs have discovered this when too late. They have learned of their mistakes. In future it would pay new clubs to study these matters of derail more. Well planned courses at the start save money in the long run, and in these days when there are so many courses to be met with of an up-to-date character, mistakes, such as building stands on wrong angles or too near or too far from the race tracks, should be reduced to a minimum. Big tracks and with good turns and long straights are preferable from the owners’ point of view, and from the view of those who are interested in seeing horses get plenty of room in which to race. Mere spectators would like to see the horses racing closer to them. The greater the speed horses are capable of the better it is for them to extend themselves when large courses and straight-away courses are available, as they thus have every chance of being seen to the greatest advantage. Some horses are very handy on courses with turns, but such courses and particularly those under a mile are not calculated to present the same advantages as bigger ones. This is admitted in connection with trotting, too, but the smaller courses can be negotiated by trotting horses much easier than by galloping horses, as they do not go the same pace.

A great trouble nowadays is the want of courses large enough for the big fields that are sometimes brought out at trotting meetings, and there is no doubt that there would be more starters in some flat races were it not considered out of the question racing so many at one time on the circular tracks. At the recent Great Northern meeting some of the horses that were started in one of the fields had to be placed in a second line behind the others. Twenty-six is a big field for any of our courses, but there would often have been more had the services of horsemen been available and their chance considered at all good. Division races are not provided for in our Rules of Racing, but it is possible that something may have to be done in the not far distant future in this connection. There were no fewer than 35 acceptors for one of the minor races at the Ellerslie meeting, and as there was not room for 26 to start in line it is easy to imagine how such a field as 35 would have been getting on. These large fields come in races with hack conditions, as a rule, and it is almost impossible to get light weight riders for all the horses. Welter races and races with a 7.7

or 8.0 minimum present less difficulty in this respect. It is singular that the races of least value usually furnished the largest fields. This is due to classification conditions, which are so arranged that clubs are almost sure to continue to get a large entry. By making the condition less easy and some of the races tor horses that have started a stipulate number of times and never won at''all, there might be a better distinction of the horses and size of the fields. Short races invariably draw well, because there are so many sprinters. Some of the fields at the Great Northern meeting were small considering the value of the prizes for which the horses competed. More particularly was this so in connection with the jumpers’ races.

The agents of the remount department of the New Zealand Government have been steadily purchasing for months past, and at Trentham, not far from the camp where the Reinforcements are undergoing preliminary training, there are still over one thousand horses of a useful class, most of them having been secured in the North Island, while the heavier horses for artillery purposes have nearly all been obtained front the

South Island. The horses that have gone to Egypt have been referred to favourably by experts, and no doubt they improved very much after leaving these shores and being well fed. The horses shipped last, and those in the Trentham depot at the present time, are spoken of as of a more suitable class, taken all round, than those that went by the first transports. They are in better condition, which means a great deal. Included in the number are some that have done a bit of racing, and horses got by blood horses form a large proportion of the number. Increasing the age limit has materially assisted the department in securing a good class of well-seasoned horses. Relaxation of the regulations that were observed early in the buying campaign, and which have hitherto been in force when purchases have been made on behalf of the Imperial Government, was a sensible move. The life of remounts and artillery horses in the present war is not likely to be long, but both classes must be deemed likely to play an important part in future operations, as there is a large demand. No fewer than 20,000 horses have been purchased in the Commonwealth for remount purposes during the year, many of

them for India, and the buyers have extended their operations into the markets of the interior, and would have met with much greater success had it not been for the long drought experienced there. Very many draught horses succumbed to starvation in the way back country, and a proportionate number of light horses as well, but generally “the whalers” of Australia have been of a good class, and are the product of thoroughbred sires used expressly for station purposes and with a view to getting stock suitable for export supplies, for which there has practically always been an unsatisfied demand, if at less remunerative, always at payable prices to their breeders. There is likely to' be a market for good remounts in this country for years to come, and it is to be hoped that the Government of New Zealand will establish receiving depots for horses of a right class and a suitable age for export. Broken and unbroken horses should be taken and got into shape by men especially employed for the purpose. There are in every camp fine horsemen, some of whom would be only too glad to be freed from the monotony of continuous drill and could serve their country well in reducing to shape and in educating

horses for military purposes for less expert brothers-in-arms who will be required to use them.

There has been a fairly heavy drain on the resources of this country of surplus horses for war purposes, and it is feared there may be a shortage in a few years from now, since so many good types of mares have been taken out of the Dominion. It is pleasing to learn that mares are in a minority at the depot at Trentham, and that fewer are being exported for war requirements than went away with the first lots. Many of those that have been taken out of the country have been just the sort to mate with good blood sires to gee troop horses. It is to be hoped that our stock of mares has not been too heavily depicted, and that in the seasons to come, commencing in September, breeders will exercise careful judgment in the select.on of sires for those that are io help to keep up future supplies. Tempted by high prices ruung, all too many good mares were sold at the time ot the South African war, and this is what may happen now that there is such a demand for remounts for present day requirements. Restrictions should be placed upon the exporc of mares as much as possible, as it is certain that remounts will be required more largely than ever. New Zealand breeders should try and cultivate a trade in horses with other parts of the world. Horses are being bred extensively in New South Wales, Queensland, and other parts of the Commonwealth* on large runs or stations, and India and the Straits Settlements have taken large supplies annually. New Zealand may not be so suitable for such extensive operations in the horse breding industry, as the richness of its pastures makes the land more valuable for producing butter-fat, beef and mutton, and for closer settlement, but still it is of importance that what the station holders and farmers do breed should be of the most payable kind. Breeding nondescripts can only result in disappointment in the service value and monetary value of the material produced. Most farmers can raise a colt or two every year, and they should see that what they do produce are of the right kind. It is time we were getting some information in reference to the subsidising of sires for which Parliament voted £4OOO last season. The Government should be obtaining information now about the most suitable horses available from the owners willing to let them be used for the purpose during the coming season. There are some good horses in the Dominion of a class admirably adapted for getting remounts, but which have hardly paid for their keep during the past few seasons, as the prices paid for remounts and their progeny generally were too low to warrant the payment of fees and the finding of pasturage worth so much more for dairying and fattening of cattle and the breeding of sheep.

The establishing of Government depots in different parts of the Dominion where horses could be collected from time to time for shipment to the best outside markets would be a great boon to breeders, who could rely on getting a fair price for their products. It has always been against New Zealand that foreign buyers could not obtain horses without traversing the length and breadth of the country at considerable loss of time and expense, and then being under the disadvantage of not being able to get suitable steamers to carry stock to ports required at a reasonable freight. New Zealand’s isolated position has been a drawback, but there is no reason why there should not be regular boats calling for horses as well as for our surplus meat supplies, and something more than private enterprise is necessary to get the remount breeding and horse export business in working order. New Zealand should get into line as soon as possible and make a start during the coming spring.