The Clubman

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1557, 26 February 1920, Page 8

The Clubman

At last has come the official, pronouncement that H.R.H. the Prince of Wales is to arrive in Auckland (the first port of call in New Zealand) on April 17, on hoard the warship Renown. What a day it will be in the Queen City of the Dominion can well be conjectured, always providing that the weather is fine. What a day there will be at Ellerslie on Monday, April 19, when the flags are flying in honour of the great occasion and we are paying a tribute of respect and showing our loyalty to and love for the young man of the hour, who is destined to become our future king. The people of Auckland — and from one end of the Dominion to the other —can be depended upon to play their part well, and the sporting section of the community will rise Jto the situation in a whole-hearted manner, do their best, and regret that they could not do more in the limited time available and with so few scheduled racing functions permissible. It is only natural that the executives of every racing and trotting institution in the Dominion in a position to do justice to such an occasion’ would only be too happy to respond. They have to recognise the impossibility of arranging the programmes of our Royal visitors. That is a matter left to higher organisations, and it is well that it should be so. In deciding that there should .be two race meetings — one in each island of : the Dominion — the Government and those in authority with them have done what they conceive to be best. That in deciding upon Ellerslie in the North Island, and Riccarton in the South Island, as the places where these meetings should be held, the responsibile heads have unquestionably done the correct thing. We say this with all due deference to Dr. Thacker, who is a great stickler for the trotting and pacing sport, but who as Mayor of the City of Christchurch, in his civic capacity, might well have been expected, on an occasion of this character, to have refrained from exhibiting his enthusiasm and partiality for one form of sport more than another, and making suggestions as ridiculous as they were in bad taste.

Unfortunately, Dr. Thacker, good

supporter of various branches of “ sport as we have known him to be for many years past, lets himself go when he does not take the same view point as other people in high places. Like the immortal Jorrocks, who looked upon life wasted that had not been spent in hunting, the Mayor of Christchurch places trotting interests there and the community associated with it, before racing and those who have controlled its destinies in. Canterbury, and he does them an in-

justice. When it ’was first known that this Royal visit was to take place, we suggested that there might be a big trotting one of the functions, and we sympathise with our Canterbury friends, who have brought the American form of sport

to its high estate, in not having the opportunity of showing H.R.H. the Prince of Wales what we are capable of in that particular branch of sport, but we deprecate such feeling as Dr. Thacker has exhibited of attempting to play one sport against another as he has done. It is not sportsmanlike. With the royal programme limited to one day’s racing in Auckland and one in Canterbury could the claims of the premier and the two oldest clubs in each island have been passed by? The Canterbury Jockey Club is, indeed, the oldest in New Zealand, and has always given evidence of being able to cope with the necessities of notable occasions in a manner worthy of them, and we are quite in accord with what the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Government have been pleased to recommend under the circumstances. We are quite sure that the coming meetings, left in the hands of the Auckland Racing Club and Canterbury Jockey Club to arrange, will be all that it is possible to make of them.

In the above connection, the Auckland Racing Club executive committee lost no time in meetirig and acceeding to the request of the Minister in authority, and as a result have put in a fine programme of half a dozen races, quite sufficient for the afternoon, and as £4OOO has been allotted and each department of racing

provided for, owners are not likely to be found complaining about the bill-of-fare. It is an excellent one. For the leading event, the Prince of Wales Handicap, the distance (one mile and a-quarter) is a popular one, and the prize money amounts to 1300 sovs. The Naumai Hurdle Handicap is worth 500sovs, and as Naumai means welcome, the owners of good jumping horses will welcome it on the programme, also the Royal Steeplechase of 600sovs, run over the Ellerslie hill, long famed as one of the prettiest steeplechase routes to be found anywhere in the world. It is just possible that there may not be as many of the best ’chasers in the Dominion as could be desired ready to take part, but it is wonderful where the jumpers are brought to light from well on in the autumn. The two-year-olds have not been

overlooked, the Kairere Handicap of 500sovs having been provided for the juveniles, of which we have not many ready or of class, though we may have visitors. The Renown Handicap of 600sovs, run over six furlongs, and the Massey Handicap of 500sovs, for horses that have not won over 150sovs in one stake or 400sovs in the aggregate, complete the programme. It follows as in the natural order of things that there. will be good nominations for such good prizes, but the fact that the Prince of Wales is to be entertained at the old and favourite tryst, Ellerslie, will cause owners to respond in a way that will surprise even the most enthusiastic and optimistic of followers of the sport of kings and princes. Ellerslie will smile her best on that day beyond all doubt, and Ellerslie’s best is something to enthuse and reflect over, and we may be sure that after the “Royal” meeting (which will attract many hundreds who have never graced the scene before and others who have never been patrons of the racecourse), Ellerslie will have made fresh converts and have further increased in popularity.

The autumn meetings are upon us as we write, and the most important •of the Wanganui meetings is voted the one which takes place the last week in February. The indications are favourable for the success of this week’s fixture, which promises to bring together many of the best horses in commission at the present time

and be at least equal to the best of its predecessors. There are some very good short-coursed horses engaged, and the Flying Handicap, the Jacksop Stakes, Cup, two-year-old races and races in which horses eligible for the hack class are engaged should all be interesting. The defection of Karo from the Wanganui Cup was not surprising. It was only in that race that the weight adjuster had the privilege of re-handicapping winners since the weights appeared. The next appearance of imported Arrowsmith after his success last week over five furlongs, carrying 9.13, and his previous week’s success at Hamilton with 9.5, was expected to be in .the Flying Handicap at Wanganui, in which he has 9.11, including penalty. That race sh’ould be run fast. People talk of the going there as false, but. the fact that some of

the races run on the course have been record achievements does not heighten the belief that there is anything amiss with it, and thei;e is probably no semi-circular mile course any faster in the Dominion. In the short races—there is nothing under six furlongs for other than two-year-olds—-the horses that can begin well take a lot of beating. The horses set down to take part are a representative lot taking them all round, and on that account more than ordinary interest attaches to the meeting.

The Te Aroha meeting commences on Saturday, the day the Wanganui J.C. meeting concludes. Mr. F. Edwards issued the weights on Monday morning, and the acceptances are not due until too late for this issue. The object of delaying the weights so long has been in order to give the weight adjuster the chance of seeing the form at Waipa or working thereon, and therefore doing more satisfactory work. The trouble with these meetings coming so close is that the form is not always reliable, and cannot be accepted sometimes as such. The meeting is so popular that it will draw a lot of people by the ordinary and by the 1 special trains on the days of the fixture, and it seems practically certain that the horses will be on hand in plenty to make good racing assured.

At the Waipa meeting, brought off on Saturday, and for which some people were predicting poor results generally because the Otahuliu Trot-

ting Club’s meeting was being commenced on the same day, proved very successful. Fewei* city people travelled to the country meeting than would have been the case if there had been no meeting held in Auckland, but neither meeting suffered to any appreciable extent through the clashing. There were large attendances at both, and totalisator speculation was as brisk as ever. The Otahuhu Trotting Club put £35,400 through the totalisator, which is an increase of £10,132 10s. over the opening day last year, and the Waipa Racing Club’s totalisator workers handled £23,734 10s., as against £16,195 10s. last year, the increase therefore being £7539. This works out in a corresponding ratio with the figures of the Otahuhu Trotting Club.

Apropos of the form shown at one meeting and another of the country clubs, it takes handicappers who are present all their time to follow it, and as they sometimes have to rely on very meagre reports, and as the full particulars of overweights carried rarely appear in the daily papers there is danger in accepting the running as what would have resulted if allotted imposts had been carried. The carrying of overweights is becoming a scandal. Such overweights as are put up at country meetings, it is absolutely certain, would form the subject of enquiry if owners sent horsemen to ride for them in the same way at the metropolitan fixtures. No greater argument for the raising of the minimum weights in all country races was ever presented at a country meeting than at the Waipa meeting. There were 79 starters during the afternoon, counting a number that ran twice, and no fewer than 34 times the handicapper’s work was altered through riders being put up overweight or claiming the apprentices’ allowance. True, in some instances the overweight was but a few pounds, and in others the riders entitled to the 51b. allowance could not take all they would have done if they could have ridden under, but when it comes to putting up so many horseman during an afternoon riding from 81b. to 501 b. over, then it can be claimed that “the dizzy limit” has been reached. There were twenty*-starters in the Orakau Hack Handicap, and with a minimum of 6.10 only one lad took 11b. allowance and eleven others rode overweight up to 501 b. They were all on the 6.10 mark, and starting with Solomon. who had lib. allowed, the lightest he could scale was 6.9. Then came Downing and Nightingale at 6.11, each 11b. overweight; Walsh 6.13, or 31b. over; McTavish 7.0, or 41b. over; Conquest 7.4, or 81b. over; Dennison 7.7, or 111 b. over; McCurdy 7-8, or 121 b. over; Gollop 8.1, or 191 b. over; R. Manson 8.5, or 231 b. over; J. O’Shea 8.8, or 261 b. over; and Glover 10.4, or 501 b. over. Was ever anything more absurd? Is there never to be a limit to the amount of extra poundage horse owners are allowed to put up overweight, and when will clubs instruct their handicappers or fix' minimums that will prevent the recurrence of such alterations of their work? The system of handicapping while such conditions are allowed is a farce. The horses given the lightest imposts with the obvious intention of trying to give them a chance get no chance at all, as riders cannot be got for them at the weights allotted, which the weight adjusters must know is likely to be the case. Of the five horses left in the Cup three had overweights of 21b., and 111 b. respectively, and the winner, Corregidor, carried his handicap weight, while Lady Energy had 111 b. over. The cases referred to were bad enough, but in the Waipa Maiden Handicap, with 24 starters and a 7.5 minimum, the overweights worked out in ten instances at 31b. twice, 81b., 101 b„ 121 b., 131 b., 161 b., 171 b., 211 b. and 311 b., and to crown all three apprentices received 51b. each allowance in the same race. The winner and the third horse carried their allotted imposts, the second one carrying 81b. .over. We wonder whether our turf legislators evei’ give any thought to the subject, and how much longer they intend matters to go along in the old groove. Clubs should substitute medium-weight welters so as to avoid the absurdities referred to.