THE CLUBMAN

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Issue 1597, 2 December 1920, Page 8

THE CLUBMAN

The opening of the new track at Alexandra Park marks a new page In the history of the sport of trotting and the light harness horse business in the Auckland province, and we may say in the North Island, and indeed New Zealand. The track is certainly a very good one, well graded, and with plenty of room for big fields. Were it not that the bend is a good one turning for home the straight would be perhaps considered rather short. It is the best that could be made with the shape and area of land at the disposal of the club. The back stretch is long, and altogether the course is a good one. Horseowners generally are well satisfied with it, if it is not quite as acceptable to the whole of the visitors as some they have to race on in the South Island. The old track served its purpose a long time, and the racing of trotters and pacers thereon developed the sport, which gradually grew in favour, until it has reached big dimensions. It was under adverse conditions for much of the time. The purchase of Alex andra Park and the acquisition of more land has been a big undertaking. The building of a new track and the fencing of the course arid grounds, the removal of buildings, the erection of horse boxes, repairing, painting, and upkeep, the laying out of the grounds, the laying down of concrete . steps to hold between 6000 and 7000 people as a preliminary to the erection behind them of a commodious new stand has all come into the big contract the Auckland Trotting Glub are getting through with successfully. * ♦ ■» Horseowners, trainers, and horsemen generally speak * well of what has been done and what is being done for them : by .the Auckland Trotting Club, and the public, and indeed all patrons will appreciate the efforts that are being made. for their accommodation at Alexandra . Park. The scheme is a big one, and the, outside public may have to wait a little longer before the club can do a great deal for them in the way of providing a stand. Provision has been made in that direction for as early a start as possible with the necessary work, so Mr. J. Rowe, president, assured the members of his own club and those of the Otahuhu Club, whose president, Mr. H. R. Mackenzie, called them together on Saturday to drink and wish success to the sport, and to express their appreciation of the good work achieved by the enterprising club, whose grounds they were using that day. The grounds are spacious behind the stands. The spaces in front, which looked very big before there was a crowd assembled, it will soon be learned are none too large. So much could be gathered from the record spring attendance seen there on Saturday, which day proved in every way fine for the occasion. All connected with the succecss of the re-arrangement of the grounds deserve all praise, and the part Mr. John Rowe has played in connection therewith entitles him to a large share thereof. His confidence in the future of the light harness sport has been shared by the executive members of the Auckland Trotting Club, and by the secretary, Mr. C. F. Mark, who has been associated with the club practically from its inception.- It can be said also that the members of the Otahuhu Trotting Club have been looking ahead and preparing for the development of the sport in the north in a befitting way by acquiring plenty of land near Otahuhu on which to make ample provision for the future. The country clubs of Auckland, with headquarters in leading and growing townships, fully recognise that the light harness sport will develop, and they are not behind hand in catering for it. The majority of Members of Parliament have taken in the situation, and have expressed themselves satisfied with what is being done in different parts of New Zealand in that connection. The people will have sport, and are indirectly finding the money for the clubs to carry it on as they are doing. Racing and trotting has never been more popular than it is now.

The situation brought about at the Takapuna Jockey Club’s spring meeting on the second day by the discovery that certain trainers were on the forfeit list, and that as a result horses under their care the property of different owners had to be withdrawn from their engagements, is most Under the existing rules of racing there was no option in the matter. The two trainers had had their names published in the forfeit list after horses in their charges had been nominated and accepted for. The Racing Calendar disclosed the fact on its arrival in Auckland from the south, where it is published, and quite a number of owners, through no fault of their own, had to suffer. One trainer. had neglected to pay £2 to a club in another province. He had under his care five horses belonging to different owners, who had sent them a long distance to compete, and at considerable expense. In nominations

and acceptance fees the Takapuna Jockey Club would be a considerable gainer. One of the horses, bracketed with another on the totalisator, was in the starter’s hands and at the post when it was discovered that it was in the same position as the others, through the trainer’s liability not having been paid. The public who backed it got no redress. The contention is that having been bracketed with another that started they got a run for their money, and would have received a dividend had the bracketed horse won. That is true enough, but the one that was not allowed to start might have won or run second, and been really the one they were expecting to score. In the other case a horse that had run third the first day and that had won nearly a fortnight before at Ellerslie was debarred from running, as was also another belonging to the same owner, who has lost the stakes unless it can be shown that the trainer had been wrongfully placed on the forfeit list. The whole business is most unsatisfactory. Trainers throughout New Zealand are permitted to own and race horses themselves, and they are supposed to know the rules, but some owners do not, and if they did are placed in a very wrong position in having to be penalised as the owners concerned were at the Takapuna meeting. They could not have been aware that their trainers had been placed on the forfeit list, and that their horses would consequently be disqualified from starting on that account or they would not have sent them to the

meeting. What is the remedy? How is such a state of affairs to be prevented in future? If clubs continue to take entries for races without the cash then they should be obliged to notify other clubs from the moment they had invoked the aid of the Racing Conference to help them to collect their -debts. The system of giving credit for nominations and acceptances still pertains, but the clubs that accept entries in that way should be careful not to do anything to penalise innocent owners because of the neglect of their servants. Perhaps the rules of racing may be altered in some way at the next Conference to prevent the possibility of such happenings in future. Such a thing has not occurred before in New Zealand that we are aware of. For three horses in different ownerships to have to be withdrawn for one race and two from another all because their trainer owed a matter of £2 to another club seems as ridicu-

lous as it is oppressive and against the spirit of the rules, which were never framed to punish innocent people. One-of the trainers of three other horses affected, making eight in all, claims that he was wrongfully placed on the forfeit list, and if that were so he and the owners who have suffered with him would have redress. * * - * * The appearance of the weights for the Auckland Cup, now the most valuable handicap race in the Dominion, and, indeed, the most valuable of any description, and for the Railway Handicap is another reminder of the near approach of the festive period, during which there are so many race meetings for gallopers, jumpers, trotters and pacers in New- Zealand. There are 55 horses handicapped for the two-mile race, and 70 for the sixfurlong event, most of the best horses bred or owned in this country being entered. It will be on Friday next that owners will have to give some idea of their intentions. On that day the first acceptances are due, and at the same time there are forfeits due for the Great Northern Derby, the Great Northern Foal Stakes, and the Royal Stakes, and general entries will have to be made for the whole of the minor and other races for which the nominations have not already been taken. It can bi said that most people who go a racing in Auckland are looking forward to Christmas and New Year carnival time at Ellerslie and Alexandra Park in an optimistic spirit, and in other parts of the Dominion other meetings are expected to be the best on '

record for the particular clubs bolding them. There are so many horses and owners engaged in the business arid sport, and the sporting element is strong, that small fields anywhere will be the exception.

Th e re is now a growing fear that at Ellerslie fields may prove abnormally large. It hardly seems likely that the Auckland Cup field will be an unusually large one, but there should be larger fields as the money grows. So comparatively few horses can race two miles that we rarely have anything like so large fields as are produced for some of the longdistance events in the Commonwealth. Two-fifths of the Cup candidates have been thrown in that race at the minimum weight (6.7), thirty-six have from 7.4 downward, there are seven in with from 7.7 tq 7.13, ten with from 8.0 to 8.13, arid one each with 9.0 and 9.2. With the latter weight the handicap has been

started, and that circumstance points to the fact that the weight adjustor assumes Oratress, winner of the New Zealand Cup, to be a mare of very good class indeed, for mares are very rarely assessed so highly. The fact that Uncle Ned, who ran second last year with 8.8, when he was four lengths behind the recently-defunct Karo, who got in with 7.11, has been awarded 9.0 modifies, that view somewhat. Uncle Ned has been most consistent, but has received every ounce he is entitled to, and he will be lucky if he can improve on his last year’s showing with the increased weight. Horses like Volo and Vagabond look better able to carry the weights allotted them than Uncle Ned to carry his. Volo has yet to prove his staying ability. Vagabond has shown his, but not yet this season. Kilrush was unsound on the eve of the New Zealand Cup meeting. There has not been much time to patch him up, nor to get Gazique right since the Poverty Bay meeting. It is questionable whether Snub will come back to form, but First Salute has only to stand up to the necessary work to give a good account of himself. Tenterfield will perhaps do better than he ‘did in the New Zealand Cup. He will need to. Trespass, in the same stable, is a horse with possibilities, but whether Red Ribbon will ever again reproduce her best form is a problem to be solved. Molyneaux is of a useful type, and some of his form indicates the probability of him staying.

The Auckland horse, Glen Canny, was in the boom in the early spring as the result of his winter form, and he was much fancied for the New Zealand Cup before and after he won at Avondale. He may come back to favour, but he has not raced well in the interval, and at no time does he show anything much on the tracks. Lovematch races like a stayer, and she has had plenty of time to recoup, and we may find her capable of running the race of her life. Gasbag has been treated as though he is a pretty useful three-year-old. Presumably, Duo, his superior, would have had a few pounds more had he been engaged. Bonnie Maid stays better than her appearance would suggest, and perhaps recent racing may be beneficial in seasoning her. Naturally, a horse like Prince Willonyx, whose three starts in the last few weeks have ended in wins and who has confounded some of his critics, who accepted him on his Australian want of form, has come in for a lot of notice, and despite the fact that this imported horse was a few months eating the oats of idleness awaiting a passage to New Zealand and may be on the. unready side, there are plenty of people and some keen judges who will not look much further for the winner on the day if he trains on satisfactorily. Royal Abbey jumped into prominence every bit as quick as Prince Willonyx has done, but will he stand up to the necessary work and stay? Tigritiya may stay now she has age, but sprinting in previous seasons has been all she has been asked to -accomplish. Humbug is not a stayer, and though assessed 71b. below Gasbag (in the same stable) is not likely to start, but may be reserved for the Railway Handicap. There are a few likely stayers amongst those lower down, but riders are hard to get at.the weight. Woody Glen is one that should be kept on the right side, and before coming to the 6.7 division Nightraider and Starland are a pair that come to mind. Walton is sometimes suggested as a likely one to win a big race. Most people will be content to discard Lord Kenilworth, who the handicapper has now practically written out as past praying for.