"VIOLENTLY PUNISHED."

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 225, 22 September 1928, Page 14

"VIOLENTLY PUNISHED."

McCARTEN'S SUSPENSION.

SAVOURS OP PANIC.

WHAT ABOUT OTHER INCIDENTS?

Fair play is bonny play. The stipendiary stewards of the A.J.C: were not fair to McCarten nor to the public when they disqualified this leading jockey for an incident which occurred in the Chelmsford Stakes (says the Sydney "Sun"). They not only punished the man with almost the utmost rigour at their command; they also punished a very large public, and it is to be hoped that the A.J.C. wiU see that justice is done to both the man and the public.

"It was right under the nose of the stewards" is the most popular explanation that is advanced for the standing down of McCarten. If this be true then it could be wished that the stewards had the faculty of being in several places at once, or, failing this, that they would be lynx-eyed when really foul riding occurs at Randwick, because there is more than a shadow of justification for the statement that headquarters is the happy hunting ground of those who are guilty of wrong practices.

Backing Pindarus. The stewards might, without making apology, have inquired why it was that several bookmakers very carefully refrained from laying heavy money against Pindarus in the Hurdle Race and for the nonce went over to confreres and backed the horse. Doubtless, he was the best horse of the day, but it would have been very interesting to know how it was that they gauged this with such extraordinary accuracy. Of the owner's wish and intention to win there was not the faintest doubt, but the wonderful insight into the future which some members of the ring displayed provoked curiosity. And if the stewards and the A.J.C. committee were looking for means of commending racing at Randwick to their patrons they might have spoken a word in season to the starter who managed to mess up three races and destroy the chances of several well-backed horses. Having done this they could have gone further and, consulting an oracle, perhaps have discovered why it was that Anambah was shepherded into a crush during the Tramway Handicap, and held there until it was too late for it to have a chance of winning. Maybe it was a curious concatenation of circumstances; maybe 4t was due to several of the jockeys being woefully inefficient. It was not inefficiency for which McCarten was violently punished. It was not for wrongful practices that he incurred such overweighted displeasure. The stewards reported that Limerick lugged in and interfered with Raasay. They forgot to remark that in the resultant collision it was Rionscup more than Raasay which was prejudiced: And they could not truthfully say that McCarten had been guilty of endeavouring to stop his opponents.

No Motive. The most that could be changed against him was that, passing his field, he momentarily loosened his rein, and that Limerick promptly made for the raiile.. There was no motive warranting : extreme punishment behind what hap- \- pened. The very beat of jockevs will make mistakes. There are so few firstclass riders to-day that -. their names could not exhaust the fingers of one hand. To paes out the best of them on the eve of the big meeting, and to fine him the equivalent of £3000 or £4000, is something that could not go down to the credit of the A.J.C. Particularly, when this action involves endangering thousands of pounds staked upon horses

by the public who hare faith in McCarten's skill. A fine of £50, or even £100, would have met the case—whereas three months' disqualification smacks of panic and injustice. The Penalty Reduced. McCarten appealed, and, after exhaustive deliberations, the A.J.C. committee decided to reduce the suspension from riding of three months to one calendar month. Most racing men will be de-. lighted at the decision, as besides reckoning that one month's suspension .in the spring is more valuable than three months at most other times of the year, McCarten is a particularly popular figure in the racing game. The-reduction of a suspension is no innovation. Jack Toohey and Reg. Marsden, who had incurred the stewards' displeasure at Rosehill, in the spring of 1926, were both relieved of one month of their suspensions. McCarten will miss the entire A.J.C. spring carnival, but will be free to ride at the V.AT.C. and V.R.C. meetings in Melbourne. His suspension will expire on Sunday,- October 7, and he will thus miss the last day of the A.JjC. meeting, which is on October 6. When Toohey was suspended in 1926 one of the mounts he missed was that of Amounis, who, in Jim Munro's hands, landed the Epsom. McCarten had the rides on Reonui (Epsom), Jocelyn (Metropolitan) and Limerick in his w.f.a. engagements, besides other choice mounts at the A.J.C. carnival. His suspension, therefore, looks like being particularly costly.