RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31003, 8 March 1966, Page 28

RANDOM REMINDER

QUADRAPED, QUARTET QUEREY

It was the last race at Riccarton, and of course a desperate moment for that majority which was, in the vernacular, down the drain, the last chance Charlies. The horses, with little enough to worry about, went with springing step to the start. Except one of them, which got there rather in the fashion of a gouty washerwoman. It was lame. It was withdrawn, and to the great relief of those who had pinned their faith and fivers to its chances, it was announced that there would be a refund. As the horse was returned to the birdcage, the

jockey and mount were approached by a small procession of people—the owner, trainer, strapper and a policeman. It was the presence of the man in blue which suggested, to at least one of the onlookers, the sort of background which gave Nat Gould a living. -And this gentleman was absolutely intrigued about the situation. He was aware that the jockey was also a parttime taxi-driver, and so wondered whether the policeman had given him a ticket for obstruction or something of that nature: there have been many racegoers on record as accus-

tag jockeys of loitering. Next day the observer, still wondering what it was all about, rang the wife o»* a friend, a woman who has • wide knowledge of these affairs, and posed the problem to her. She referred the matter to her son, a little lad of 10 or 12 who has the last word on turf topics always: his grasp of race history and prospects is evidently encyclopaedic. Yes. his message came back, it was a foot injury. And the policeman? He delivered his verdict. All the policemen on the course had chipped in for a 10s ticket on the animal.