PERIL IN HURDLE RACING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 713, 12 January 1910, Page 6

PERIL IN HURDLE RACING.

r. THE BULLS FATALITY. (By Telegraph.—Special Correspondent.) : . Palmerston,-January 11. / The ,'adjouniied ; inquest touching" the .death of , J?; Whitehouse, who .sustained fatal l injuries at the Bulls ' races, was: .concluded at Palmerston yesterday. , •'Albert Whitehouse,...brother,, of: deceased, gave . evidence that, ■ the' accident. ;happened at.'the second,''hurdle.; Entering the straight for . the,'.first, .time; round tho;horses were all in a bunch, and Atcadia, which was his/brotherfs .'.mountnever, seemed. to rise an inch at the jump,''evidently.' hot seeing it The. horse -struct? and' fell, '•■ throwing, its rider:'. : Deceased appeared to ■be / only; stunned at . first, but; witness soon; saw;'. that he was badly .hurt.;.,. He; was examined by ..a doctor on the course; and sent to. Palmerston Hospital. '* deceased was 28 years of age, and married. In witness's , opinion the hurdle" wis; too, near 'an; / angle /of ■ the:■ course• ■ to..give the ■ horses a : - fair chance of jumping it. He: thought; that it .'should have been shifted; further, up the. straight -' As at presentsituated the obstacle.was dangerous. •• . ' Charles I'rieu, jockey,:; stated in evidence that he was . - ffimitahgi :in the' race/ . Witness; and ;• deceased came at the fenco, together, deceased leading, by about a' length.S - Arcadia did' not 1 see the fence till too /late, and. was: right, under .it"when '■ he attempted to rise. "He .crashed into' the hurdle, and appeared to fall on-deceased. There were fiveliur-

dies in a -mile and a;half, and oiily two In; the steaights, so that some of • ■ the ;hurdles had to be put on- the angles of the course. The hurdle might have been shifted i little further ;up the straight, but .would then make'the next one dangerous by; being too close. lie; thought that - the horse's attention niust have been, taken off the. 1 hurdle.'..; .Arcadia jumped; tho. first .'fence splendidly, andi seemed-to: bo a safe jumper..;., ■ Sydney' Piggott deposed,: that ho was standing' about five,yards .from- the scene of_ the accident, and ,'some twenty or thirty people were; also. standing near it. The'.: horses'- .wero. coming very fast, - anil Arcadia,' who was behind the bunch, did not.appear to/see the hurdle,'but crashed right into it. Deceased struck the ground with his head, iand the horse' struck him: on the shoulder. • Tho horse had a clear run to' the hurdle, and was not interfered with in any way. . .. . . < ;A verdict, of accidental death was returned, a rider being added that racing clubs should do ■ all. in their power to keep the public away from . the: hurdles as this- was apt to draw the attention of tho horses-.competing; in the race. /