THE SCRATCHING OF PEERESS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 552, 15 November 1872, Page 3

THE SCRATCHING OF PEERESS.

—o—(The Canterbury Press says.) The action of the Canterbury Jockey Club will, we feel sure, be endorsed by every sportsman in Canterbury. Wo do not care to inquire into the question of who is the guilty party in this very shady transaction; it is enough to say that a gross insult has been offered to the Jockey Club, and to the whole sporting community of Canterbury, by the withdrawal of Peeress within ' forty-eight hours of the time of starting for the Cup. We, without any approach to egotism, may safely affirm that the prestige hitherto held by the Canterbury turf has been second to none in New .Zealand. Up to the present time the majority of our sportsmen have been men who ran for the sport alone. Indeed, we recollect a time, not so very'long ago, when we were primitive enough to have an annua meeting without the presence of the professional bookmaker, and, so far as our memory serves us, the racing was none the less pleasurable or exciting on that account We should be indeed sorry to see the Canter, bury racecourse converted into an arena for the displayed the bookmakers’ talent, and when the question amongst us would be, not which was the best horse, but which one was ‘meant,’ and which the likeliest to be ‘ pulled.’ Having, as we always have had, the well being of the turf at heart, we congratulate the Canterbury Jockey Club on the decided stand they have taken ; for in such a case as this, it is only by the most stringent measures that, to use the words of Sir Hercules Robinson, we can prevent a fine old British institution from degenerating into a mere instrument of gambling and speculation.” In the same issue of the Press appears a letter from Mr. Redwood, jmr., contradicting a report that the sale of Peeress to Mr. Walters was a fictitious one; pointing out that he had frequently cautioned sanguine backers that she was in the market, and might he sold at any minute ; and stating that he had nothing to do with the scratching of the mare, which was done very much against his advice.