RACECOURSE RIOT

Hokitika Guardian, 8 October 1928, Page 3

RACECOURSE RIOT

‘' AUCKLAND RX. "MEETING. \■ t K ( OVER START OF CUP. MOB RUSH THE TRACK. RACING SUSPENDED' FOR DAY. (By Telegrtiph—-Per Press Association.)

AUCKLAND, Oct. 6. Unprecedented scenes were witnessed at Ellerslie this afternoon, and an angry demonstration by a esetion of the , crowd necessitated the postpone-* meht.of the racing. Mounted and foot police were unable to clear the. course, to allow the racing to proceed. The principal handicap event,' the Mitchelson Cup, contested by the Dominion’s best horses, the fourth race on the Auckland- card at Ellerslie, was the cause of: the demonstration. At the start, only seven out of the fourteen runners left the harrier, the others being, pulled up, and one or two standing on the .mark, apparently considering that it was a false start. The other seven horses finished the race, Laughing Prince winning from Desert Glow and. Mask, while the remaining seven horses stood on the course at the starting, point, and 1 watched the field pass. After, the horses came back the crowd surged on to'the course, and despite the efforts of the police, they held up the racing. 'The starters for the fifth race, the •Hunter’s Steeplechase, went to leave the birdcage .for their preliminary, hut the crowd surged up against the enclosure and refused to let them out. Later the ghorses were walked behind the stands and entered the course proper through an a!U v on the hill enclosure. Thp starter, Mr C. O’Connor, also adopted this method of going to the starting point at the seven furlong barrier. After some further, delay the steeplechase was started, 16 minutes late, with a crowd still thronging the course.* There were many falls in this contest, and when the leading hoise, Mashoor, approached the course proper to finish a ' crowd rushed down the straight and attempted to stop this horse and the two horses following. One fanatic ran to the last fence and even attempted to drive Mashoor Away a- dangerous procedure to himself, to the horse, and to the two following horses. Only three finished the course. Seeing a hostile crowd in his way, .attempting to ,: top him from finishing the race. A. McGregor, rider of Mas-. floor,’ inet tlieir challenge, and drawing his whip, despite the fact that the other horses were half a mile away lie rot 1 ;' Ids mount into the nuih, • which ti-ied,-.ight up to ■ the last to., stun,:him,. Amid cheers from the official stand and the grandstand,, McGregor, punched Ids horse home, to win . easily from Cui Bono and Clockwork. who were almost, stopped by the crowd. It was a sensational affair, and it showed to what lengths the angry dembnstrators .would g'u It is st'.’tod that the ,Ir> - mons+rators made a' demand to the stewards to appoint another starter, or otherwi-e they would not allow the, racing to proceed. Owing to a continued demonstration, the crowd refusing to leave the pourse tire Committee decided after the steeplechase, to postpone the remainder of the racing until Monday. , Tin? remaining . time events will he run on Monday afternoon, when the public will he admitted free of charge, j Monday’s card will be staged on . Tuesday. I One man was knocked down.by the horse of a mounted constable, and the crowd set up a yell of “Pull him off! One man in the crowd then caught hold of the reins, and for a moment or two matters were looking very ominous. A climax was almost reached j when a,woman refused to move out of I the way when ordered by the constable, and hauling off, struck him. i When Judge Lusk took his seat for the steeplechase, , he was vigorously * “counted out.’’ The crowd were con- | tinuously culling out “No more races to-day!” The whole atmosphere was i electric. j At five minutes to four, when no more than 200 were round the entrance I to thp birdcage, Dr McGregor Grant, Steward, of the Club, supported by other officials, mounted £ step ladder and addressed the' crowd. He app©-led to them, hut this had the Opposite effect to that intended, for within a ! couple of minutes all who had dispersed a few minutes previously, supplemented by hundreds of others, rushed . hack to hear what was being said. Dr j Grant was “counted out,” and another angry demonstration arose. The crowd | was still* in possession of the gourde at j 4.19 p.m.. when the "racing was declared off for the day.

CAUSE OF THE TROUBLE. CROWD’S CRIES AT BARRIER. AUCKLAND, Oct. 7. ' The stewards of the Auckland Racing Club have held an inquiry into the start of the Mitchelson ( up. Mi O’Connor, the starter, said that he released the barrier to a proper start. Some of the spectators commenced to

call out, and, in liis'opinion,'tins was respohsible for tho other riders pulling up, in addition to three riders that did not ineye off, Mr O’Connor said that MeTavish,. the, rider ,of To Kara, was walking his horse up behind the field, M'cTavish came, up When lie was called on. to do'sp, and the barrier was. immediately released. The starter considered that the incident was the aftermath of the false start the previous week at the Pakurunga Hunt, meeting. There was noth, ing unusual at the start to warrant him in calling a false start. ■ P. Brady, the rider of Queen Arch, said that lie jumped out at the start of the race, hut he did not know whether to go on or not, and when the crowd eilled out, he pulled up after running, for some distance. Brady said that he had no other reason to think it was a false start. ,

' A. Tinker, the rider of Star Stranger ; R, McTavisli, the rider of Te Kara; L. Munson, the rider of Vallcon ; C. Goldsboro, rider of Mint Leaf: H. Wiggins, rider of Catkin; and C. Mclnally, rider of Tidal, also gave evidence. From their evidence it appeared that some stayed at the post because they did not hear the starter call to them to “Go.” though they knew that the barrier was lifted properly, and they stated that they thought, for some reason, Te Kara had plunged into the tapes and released the barrier. Others stated tjiey pulled up on account of the shouts of the spectators.

The Stewards said that they had. m option but to declare the race properly started in view of the starter’s evidence. Rule 5 of Part 24 of the Rtde r states: “The starter’s decision shall be final except in the case of a start in front of the starting post, or an i wrong course, or .before the appointee' time.”

SIX JOCKEYS INJURED. FALLS IN STEEPLES. AUCKLAND, Oct. 7. Six jockeys were injured when tlieii mounts fell in the' Hunters’ Steeplechase at Ellerslie on Saturday, but none of them was severely hurt. At thO ifir-t fence the first tipie round, two iockeys M. .Conway, who was on Master Arch, and E. Warner, rider of Archangel—were thrown heavily. ‘ Cut way, whose skull cap was crushed by the impact, sustained a severe cut on the head and Concussion. Warner was unconscious for about five minutes.

On the final round, four horses fell together ofc the first fence at the top of the hill, and all of the jockeys required medical treatment. S. Henderson (rider of Marita) sustained a frac-Lm-e'of the right collarbone, while D. Dulieu Older of Rafferty) received injuries to his ribs and slight concussion. J. Sharkey, who was riding importer, had his face severely cut and also! suffered concussion, while R. Syme, who fell from Pompeins, was picked up by the ambulance suffering from shock. The St. John Ambulance, had a busv time, as the stretcher-bearers had only picked up the first two .jockeys when it was * seen that the others had been injured. . : v . / ' ’ Meanwhile some spectators had been knocked down by the-horses coming up the finishing straight, and these also required! attention.