BOOKMAKERS AND RACING

Hokitika Guardian, 29 June 1932, Page 2

BOOKMAKERS AND RACING

LICENSING FAVOURED. AUCKLAND, June 27. That bookmakers will be on the race- ! courses calling the odds at Christmas is the opinion of a number of racing men, who are emphatic that the return of the bookmaker is the only way to save racing in New Zealand from a collapse. Owners, trainers, an ( | many racing club officials are in favour of relicensing the men who call the odds. Racing and trotting, they say, will never fade right out, and will always ] lie the snort of the people, but it is | admitted that lor some time past it ■ lias slumped steadily and the racing | being supplied to-day is not of the lii'gh | standard of a few years ago. I Owners to-dav claim that it is next to impossible to make the racing ot horses pay in New Zealand. f l he stakes have been so reduced that they do not offer reasonable odds to the owner who is prepared to travel his horse and incur heavy expense, and the only hope he has of keeping his racing account balanced is hy hotting. And this is what, the owners, or the more prominent of them, say they cannot uo where the totalisatnr is the only legalised medium. Bookmakers there are in plenty throughout New Zealand, but they have their own rules, and though they claim to offer totalisator odds, actually they dt> so only with certain limits. Sport Slumping, From one end of the Dominion to the other there has been a stea ly trek to Australia, and the opinion s expressed that next spring will find of the Dominion’s best horses racing ijn New South Wales aiiid Viet.win. Jt is pointed out that the chnmpims such as Phar Lap, Ammon Ra, Nightmarch, just to mention three, have done little racing in New Zealand, hut were taken to Australia, where lluv 'raced, later 'being brought back v > the Dominion to be spelled, to af;< rwards return to Australia igaio.

‘•The depletion of the Turf of all o’ir best horses means that we are now carrying on with a lot of second < r j third-raters,” said one owner. ‘That | sort of thing cannot go on, and the i Racing Conference will have to give i the matter of recommendiug tile Gov--1 eminent to re-license the bookmakers j favourable consideration if the sport is | to be saved. It is not the stake-money j that is drawing all own owners and | trainers to Australia.. It is the betting, and these times an owner, to remain | in the game, must back his horses | when he considers they have a good chance of winning. It doesn’t follow that horse always wins when backed by the stable, but even if an owner should lose all his money betting, he j would he no worse off than if he rei mained in New Zealand, because if he j continued to race under the present I conditions of small stakes and heavy expenses, he could not last.” The Only Solution, An Auckland sportsman, who has recently toured the Dominion to get the feeling of racing men on the question, is vory definite that the majority or owners and trainers favour the return of the bookmaker. He said that officials of racing and trotting club's, while many would not go so far as ui say they wanted them back, wore easy about the matter. Other officials thought if racing was to maintain a high standard, and the best horses were to remain, the re-licensing of the bookmaker was the only solution. “The men I found to lie definitely against the re-licensing of bookmakers surprising as it may seem, were a few prominent bookmakers now operating. Whether we shall ever see the bookmakers again on our racecourses is for Parliament to decide, but after the many interviews I have had 1 would not mind having a little 10s bet that the odds are being called at Ellerslie at the next Auckland Cun meeting. ’ ,