Foul Riding.

Manawatu Herald, 29 November 1893, Page 2

Foul Riding.

The Wellington correspondent of the N.Z. Referee gives the following particulars about the disqualification of Me Morran, and of his previous acts. The Otaki attack on the jockey H. Walls we called especial attention to at the time :— There is nothing I view with greater dread at race meetings than foul riding, especially hi hurdle races. Such a thing, however, is common at country meetings in parts of New Zealand, where experienced jockeys take an unfair advantage of youngsters, sometimes at the risk of the latter's life. The victims generally are afraid to say anything for fear of getting " worse next time," and, perhaps, if they do, the stewards take no notice, more especially if the wrong doer secures the help of some of the riders in the race. In the Hurdle Handicap at the H'itt last Saturday, A. M Morran, rider of Unity, it appears from the evidence, struck Mayne, rider of Jacob, which horse M 'Morran usually rides, on the head with the butt end of a whip, inflicting an ugly gash on his head, from which blood freely flowed. How the boy managed to keep his seat and ride over the last two fences it is difficult to understand. He rode into the saddling paddock groaning and greatly exhausted from loss of blood, and was quickly lifted off the horse. It would appear that M'Sforran was sore at not getting the ride on Jacob, and revenged himself on the boy. M' Morran served his time at Chokebore, for which stable he rode winners of important races, including the Great Autumn Handicap on Ravenswing and Hawke's Bay Gup on Cruchfield; D.J.C. Birthday Handicap on St (Jlair ; W.R.C. Spring Handicap on Lenore, and numerous other races. Getting up in weight, he came to this island a couple of seasons back, since when appears to have defied stewards and been the dread of inexperienced horsemen. A very bad case occurred at the Otaki Maori Eacing Club's Meeting on January 2nd last. In the Boyle Plate seven horses started, two of these, Primus and Aroha, being tho property of Mr Hira Parata, trained by M'Morran, and the former ot which M'Morran rode. At the back of the course he struck H. Walls, rider of Laitiere, with his whip, and the boy came in with his head bleeding and his jacket covered with blood. The owner of the second horse entered a protest against M'Morran, who won, but the stewards took no action whatever, and, although the owner of the second horse stated he would lodge an appeal with the Metropolitan Club, nothing moie was heard, of it.

Walls was kn^ked senseless, and did not know, having dropped the reins, how he managed to keep his seat. Had he fallen off and broken his peck it would have been a case of manslaughter. At the Wairarapa Steeplechase Meeting last July McMorrah assaulted a jockey named G. Cooper in the jockey's room, breaking his nose, but the stewards took no action. Cooper, however, brought a charge of assault at the Grey town North Court, when Me* Morran was fined £5 and costs. Since then he has been training at at Opaki, a Master ton sport having erected a number of boxes i for his use, and he registered under the local Metropolitan I Club. He came down to the local meeting as usual to ride, and J McTaggart gave him the mount on Unity at the Wellington R.C. MeetiDg, with the above result. The stewards of the W.R.C. came to their decision -life disqualification, #am« ing off all courses, and carrying with it cancellation of license — as soon as the assaulted jockey was able to give evidence. There could have been no other verdict, and the stewards have earned the gratitude of race goers and riders throughout the district. Although detractors have at times endeavoured to pull the mantigement ot the local racing clubs to pieces, the firm step taken in this case will bo remembered for sometime to come and act as a warning to all horsemen inclined as Me Morran. By his actions from time to time McMorran had lost much, if not all, respect, and had rendered himself unfit to ride in a race. Alfred Mayne, the assaulted jockey, who was struck without any warning, is a lad employed by Mr W. Davis. He made his first appearance in this colony as a horseman at Porirua on th 9th inst., also riding Sweet Dream iv the liflck Handicap on the first day at the Hutc He has been in his present situation since arriving from Australia some months ago. Mayne stated that the whip he was struck with was a mounted one, but the one McMorran brought in after the race was not. The other riders in the race were Higgins, Ross and Whittaker.