RACING IN NEW ZEALAND

Motueka Star, Volume II, Issue 81, 23 May 1902, Page 4

RACING IN NEW ZEALAND

(By ‘'H," in the Awstrala si art.) When one is in the hurly-burly .of sp sporting life, he is inclined, whatever his misgivings may he, to look with the kindliest eye on the pastime which is at once his recreation and pursuit. In coming in contact with all that is best in the life he is apt to minimise the leading on the reverse side of the shield. We dwellers under the Southern Cross are marked all the world over as great lovers of the spoi t of horse-racing ; it is obvious the distinction has been fully earned. But how would our devotion stand if the accompaniments of the sport were taken away? The waning interest in spoit, for the sake of sport, has been deplored from time to time by those that take heed of the tastes of the people, yet it is very questionable if a proper 'realisation of the state of things has been come to. Those living in an atmosphere that has been gradually vitiated do not discern the foulness.in the air. Returning to New Zealand after the lapse of mo-e than a year, and being now only an interested spectator, it has come home to me that instead of being a nation of horse-lovers we are merely a nation of gamblers. The noble animal, then, is only tolerated by the bulk of the supporters of the turf as a means of speculation. As all the speculation is regulated by the totalisator —which is regarded as the fairest possible means of arriving at the equitable chances of the horses — the gradually increasing turnover at the machines accounts for the apparent flourishing state of racing. But the sums put into the totalisator at the . racecourse do not adequately represent the amount gambled on turf events. Indeed, with decreased attendances at the racecourse sides, tjhe money invested with those willing to face the risk of paying totalisator prices is ever mounting up. Most "of the investors nowadays never see, nor have they any desire to see, a race run. They are quite content to speculate up n information received, and if the information tends to their enrichment are well satisfied; if, on the contrary, they back the wrong one, they confound their luck," more often than not ascribing their undoing to the machinations of racing men. It is these stay-at-horhe backers that know all about the illicit means by which sci.uu drelly owners, trainers, and jockeys and all of that ilk, take down the confiding, public. On their good days, in the freely-spoken opinion of these people, the turf is a grand institution. When the fates are agarnsc them, racing is c mdemned as a sink of iniquity.