SPORTING NEWS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1474, 7 October 1885, Page 5 (Supplement)

SPORTING NEWS.

TBE LIABILITIES OF UACEHORSE PROPRIETORS.

[Post.] It is well known that a very important \ isstii! affoctiug owners of horses has been pending for some weeks m reference to-. Mr Andrew Young's liability for about" £70, ro present! rig arrears of nomiuations &c, on account of tho horses Minerva and the Poet, which had accrued under their Into ownership. When the Poet was entered to run m the rec-'nt Island Bay meeting tho secretary of that club was served with notices from several of tho racing clubs m the colony, to whom the arrears were owing, requiring the stewards, m accordance with racing law, not to allow the horse to start unless they were paid. Mr Young, who was quite unaware when the horses came into his possession that they were m the", forfeit list, t was naturally very indig— r nant that he should be regarded as adefaulter on account of another man's Inches, but paid the money under protest. A few days afterwards Mr Young forwarded a statement of the case to the Canterbury Jockey Club. In reply he received the following letter : — Christchurch, 12th Sept., 1885. Andrew Young:, Esq, Wellington. Dear Sir— Your letter of the 19th ult. was laid before a committee meeting of the Canterbury Jockey Club held on Monday last. You are doubtless aware that there are two systems m rogue, viz.— the English system, where a horse, on nomination, becomes liable for the whole stake unlesa he declares forfeit at a certain date, and the system adopted by the Canterbury Jockey Club, where nominations or acceptances must, by the rules, bo accompanied by tho necessary amount m cash. It therefore appears to the committee that if the secretary of any club racing under airoi' lar rules to the C J.O. receives nominations or acceptances, he becomes personally liable to the club, as it must be assumed that he has received tho money m accordance with the rules. If a secretary has knowingly broken the rules by receiving uoinioalions and acceptances without the money, it would clearly be unfair to penalize a subsequent owner who has acquired the horse m iguoranco of the secretary's laches. This reasoning only applies to those stakes whore the money must, by the rules, be paid m advance. In any case (such as the Auckland Cup) where the forfeit system Is adoptod, the horse becomes liable. Yours truly, A. E. Cook, pro Secretary, Canterbufy Jockey Club. The decision thus come to by the Canterbury Club has since been accepted by the Wellington Racing Club, the Hawke's Bay Club, and the other clubß concerned, and Mr Young has already received back the moaoy paid m protest. The point thus determined is one which affects secretaries of clubs equally with horse owners. It has been too often custom for owners to send m nominations without the fees, and for secretaries to accept them and leave the collection of payments uutil afterwards ; but henceforth secretaries realising the fact that they may be held personally responsible for unpaid fees will hesitate about incurring such responsibility.