The Sporting World.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 1, Issue 4, 15 December 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

The Sporting World.

NEWS AND NOTES

(By RECORDER.)

New Zealand is liberally supplied with i ace meetings all the year round ; in fact, on a population basis, it is doubtfvil if there is a country m the world which can boast—if it be a matter for boast —so many racing dates in tli3 course of twelve months. The need for a substantial cutting down of dates has been freely urged from time to time, not only by those who regard racing as an unmitigated evil, and who would welcome its total abolition, but also by many ker-n followers of the sport. These latter hold the" view that the application of the pruning knife would bring about an all-round improvement in the tone of racing throughout the Dominion.

In some respect, the Gaming Act passed in New Zealand was modelled on legislation passed a short time previously in Australia. With regard to betting and the restrictions placed on newspapers in the matter of betting news, however, it is quite amusing to note the difference in the two measures. In Australia it is an offence to publish prices before a race, but full information is permitted after it is :«n. whereas in NeAV Zealand the law allows the publication of betting quotations in advance, while prohibiting any information after the event. Thus we have the wise men who make the laws in Australia and New Zealand seized with a violent desire to reform their benighted constituents, yet diametrically opposed as to the best means of securing the desired end. So far as New Zealand is concerned, we have now reached another stage. The bookmaker, as a legalised betting medium, will go right out at the er-d of this month Frankly, however, I do not expect him to disappear from the land, as he will find plenty of clients off the course, and he will be saved the necessity of paying the exoibitant license fees which were demanded by the clubs. One thing that puzzles mc is that backers have not long since realised what ai- unprofitable business itis. I have heard of bookmakers in various parts of the world growing rich, and as a class they certainly carry a general air of prosperity, but I have not discovered many men who have become wealthy or built rows of houses on what they ba.ve made by backing horses.

There is one respect in which I am in entire accord with the latest amendment of the gaming laws of New Zealand. I refer to the provision made during the recent session for the curtailment of racing. I have been convinced for quito a long time that there was far too much racing in the Dominion. There is no need to go into details regarding particular districts, as in every metropolitan district there, is room for a liberal curtailment of dates. No better illustration of the position is needed than a brief study of the number of meetings that jire crowded into Christmas and New Year hdidav season. Taking only the totalisatbr fixtures, and leaving out of account the host of local gatherings run without the aid of the machine. I find that eighteen racing clubs will provide thirty four days' racing and five trotting clubs thirteen days racing during the approaching holidays. Surely no sane man can xirge that there is any need for so much racing as this? I quite expect that when the details of the reduction in days of racing ax-e under cor side?, ation, the position of tl'-i clubs which race at Christmas and New Year will be taken into serious account. The settlement of the whole question will occasion a lot of difficulty, and the commission which is to be appointed will have an unenviable task before it.

Leaving, for the present, this phase of the racing problem, I will turn to what will more particularly engage the attention of the sporting community during the next few weeks. Christchureh is the one metropolitan dietnet in New Zealand where gallopers are not liberally catered for. The Auckland Racing Club's meeting, one of the leading fixture.-; in the Dominionsecond only, from a racing point of view, to the Canterbury Jockey Club's November carnival — should provide plenty of good sport. The Auckland Cup looks like being an unusually interesting race. The field will include the three horses which filled the places in the New Zealand Cup last month, and speculation runs ligh as to how they will acquit themselves in their next meeting over a two mile course. If they are all in the same condition as when they raced on the first day at Riccarton, I will not be surprised to find Bridge again assert himself. l)ia bolo's form in the Canterbury Cup, however, was good, while Kopu improved as the meeting progressed, and if the Cur> had been run on the last day he would, I think, have won. Ho is, however, such a bad track worker

that he may repeat his B/iooarton performance when he goes to Ellerslie, and reserve his best effort till the close of the fixture. John has come "Into the limelight lately as a good horse over n distance, and it will be quite sensational if he wins the Auckland Cup, as it is only a few months since he was racing without success in the most moderate company in the Auckland district. Aucklanders are very sweet on A dvccatp's chance, and it should not be forgotten that he finisher' second last year to All T?ed, form that is quite good enough to make him very dangerous this time. Paisano will fir.d his task very different from that of beating the old bottlers he was meeting over hurdles in the winter, but there are plenty of precedents of a like nature, and he must not be despised, as he can stay. Altogether, the Auckland Cup promises well.

The sprinters likely to be seen at Ellerslie are scarcely first class. Salute is no doubt a good mare, but Theodore and Gipsy Belle, who follow her in the Railway Handicap list, can only be regarded' as useful. The two-year-old events, on the other hand, should provide the best of sport. At the close of the New Zealand Cup meeting Culprit, Miscount and Peirene were the leading juveniles, and they are all down to renew hostilities at Ellerslie, where they will meet Miss Winsome, the unbeaten champion of Auckland. In the Foal Stakes they will be called on to race over six furlongs, and the extra journey may result in the form being somewhat upset. We already know that Culprit is phenomenally fast, but I have heard doubts expressed as to whether she will stay, whereas, I expect the six furlong course will be found to suit Miscqtint better than half-mile nutters. This is a really good colt, one of the gamest youngsters I ever saw, and I only hope he will not be soured by the succession of stiff tasks he has already been set this season.

The three-year-olds' racing at Ellerlie should also provide plenty to interest lovers of good sport. If Danube were at his best he would, I feel certain, again assert himself, but there is the doubt whether he has recovered thoroughly from t.h«=* accident th»t befel him on the last day of the Ric:;ar-

ton meeting. Then we have the consistent hut. unlucky Biikdale, a useful colt over any journey. Formby, whose form to date suggests brilliancy, rather than stamina; Master Soult's sister, Dearest, who may prove the best of her age before the end of the season; Domino, decidedly useful and on the improve; and King Soult, who has so far not quite acted up to expectations this season.

I have written more than I intended about the Auckland meeting, and can only refer briefly to other holiday fixtures. At one time the supporters of the Manawatu Racing Club were of opinion that the summer meeting of this club would grow into the leading sporting event of the Christmas season, but expectations have not been realised. There has been a great falling off since it was extended to three days, and the approaching meeting looks like being poor, both as to size of fields and as to the quality of competitors. The Sires' Produce Stakes and Palrr.erston North Stakes may help ti relieve the gathering from mediocrity, but even in these two rich races I am afraid class will not be very strongly ir: evidence.

The other North Island meetings will all suffer from the fact that there are not enough horses to provide good fields everywhere. In the south, the Dunedin Jockey Club should have a good meeting, though there will be no champions in evidence. There was a time when Otago could boast plenty of star performers, but there have been none < in recent years, and southern meetings would be poor affairs but for the support of Canterbury owners.

The West Coast circuit will be in full swing during the holidays, but by the time the last meeting is concluded the fields will be very small. This is one part of the Dominion where racing is rather o\erdone. The same names crop up regularly at meeting after meeting, and the sport must grow very monotonous to those who do the whole round. In years gone past the Coast was a happy hunting ground for a section of Canterbury racing men, but it appears to have lost its attractiveness, and few of them will be found taking their horses across this year.