To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. Wellington, 5th February, 1849.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 367, 7 February 1849, Page 2

To the Editor of the New Zealand Spectator. Wellington, sth February, 1849.

Sir, — I regret exceedingly that I should be compelled to, resort to the columns of a public journal 'for that "justice which I ought to have received at the hands of those specially appointed for the purpose of awarding it, namely, the Stewards to the Burnham Water Races. ! . In your paper of the, 31st January, and in the Independent of Saturday last, I am accused of foul riding in the third lieat for the "Ladies Purse," on Tuesdayiast, the '30fh January, without any statement being made of the circumstances which led to the course adopted by myself in riding that race, whether such riding on my part may be ultimately proved to be "foul" or not. Previously, however, to describing the race it would be as well for me to make you f aware of the law of the English' Jockey Club, now in force with regard to "jostling," " crossing, " and "foul riding." I copy it from Huff's Guide to the Turf.— - running for-any race, one horse shall 'jostle.or cross another, such horse and every horse belonging to the same owner, or in .which he' shall have a share, running in the same race, shall be disqualified for winning, the race, whether such jostle or cross happened' by the swerving of the horse, or by the foul and careless riding of the jockey, or otherwise; and where one horse crosses the track of another next behind him, it shall be deemed &• sufficient cause of complaint, even though he be a clear length or more before the horse whose track he crosses. Ail complaints of foul riding must be made before or at the time of weighing." This then, Sir, is the law with regard to jostling and crossing, &c, and you will perceive that by this law, the moment one horse jostles or crosses another -in such a way as to interfere in the least withi that other horde's stride; he is,' de facto, from thatjnoment disqualified frorfi winning the race, and consequently from that moment out of the race, and therefore liable, like any other intruder, to be flogged off the course, either by the Clerk of the course, of by the persons riding the other horses in the race, should he at all interfere with their galloping. < , The following is a true account of the race, and.' the accompanying correspondence will, I think, bear

me but in it: —ln the third heat for the " Laoies' Purse," my horse, U Barbiere, was the last to come up to the starting post, but was nevertheless allowed to take the inside place. After starting, and before we had run one hundred (100) yards, Harribogine closed in upon me and rode me completely off the course, into the long standing grass; when forced off the course in thi» manner, I said to Mr. Donald {Harribogine's rider), "You nave jostled me, give me room or Fll whip you, 1' meaning his horse; Mr. Donald then drew «off a little, thus allowing me to get back on to the course. But before we had gone another hundred yards Harribogine again ran into me and was forcing me right on to one of the posts of the course, when I- sajd " Don't post me or ly G—dTllflog you;" it\nqw appeared to me so self evident that, if I did not strike Harrybogine with my whip> which, by the bye was tied to my right wrist, I must necessarily be run right up against the post or go inside of it, that I struck him on the face, which made him swerve towards the middle of the course and enabled me to bring my horse on to the course again with scarcely a hair's breadth between my knee and the post; subsequently to this Mr. Donald crossed me and took my place, although he never was a length ahead of me, Harribogine being the inside* horse the second time round, and coining in at the winning post in the same position. During the second round, however, I, by accident, whilst flogging my own horse, struck Mr. Donald's foot with the point of my whip, for which I apologised at the weighing place ; but, of course, as I had not considered him in the race.from the moment that he first jostled me, I offered him this apology as I would have ■ done to any other "disinterested person had a similar accident happened between me and him. From this, Sir, you will perceive that by the law above quoted Harribogine was disqualified for winning, and consequently no longer in the race, from the moment that he forced me off the line of course into the long grass, and was therefore liable to be flogged out of the way of the others who were in the race, and as it would not have been possible for me to* regain my position on the course and continue the race, as against the third horse Slipper had I not flogged Harribogine out of the way, I did so flog him. I however brought my horse in first by a head and neck, myself in so exhausted a state, in consequence of the dead weight I was carrying, namely twenty-one (211b.) pounds of leadon my back, andridingahorse that required a deal of punishing, that I nearly fell from my horse; but managed nevertheless to get weighed, and faring claimed the stakes and having had them awarded to me by the Judge and Stewards as the winning horse, was too glad to go and lie down, being* scarcely able to stand. In the course of ten minutes, however, one of my friends rode up to me and told me that' the Stewards had reversed .their" "judgment, and had awarded the stakes to the second horse, Harribogine, in consequence of my having struck ,bim with my whip during the raee —upon which. I returned to "fhe Judge's stand, and enquired of the Stewards if such were really the case, and received an answer in the affirmative. This, I told them, I considered'a great piece of injustice on their part, as they had not even called upon me in defence of my conduct in -the race, and I protested against their decision in consequence —the following is a copy of my written protest: — -To the Judge and Stewards of the Burnham Water Races. ' j

Gentlemen, —l regiet tliat I feel "bound to protest against your decision on the Race of this clay for the " Ladies' Purse." The^primary ground of my protest is, that you came to a decision on the ex parte statement of the rider of " Harribogine," without calling upon me or affording me any opportunity of placing the subject in a proper liglit before you. I have now the honour to request that you withhold payment of the Stakes and afford me an opportunity of disputing your decision .>before you, and in ] the presence of my opponents. I believe -that I ani' in a position to prove that the course adopted by me, in riding my horse was forced upon me by the unfair riding of Mr. Donald, which was of such a nature as 'ought to have deprived him of the race even_ had lie come in first, and liad he done so, T. should i have immediately entered a- protest against the race being awarded to him,' and likewise from the same circumstance, that he should have been disqualified from riding in -any other race during this meeting. I shall be'prepared in person and with witnesses to enter upon the investigation at any time and place that you may please to appoint. < /, I beg moreover to express my regret at the hasty manner in which I addressed the Judge and Stewards on the course on learning their decision. I have the honor, gentlemen, to remain your obedient servant, Geo. Duppa. Wellington, 30th January, 1849.

" The Judge's Answer. My DpAB Doppa, — I have given the Stewards notice to be at Baxrett's at 12 o'clock with a view to enter on your case of the •' Ladies' Pursed" St. Hill will also aslr Mr. Donald to defer starting for the Wairarapa. Your's truly, „ < A , , "W. A. M'Clbvebty. Wednesday, (31st January, 1849.)

Upon the receipt of this I assembled the gentlemen who were eye-witnesses of the whole affair, expecting the case would be fully gone into, and that these gentlemen would be called upon for their evidence, when to my astonishment the Judge and Stewards merely called upon a Mr. Ling, not one of my witnesses, and who was acting -pro- tem.~as Clerk of the Course} (the Clerk of the' Course for the Meeting, Mr. M'Donald, having ridden a horse in one of the heats in the same race) for his statement, which was to the effect that, from the oppotiteside of, the course, he had seen me strike Har~ ribogine. ; ..whereupon these gentlemen decided that in consequence of my having so struck Harribogine, they would adhere to their former decision and award the race to that horse, as they had seen the whole affair themselves from the Judge's stand, at a distance mind you, of nearly if not quite two hundred (200) yards. , They refused "in toto" to allow me call upon any one of my witnesses to prove that I-had been completelyjW/eaf off the course before I had struck Harribogine, and that I was in consequence entitled to flog him .out of my way as being nb longer in the race, and of my being com- ■ pelled to adopt this line of conduct in order to get' back into the course so as to save myself and con-

"tiiiue the race, as against the other horse Slipper. But no, the bare fact of my having struck my opponent's horse was in their opinion a sufficient ground for my being disqualified, and accordingly the race has been awarded to Harribogine. Upon my applying to be informed of what course I ought to have pursued under the circumstances, since that which I adopted was in their estimation wrong, they told me, " That I ought immediately upon being jostled to hdbc pulled up and have claimed the race ! !" And this too with a third horse in the race ! ! Of course this does not leave it open for a dishonest jockey when finding himself lively tp^be beaten, or from- a desire to save his horse *for another race, to pull up on some part of the course where there -may happen to be no lookers on, and declare that he has been jostled, or for an owner to have a couple of horses in the race one of which is to constantly cross and jostle his opponent, whilst the. other one goes in and wins ! ! a pretty state of things indeed ! ! And when I placed the matter in this light before them, they said " But by the rule that you have laid before us you ought to have made your complaint' tit the k time of weighing." — My reply to this was, that as I had come in first horse I had no complaint to make, ' excepting perhaps in favour of Slipper's being declared the second horse and thus saving his entrance : but this was rather his affair thanmine,themore especially asl-particu-larly wishe^d to avoid any complaint of this nature on account of improperJanguage which had taken place on the part of Harribogine' a owner towards myself previous to the race, and whiqh had been the immediate cause of my detenriinirig to run this race,and because any such* complaint would, I thought, savour of personal ill-felling towards him, or I never would have run the race out with Harribogine. Besides which I had left the scales, having had the race awarded to me' by 'the Stewards, as the winning horse, so that they were in duty bound to call upon me for my defence, before reversing their judgment; and awarding the race to my opponent. Not to mention the extreme impropriety of bringing themselves in as witnesses in a case where they were called upon to decide as Judges, the more especially as they were at too great a distance for it to have been at all possible for them to have seen what actually did take place previous to my striking my opponent's horse. ! • A perusal of the following correspondence will enable you to form your own judgment of the eviidence that I was enabled to bring in support 1 of my ' line of conduct in the race, and of my Tight to have the case fairly gone into : — r Wellington, Ist February, 1849. Deah Bannatyne, — Yon were I believe on the spot when I struck the horse Harribogine, in the first round of the third heat fof'the " Ladies' Purse," on Burnham Water Eace Course, on Tuesday last, 30th January. I apply now to you to give me a written statement of what you heard 'and saw immediately previous to my so striking Harribogine, and what would have been the consequence to my horse 11 Barbiere had I not so struck Harribogine ;t; t and likewise to state at what distance, as nearly as you can guess, this affair took place from the Judge's < Stand. I must furthermore put you on your honour as to whether you had ' any bets or money staked which would be in any way affected by either the one or the 013161- of these ttyo horses being declared the winner. Jj » ' Your's truly, Geo. Duppa. W. M. Bannatyne, Esq., M.L.C.

Deab Dbppa, — In reply to your note of to-day, requesting me to state what I know of the circumstances connected with the disputed heat in the' race for the Hlvadies' Purse," at 1 Burnham Water Course, on Tuesday last, I may state that I was .standing on the longgrasd inside the course, between the Judges box and-theiDadies Stand; that I observed Harribogine very clbs& to your horse, and apparently forcing you oil* the course ; that I then heard you request the rider of Harribogine not to post you, or push you, (I could not distinctly hear which word you used,; and that youthen appeared ( to separate a 'little from each other, Immediately after this, however, I again observed Harribogine forcing you off the course, and I then saw You strike him. This appeared to me to take place opposite the Ladies Stand, or about 200 yards from the fudges Box ; — what occurred afterwards I took ho notice of. I think it necessary to add that I was' wholly disinterested in the result of the race, as I had no bet upon it, nor could I have won or lost a single shilling whichever horse won. ' - ' Your's truly, (Signed) • W. M. Bannatyne. Wellington, Ist February, 1849. My letters to the other gentlemen are almost wor,d for word the same as that .addressed to Mr. Bannatyne, it will therefore be useless to print them. The answers from those gentlemen will, I think, be sufficient, i

Barrack Office, j Wellington, 2d Feb., 1849. Dear Duppa, — 5 regret the result of the race between your horse ,and Harribogine should have compelled you to request me to state in writing the circumstances I witnessed on the first round of the third lieat for the "Ladies' Purse" at Burnham Water Kaces. I was standing at the time within reach of a post, I should imagine, about 200 (two hundred) yards from the Judge's stand, on the same side ; — after the start, and previous- to" your arriving at that post, your horse was on the long grass, off the course, occasioned by being closed by Harribogine, whether by accident or jostling I cannot say, at which place you 'struck him with your whip on his side, and which must also have struck his rider's leg : this, enabled you to regain your position on the course ; but on coming up to the post at which I was standing, I heard you say, "Don't post me," ..and h-adyou not struck his horse a second timeyj'you'must have certainly run against' the post or over me. > - ~ . mj-u I am not biassed in any way in giving you this statement, as I assure you, oh' my honor, I had not a farthing staked either for or against any horse entered for the l f Ladies' Purse.." , x „ .- ' Your*s yqry truly, (Signed) J. 0. Hamiey, Barrack Master. ,

_. Wellington, Ist February, 1849. - ' My Dear Duppa, — In reply to your letter of this date, I shall be happy to inform you what I saw of the circumstance you allude to, which was this: — As I was approaching the post, almost opposite the " Ladies' Stand," I perceived you on Barbiere, and Mr. Donald on Harribogine, approaching the posi-

iion'l-4KKB taking up; I thought at first that you - both w&e goinj* off the course at the comer,, and I drew my horse back a little,-xm doing which I turned m'yhead for an instant, when looking to the race again, I saw that Mr. Donald's^Borseiadjtakett3juite a different direction, your own horse "hid also, but not so much as his. It was first nearing the post, that Mr. Donald was endeavouring to push you .off the course. Immediately after the horses took their new direction, I heard some one call out, "Dteppa ha* ttruck Harrilogine;" upon which I made reply, "no wonder, when Donald was trying to push him off the courte." With regard to bets upon the race, I had not five pounds (.£5) upon'it; but what trifle I had to receive was by Harribogine winning. Yours very faithfully, , (Signed) Eichabd B. T. Thelwali, " Ensign 65th Eegt.

Wellington, Feb. J« 1849. Dear Duppa, — In reply to yours on the subject of the third heat for the " Ladies' Purse.yall I can state is, that I was on horseback, on the J opposite side of the course, and on a line with, the Judge's stand, when I saw the rider of Harribogine making, as I conceived, direct for the post, you at the time being on the inside of him ; when suddenly Harriffine swerved to the left, from what cause" I cannot say, the distance being too great, being beyond 1 the entrance to the course. I beg further to state that I have no money pending the result of the race. I am, yours truly, (Signed) , R. R. Pbbn'de'bgjlst, ''. J Surgeon, 65th Begt.

From this evidence ydu.will,M am sure, feel persuaded that the rider ofHarribogine, and not myself, was the offending party, and that he u the party who ought to have teen disqualified, evenfrom claiming his entrance as second horse. It must likewise be equally clear to you, that it was not my place to lodge any complaint, having come in the leading horse, unless I felt disposed to do so in favour of Slipper. Andthisl certainlyshouldhavedone,hadit not been from a wish, as I have already stafe'c^'to avoid every thing That would savour of ill feeling towards Harribogine's owner. Of course, if Slipper's rider had called upon me to prove the jostleas in favour of his horse claiming second place, I should have ' felt it my duty' to have done so. Feeling that I had not met with justice at the hands of the Stewards, I wrote to them, as'-follows: — To tfie Stewards of the' Burnham Water Race Meeting. . . > „ " Wellington, 31st January, 18$0.

Gentlemen, —Having brought in my horse Barbiere first'in two heats out of three, in the race for the Ladies' Purse at the Burnham Water Meeting on the 30th January, and having claimed the stakes accordingly as the winner, I applied to you on the same day, protesting against your decision in favour of Harribogine^ and requesting you to give me an opportunity of producing evidence before you in support of that protest; and of my claim to have the Stakes, awarded to me. As you have denied me that opportunity, and confirmed to-day without hearing my evidence, the decision to which you had previously come on the ex parte statement of the rider of Harribogine, I have now to request that you wjll do me the favour of acquainting me in writing with the reasons for jour decision, and also of communicating to me the nature of the evidence of my opponent, on which that decision was founded. I have the honour, Gentlemen, to remain, Your ob"edierit servant, - **"."" Gbo;Duppa.

Wellington, February 3, 1849. Dear Sir, — On the parts of the Stewards and myself, I have to acknowledge th'e receipt of your letter of the lstinst.. and lam with, the concurrence of the Stewards, authorized to state, that we adhere to our decision given on that day, ■without entering into any explanations whatever beyond those given on that occasion. - -' • I remain, dear Sir, • Your's faithfully, (Signed) -' J¥. A.'M'CmbvSrty. •George Duppa, Esq.

The arbitary nature of this, reply, and the utter disregard^ displayed in it; for my feelings 1 in the matter, in as^mxich* as I appeared in the race as a ", Gentleman Rider," I leave it for you and the Public to decide upon. It is now my intention to refer the whole affair to the now existing Jockey Club jf-iriv this part of the world, and likewise to the Jockey Club at home. 1 , { ,_,-, I am, Sir, .* r > ( j v*Your obedient servant, ' Gbo. Duppa. ,