The Bet's The Thing

NZ Truth, Issue 1143, 27 October 1927, Page 4

The Bet's The Thing

A HORSE died on one of New Zealand's race-courses a few days ago. ' He was not the greatest piece of horseflesh m the world, but he was a stout-hearted noddy who had heard the huzzas from the stands as he poked his red nostrils first past the judge's box. "That's that," commented a man leaning over the- rails. "He didn't have a chante m this race, anyhow.' ' A betting crowd's affection for a horse is impersonal. When it says it likes So-and-So it does not mean that its love is for the sleek' coated animal, its courage, its grace and bearing or its hightossing mane. The crowd loves -horse-races — not horses, and this paper is derisive when most followers of sport argue speciously of their affection for horses whenever there is a movement against betting. Tote figures are the drawingcards on our race-courses to-day, and the body lines of an American motor-car are far more pleasing m the eyes of punters than the arched neck of a thoroughbred. Let us be honest and admit candidly that the order of favoritism is the attraction m the lure of the gee-gees, with Horse ten lengths away, second.