NOT POPULAR WITH JOCKEYS

NZ Truth, Issue 1145, 10 November 1927, Page 11

NOT POPULAR WITH JOCKEYS

Idea Was Good, but Execution Proved

A Dismal Failure

Now and again those control

idea and then immediately there,

FOR years there has been much comment and many protests from the public over the straight five* and six-furlong races on the course. . Such races : are run practically straight on to . the stands. Spectators see next to nothing. of the early stages of the races and even those equipped with the. best of glasses fail to pick iip the running as it should be -picked up— and this includes Pressmen, too. . ; After many years the executive . of the club thought that something, should be done— and it was decided that something"' .would be done. The intention was,good t all right, but the execution ,wa;s extremely poor.' To get over the difficulty it was de-.

lling racing at Ricoarton get an is something doing. cided to shift both the five arid the sixfurlong starting-barriers down the course some 58 yards. Thist of course, meant , that the old winning-post would not s.erve for these races, so a second post 58 yards past the original finishing-line was erected. A tremendous saving 1 — those 68 yarhs! Officials of the club state that the innovation has come to stay and that it is extremely popular with the public. ; That is just a matter of opinion, but. as -far as the jockeys are concerned it is anything but popular. Horsemen, when questioned by "N.Z. Truth," had not a word to say m favor of the change arid quite a number to say against it.