CANT LEAVE HIM ALONE

NZ Truth, Issue 1185, 16 August 1928, Page 11

CANT LEAVE HIM ALONE

There Is No Living Down Gray's "Dirty" Past!

It is an old saying that when a man is down, put the boot into him good and solid.

RACING, next to Rugby, is New Zealand's national pastime, and, should a jockey be unlucky enough to come into the public eye, he will never hear the end of his position. Wh/ch brings "N.Z. Truth" to the case of Hector Qray. Gray was outed for life on a charge that did not warrant more than a few months' suspension. But he got life— and it was easy to visualize that he . was paying for a collection of alleged sins, not the offence with which he was charged. Twelve months back the annual meeting thought it only right and proper that Gray should be allowed to work m a stable,, so permission was granted m this direction. He went Into the service of an owner up north — and was responsible for good and. faithful work. • ■ ' Then came a chance for him elsewhere and he accepted the' offer to improve his position. The Job he was to take was with

George Jones at Awapuni, Jones wanting him to ride Commendation m work and assist with a bunch of two-year-olds. But the knockers had to come m. They gave it to Gray m all ways — they kicked him, they knocked him and they generally gave him anything but fair play. Such treatment is hard to understand, for Gray is paying dearly for whatever offences he may have committed. "Why not let him work out hie own salvation ? The menace he was said to be is hardly borne out by the fact that when he was compulsorily retired, 'he was "broke to the wide." ■ If Gray had been responsible for half the things for which he was made the culprit, he would never have, wound up m this position. And, strange to relate, the people who are now busy knocking him are of the glass-house type. By casting the first stone, they are taking an awful risk!