POOR TACTICS

NZ Truth, Issue 1211, 14 February 1929, Page 11

POOR TACTICS

Cups Not Run As True Races Pace judging is a lost art these days, going on some of the displays seen m big races this season. TN days gone by the ability to take A a horse -along at even times was just as necessary an attribute as was the ability to sit" on a horse. These days, it is different. With the passing of Jack O'Shea the laßt of our great judges ,of pace went. p'Shea was a wizard riding a waiting race m front. Had he been at New Plymouth last week, he would 'have cried. Every rider m the race must have imagined he .was proceeding to a. funeral. The first half-mile of the Gup took 58 sees, and the initial mile 1 mm. 29 sees. It was' a crawl, with horses reefing and tearing and climbing, on to the heels of those about them; v But there was no hurry, and a race that should have been a test of ability to get a mile and a half was m reality reduced to. a sprint home. Yoma, which with pace, on, is carted off his legs m the early part, was always on the premises, and the old fellow, allowed to conserve his energy just / made an exhibition of them m the run home. To most it was inexplicable why Bright Glow was nursed so long, and to many the holding of Vertigern was just as big a mystery. The. farces that some of bur middle distance races have developed into this season must have club officials thinking, and if a remedy could be found all would be thankful. * The imposing of time limits, as were placed on distance weight-for-age races m Sydney, would possibly meet the case.