THEY CAN KEEP QUIET

NZ Truth, Issue 1214, 7 March 1929, Page 11

THEY CAN KEEP QUIET

But There Is No Need To Act The Rogue

(From "N,Z. Truth's" Special Auckland Representative).- --' The totalisator as a sole means of betting on our courses has done much to ensure good stakes and therefore it has to owners advantages which cannot -be denied.

STILL, it has its disadvantages so far as the ordinary punter is* concerned, mainly because there will always be a section of owners and trainers who are berit on attempting to make money by means of the only betting medium provided. All this does not mean that the owner and trainer uses the tote as the only means of getting "set" for their cash, but when they dq prefer to bring off some coup from the bookmakers the main object is to get the best dividend possible' returnable^ This necessarily'" means that no one outsidethe inner circle can be told the real truth. Thus much trickery has to be resorted to regarding the, telling of a horse's .prospects. If all owners and trainers were to fully unload themselves of the whole truth then their horses would not return even respectable figures. Because of this there is some excuse for not broadcasting the fact that a

horse is considered next door to a moral. . Still, there is no occasion for some to go out of their way to openly "trip" punters. Much of this has been done m the past, and it is still thought necessary by some to resort to tricky methods to lead punters astray on the course. . At one time, when it was possible to lift a great deal moVe money from the bookmakers than at present, all manner of tricky doings were perpetrated. For instance, the connections of a horse would place hundreds away with the bookmakers and not a shilling on the tote, while to make up a respectable price ori the winner they would back something else on the tote. 'In short, the -tote makes liars of some men, and if wish to be safe they will lend no ear to the taleteller, but will, just aim at following form and backing the best horse when the weights suit. '