Uncertainty of the Turf.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1030, 31 January 1882, Page 2

Uncertainty of the Turf.

(By “ Nemo ” in the Sydney Mall.) “ The glorious uncertainty of the turf” is an expression that is often used when some remarkable instance upsets all calculations, and the winner of a big race turns up from a quarter where danger was least expected. This uncertainty is the very life and essence of the “ sport for kings,” for, could racing be reduced to a certainty, all interest would cease, and racing would end. Carried out in its true spirit horse racing'is a noble and soulstirring sport; but, when made only an instrument for gambling, it sinks to the level of the card-sharping and pickpocketing, for the man who deliberately lays against a horse that he knows is not going is neither more nor less than a thief. Yet such things are done, as we, who are behind the scenes, know; and it is clearly the duty of all who enable the sport to keep as spotless as possible to put down with a strong hand anything by which the too confiding public are swindled out of their money, which language is plain, and more than one interested in horses that have run lately will understand what is meant, but the “ law of libel ” is so strangely made that they are in a measure protected from being held up as examples, as public frauds, and destroyers of the “ goose that lays the golden egg.” It is the public that provide the sinews of war to carry on the game, or without a liberal snare of public patronage, where would the various clubs obtain the money to offer as prizes ? Many owners, trainers, and, jockeys are marked men, and I could point my finger to a few who have done dirtier tricks than has many a “ lifer ” now in Darlinghurst gaol but the “law of libel" steps in and protects these vampires, and a sporting scribe who has a conscientious desire to prevent them from enriching themselves at the expense of the unwary has to beat round the bush and convey what he means to his readers by all manner of indirect means. Sometimes when a horse is a redhot favourite and is defeated, hard things are said and unjust accusations made, but in nine cases out of ten, the “ many headed ” are right, and odds can be laid on the marks such as the following]:—“ So and so cannot lose, if he is going straight; ” “ I have hacked so and so on the off chance, but the stable have not got their money on ; ” “ So and so can win, but he will be scratched unless the books open their hearts, and lay the owners a 1000,” &c., &c. Now every racing man knows that such a state of things does exist, and the different race clubs are to blame for it. Starters, secretaries, judges do their duties to the best of their abilities, but stewards (who are, as it were, the juries in such matters), do not as a rule, exert the powers of their office and time after time remain silent when horses are run in a questionable manner. The remedy is in their hands. Let them searchingly inquire into all cases of suspicious riding and Tuning, and all conduct detrimental to tho interest of the turf, and horse-racin’g will soon be cleansed of the mean blacklegs who live by their wits and upon the money of others who have honestly earned it. As a rule, the unpleasant duty is left to sporting writers, who, if they, from fear of legal action, refrain from remarking upon what they see, are told that they are

afraid of writing againsl|Mr. this, that, or the other, and that if it were some obscure owner that he had done “ such a thing ’’ he would have been “ slated.” Or if, on the other hand, they are bold enough to express an opinion carefully worded, are met by some indignant monger in horse-flesh, who insultingly demands, “ What do you mean by writing that about me ? if you do so again I shall,” Ac., Ac. Now, no names of either men or horses have been mentioned or even referred to in the foregoing, and yet not a few will feel the truth of the remarks, and I’d wager I shall be “ button-holed ” freely and asked, “ Did you mean that for me ?” till I grow tired of the question, and perhaps fell inclined to tell the quesioner that “if the eap fits he may wear it.”