SPORTING

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 71, 15 June 1927, Page 7

SPORTING

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TROTTING

(CONTINUED)

trainers with A GRIEVANCE

AFFAIRS AT ALEXANDRA PARK MUST BE REMEDIED Wfth the light harness sport having attained a high status in Auckland, it is up to the Auckland Trotting Club to put its house in order. Complaints by Auckland and visiting trainers make it quite tvidgnt that all is not as it should be as far as the Alexandra Park course is concerned.’ On the track yesterday a visiting trainer requested the writer to have a look at one of the boxes in which he had to stall his horse and leave his cear. The invitation was accepted and one came away wondering how such a state of affairs should be allowed to continue. The floor of the box was in a disgraceful state, and obviously it had not been attended to for a few days. In a corner, where there was not so much stale manure, the trainer had deposited all the gear necessary in the training of a trotter. DOING UP TRACKS This was but one grievance advanced, but there were many others, chief of which was in connection with the tracks. Here they appear to have quite good cause for complaint. Yesterday the horses began to get on the tracks a few minutes prior to 9 o’clock, and at the same time one of the ground staff appeared on the scene with a tractor, attached to which was harrows, and while the horses were being exercised on the same track there war the tractor chugging away alongside. Some of the horses acted as if they were used to this sort of thing; others, visitors, ere not so happy, and more than one visiting trainer refused to take hit horse out to work until the tractor retired.

EARuY WORK On the majority of racecourses the work of doing up tracks is done before

or after training hours, and there seems little reason why this course could not be pursued at Alexandra Park. Surely there is time late in the afternoon, or prior to work commencing at 9 a.m. to harrow, roll, or do whatever else is necessary, quite apart from the off mornings. One can picture the anxiety of trainers with highly-strung youngsters or more seasoned horses compelled to work their charges alongside a rowdy tractor. This state of affairs was very much in evidence for two hours yesterday morning, and should not be permitted. The course committee ought to be able to overcome this difficulty. NO GRASS TRACK At Alexandra Park they have the clay and sand tracks (and the sand is practically useless for speed) to do fast work upon, and in the centre is a Jogging track. Here the horses have to be prepared for racing on a grass course, and never a chance of having a try-out on turf unless they hike to Mangere, many miles away. It is to be assumed that trainers at Alexandra Park are entitled to a great deal more consideration than they now receive. One cannot conceive that the Auckland Trotting Club officials are fully cognisant of what trainers and owners have to put up with at the Epsom course. Now it is to the owners and trainers one must give credit for keeping the game going, and thes' are quite within their rights in demanding better treatment. WHAT IS WANTED The first thing that the club should do is to give trainers the use of the course proper—as the only grass available—on special occasions, and more particularly on the eve of a meeting here or elsewhere. It is ridiculous that it should be religiously fenced off except on race days. One can easily conceive how handicapped are horses trained at Alexandra Park when it comes to contesting stakes decided on a grass track. Likewise visiting trainers, used perhaps to dirt tracks, come to Alexandra Park to complete their preparations, and then on the day of the race they find themselves on the grass. It is an altogether unsatisfactory state of affairs, and one that must be immediately remedied.

It seems that the Auckland Trotting Club has* to do so little to make the lot trainers at Alexandra Park more congenial, and it is to be hoped that an early decision will be taken to amend the antiquated conditions prevailing.