CHIEF DETECTIVE SAILS FOR SYDNEY

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 115, 5 August 1927, Page 9

CHIEF DETECTIVE SAILS FOR SYDNEY

“RINGING-IN” CASE GATHERED GOLD OR PROMENADE? r Chief Detective J. Cummings sailed for Sydney by the Maheno. It is believed that he has gone to Australia in connection with the trial of Walter McCarthy and William Matterson for being implicated in the alleged ringing-in of the New Zealand horse Promenade as Gathered Gold in the Commonwealth. The case is still dragging on in Sydney, each hearing bringing a further adjournment. Further evidence of identification, it is stated, is required. It was stated in court at the recent hearing that Promenade had established in New Zealand the fast time of 2.11 for one mile. Peter Kierce, chairman of stewards, starter, and registrar of the Victorian Trotting and Racing Association, declared that his identification of the mare. Gathered Gold, depended mainly on a peculiar facial mark, and a few white hairs under the saddle. “Never in my life have 1 registered another horse with that particular mark,” he said. Detectiv-Constable Lawrence, who arrested McCarthy in Auckland, reported him as having stated: “1 know there’s been a lot of fuss about it. 1 sold Promenade to my brother-in-law. Edwards, and she died. He reported her death to the club. I bought Gathered Gold for £IOO. I ran her in Victoria and West Australia. We were wiped out in Perth, and I sold her to Dr. Jewett for £50.” Lawrence told McCarthy that Gathered Gold had been positively identified at Sydney Police Depot as the mare Promenade. The identification, said the constable, had been established by Mr. Meade, who broke, trained, and handled Promenade, and by Mr. Rokkjer, an owner of trotting horses, who visited New Zealand.