DIVISION RACING FOR TROTTERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 116, 6 August 1927, Page 7

DIVISION RACING FOR TROTTERS

MINISTER INTERNAL AFFAIRS FAILS TO GRASP SITUATION TN the House of Representatives, -L the Hon. R. F. Bollard, replying to Mr. J, A. Lee, M.P., on the question of divisional racing for trotting, said that in trotting all horses did not start off the same mark, and there was less liability to accident. The important subject of divisional racing in connection with the lightharness sport was taken up some time back in the columns of THE SUN, and Mr. J. A. Lee, M.P., promptly took the question in hand. On the eve of the Auckland winter fixture, the member for Auckland East approached the Minister of Internal Affairs on the subject of the unwieldy fields in two events on the first day’s card, where there were well over 20 competitors starting off the limit. Mr. Bollard replied that he had no power to compel clubs to adopt the divisional system, but, through the alertness of the Auckland executive, which readily saw the danger to life and limb, the menace was minimised and modified by putting the limit brigade in two rows. The advocacy for Ministerial action was renewed by Mr. Lee in the House earlier in the week. MINISTER’S REPLY The Minister of Internal Affairs is reported to have stated in reply: “In no case had 50 horses started off the same mark in a trotting race. Although there might be as many as 50 horses in the one race, not more than half a dozen started off the same mark. There was not the same possibility of accident in trotting races as there was in the gallops.” IS HE SERIOUS? It is hard to believe that Mr. Bollard was serious in making such an assertion, that “not more than half a dozen horses started off the same mark.” The records show plainly that at numerous trotting fixtures throughout the Dominion, trouble is experienced through overcrowding of the limit section. While the “two-row” policy alleviates the congestion, it enforces hardship on those who are unlucky in the draw. At many meetings it is nothing unusual in certain classes to find between 20 and 30 horses lining up to commence from the end, and this in harness races, where there is always a grave danger of a smash up.