STORY OF A DOG

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 159, 26 September 1927, Page 6

STORY OF A DOG

ACCIDENT IN HURDLES TRESPASSER AT ELLERSLIE A dog —a dirty dog—was responsible for an accident in the hurdle race at Ellerslie on Saturday. Little Harm was done, although it ruined one horse’s chance and made another fall. TYOGS are the most dangerous things prohibited on a racecourse, but occasionally they find a hole in a fence and make a way on to the tracks. Dogs can create any amount of trouble during a race, for they seem to have an undeniable penchant for running after galloping horses. But the dog seen on Saturday was a different sort of animal, and yet he caused trouble. THE UPSET Tie five horses left in the hurdle race on Saturday were approaching the final fence, when the dog came from the outside enclosure, and slowly and uncertainly made its way across the course. Before it had got far the two leading horses, Karamu and Rahepoto, near the rails, took the fence clear of trouble, but the next, Kamehameha, was wider out, and he arrived at the obstacle the same time as the dirty dog The smaller quadruped was scared to 'death at the prospect of getting under the cruel-looking hoofs of Kamehameha, and he ran alongside the fence, on the take-off side. The horse was wise to the move, and he almost stopped dead—he was a bit scared, too, at the totally unlooked for presence of such a diminutive creature —but he managed to scramble over the hurdle, losing a lot of ground. YORK ABBEY FALLS

But if Kamehameha got out of trouble, it was not so with York Abbey, the favourite. When Kamehameha eased up the Waikato horse was just behind him, and consequently there was a near thing to a collision. It threw the favourite out of his stride, and he fell in attempting to negotiate; the obstacle. Fortunately neither horse nor rider was injured. York Abbey was well beaten at the time, but it was a different case with Kamehameha, who was still possessed of a winning chance. He finished third to the very tired Karamu and Rahepoto, and as he was within two and a-half lengths of the winner at the post, it certainly looked as if ho would have played a more conspicuous part in the finish. Dogs are always a menace on a racecourse, and the public will be assisting in removing a danger to life and limb were they to see that these animals arc removed from the grounds if they are noticed careering around.