STILL THEY BET

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 161, 28 September 1927, Page 10

STILL THEY BET

AT THE TIN HARES PROSECUTION HAS LITTLE EFFECT The fact that one of their number had been fined for betting on the tin hare races and that his appeal was undecided did not daunt the bookmakers at Epping (Sydney) one night last week. Nor did the showery weather daunt the followers of the new sport, though the attendance naturally was considerably smaller than usual. That unassuming punter The one with his coat collar turned up Will the ticket he took on a losing dog be treasured as evidence in another prosecution? The suggestion that, pending the appeal in the betting case, other prosecutions might be launched did not affect the bookmakers. Legal arguments as to what constitutes coursing are not preying on the minds of the fielders. Nor is the public worrying its head over the riddle “when is a hare not a hare?” RAKING IT IN The books made hay while the sun shone—that is, they raked in the money while the rain fell. A wet night at the dogs was a new experience. Light rain fell at intervals, and the breeze was chilly. The spectators—men and women—stood like stoics on the uncovered stands or tramped like Trojans across the wet spaces that sepai'ated the terraced benches from the betting areas. Raindrops glistened on grass that wore a fresher green beneath the floating lozenges of light that overhung the course. Now and again as a shower whipped the course the hounds shivered beneath their coloured jackets. But when the little tin hare came bob-bob-bobbin’ along, discomfort was forgotten. Eight dogs flashed in pursuit. Ten thousand pairs of eyes followed the hunt. Ten thousand necks were craned. Two hundred bookmakers hoped for the downfall of the favourite. The tin bare whirred on unconcerned. The weather and the betting question left it as unmoved as they apparently left th€; bookmakers.