Poor Herbert

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 281, 17 February 1928, Page 10

Poor Herbert

Mishaps Add Humour To Greyhound Races On English Courses Greyhound-racing is all the rage in Great Britain just now. Lewis Amrode’s column in “Boxing, Racing and Football.” the London sporting weekly, captioned “Bog Racing: Timely Talk of the Track,” contains some interesting sidelights on the sport that are not without humour. Here are a few, gleaned from a recent issue: HARES IN THE SOUP “The surprising differences in the views of judges as to the circumstances that warrant a race being declared void were further exemplified at Southend recently, when the hare fell off the carrying rod just before th© winning-line was reached. The leading dogs stopped to investigate the phenomenon, and two only went on past the judges’ box. The race, however, was allowed to stand. The crowd protested loud and long against this decision. “Master Herbert had a rough passage in another race on the same night, for no sooner had he disappeared into his canvas tunnel than one of the greyhounds forced his way in, and when the cover was lifted the dog was discovered tearing the hare to ribbons! > THE NEW “INSIDE" HARE “The most interesting feature of the track of the Warwickshire and International R.C., at Brandon, near Coventry, is that it is the first to use the Heintz Inside Electrical Hare. This hare’ has been used successfully on 10 of Mr. Heintz’s tracks in the United States, and Brandon has been given the personal supervision of the inventor during the laying out of the course. “The track of the *hare’ itself is sunk, while the course for the dogs is raised a foot all round, so making it possible for every spectator, yvhether on the level or in the stands, to have an uninterrupted view of the whole of each race. The speed can be accelerated from five to 50 miles an hour in the space of two seconds. The centre of the track is being excavated, so as to form an ornamental lake, which will be lit up at night by thousands of coloured electric lights. NOT WHAT IT SEEMED “A singular happening at the Wembley dress rehearsal is worthy of mention. That noted hurdler. Brown Eagle, was apparently badly beaten in one of the events, his jumping being simply awful. But it has since transpired that Brown Eagle never ran, the dog actually concerned being Generous Allowance. “It seems that Brown Eagle, who had only just arrived at Wembley, was placed in his wrong kennel, and that into his proper box was popped Generous Allowar.ee, singularly enough, also a whit© dog with markings almost identical with those on Brown Eagle. G. A. had never raced over hurdles before, hence his inglorious exhibition. “The really funny part of the business is that the owner of Brown Eagle was present and had a trifling wager with a friend on the result. His chagrin can be imagined when he watched ‘his’ dog walk over the hurdles rather than jump them and lose by r ;e length of a street. I ought 1., add that no, substitution, accidental or otherwise, is possible at any of the * ordinary meetings.”