MAD ON RACING

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 332, 18 April 1928, Page 10

MAD ON RACING

MANY MENTAL CASES IN THE SOUTH

OPEN SESAME! Free entrance to race meeting is, of course, a privilege coveted by the racing enthusiasts, and at the height of the season the pursuit of free passes becomes more or less of a fine art. Recently down South, however, the problem of how to see the geegees gallop with the formality of paying for entrance was served by quite a large nuilber of “fans” without having to solicit favours from anyone, relates an exchange. The racecourse in question is in the vicinity of a large mental hospital, and arrangements were made between the doctor in charge and the racing club that several of the inmates should be permitted to enjoy a day’s outing watching the races. The gatekeepers had their instructions to admit without question any individual who whispered the password “mental.” The result was that at the end of the day that in lieu of a total of about 20 bona-fide patients the men at the gates estimated that nearly 200 had bravely breasted the gate murmuring the magic “open sesame.” How the good news spread no one knew, but the fact remains that a large number confessed to mental abberatipn in order to pass the barrier “on the nod.” “I thought the whole blooming ‘hospital had got a day off,” said one official, “when thaise fellows kept pouring in. They were mad all right, that is, in their keenness for the sport, but not as mad as the responsible authorities were when informed of the little trick that had been played on them. Next time it won’t be quite so simple.”