MOB RULE AT ELLERSLIE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 479, 8 October 1928, Page 1

MOB RULE AT ELLERSLIE

Jockeys and Starter Differ s SATURDAY’S INCIDENT REVIEWED The Mitchelson Cup was properly started.” In saying this the stewards have no option. Their action is governed by the Rules of Racing. f. * When an unruly mob overran the course at Ellerslie on Saturday and compelled the postponement of the re* main in g races a remarkable incident was added to the history of the turf in New Zealand. The event, providing a first-class sensation, has been the subject of discussion throughout the week-end and the words “Mitchelson Cup” have gained a wide and unexpected notoriety. Incensed at the start of the Mitchelson Cup, when half the horses stood at the post and took no .part, a section of the crowd gained complete control of the course proper and refused to allow racing to continue. The steeplechase was run despite this, with the result that several people were knocked down in the straight by riderless horses. There is a large crowd at the course to-day. The racing is proceeding normally, and everything is orderly and quiet.

Summarised, the salient features of Saturday’s disturbances were:

There appeared to be a difference of opinion as between the starter and half the jockeys as to its being a start.

The starter’s decision that it was a start has to be accepted as final.

This being so, the club could not return the investments on the seven horses that did not participate in the race, for it is not legal to do so. A deputation of two from the crowd were informed of this position.

Had the amount invested on the delinquent seven horses, nearly £4,000, been returned, the club would have had to pay this out of its general account.

The clerk of the course, who attempted to stop the horses in the actual race, is reported to have done so on the instructions of an official.

There were mild demonstrations in the Leger and outside enclosures in support of the crowd that took possession of the course.

. A certain section of the crowd became incensed at the fifth race being run before the course had been cleared, and without receiving satisfaction.

A SUFFRAGETTE ran out on to the Derby course at Epsom and seized the bridle of the King’s horse. Amner, in 1913. She was killed on the spot. The man who attempted to stop Uashoor in the Steeplechase on Saturday was fortunate that he was able to jump clear in the last second or so before the horse cleared the fence andhis rider punched him home to win the race and secure a substantial dividend for his backers. It was indeed fortunate that in the confusion that followed, when riderless horses careered along the crowded course, a larger and more serious casualty list did not result. As it was, two persons received injuries which necessitated their removal to hospital.

John Joseph Matthews, 109 Richmond Road, Ponsonby, 31 years, married, was taken away suffering from concussion.

Alexander Williams, Peace Street, Rotorua, aged 36 years, received concussion and a broken shoulder blade. To-day neither case is considered serious.

Mrs. Keane, of 243 Karangahape ! Road, was also knocked over but after receiving treatment at the : casualty station on the course was able to proceed home. The six jockeys injured when their mounts fell in this race, M. Conway (Master Arch), E. Warner (Archangel), S. Henderson (Marita), H. lJulieu (Rafferty), J. Sharkey (Importer) and R. Syme (Pompeius) are all progressing favourably to-day. No doubt influenced by the fact that on the previous Saturday the starter, Mr. C. O’Connor, had declared a false i start in the Ladies’ Bracelet at the Pakuranga Hunt meeting at Ellerslie, I a section of the crowd at the same | racing venue apparently considered that the start of the Mitchelson Cup should also have been treated in the same way.

But the circumstances were altogether different. On Saturday the dispatch was actually a start, and the starter said so when he gave the word “Go!” as he pressed the button of the electric barrier. Some of the jockeys heard the word “Go!" and others pro-

fessed they didn’t. Hence the farcical race which eventuated. When the crowd saw half the field pulling up—Star Stranger, Valkon and Tidal did not actually leave the barrier, while Te Kara, Sir Archie and Mint Leaf were pulled up before they had gone a furlong, and the other seven carrying on as if the race was truly on, which it was—people shouted to the riders to stop. Passing the post the first time the clerk of the course made a half-hearted attempt to stop them, and the crowd on the members’ stand gave a lusty roar, the riders looking round to see what it was all about. But they didn’t stop. The favourite, Laughing Prince, won from Desert Glow and Mask, but it was not until the other horses walked back to the birdcage from the barrier that it was realised that the race had actually been run. Wait and See The judge did not put the numbers of the placed horses up for some time, not until he was informed that everything was in order. With the hoisting of the dividend the public realised that the Mitchelson Cup had been won and lost. Reporting on the start, Mr. O’Connor said that just as he pressed the button Te Kara jumped into the tapes and became entangled in them, and the rider of this horse thought it was his mount that had released the barrier, and, not regarding it as a start, he pulled up, and several other jockeys did the same.

The positions at the post of those that did not start were: Star Stranger

10, Valkon 7, Catkin 8, Mint Leaf 12, Te Kara 11. Tidal 4 and Sir Archie 14. An Angry Crowd By the time the starter returned to the birdcage an angry crowd had assembled on the course proper in front of the birdcage gate, and Mr. O’Connor was given a bad reception. The crowd grew in numbers, and there was considerable hooting and counting out, with no sign for some time of the course being cleared. The horses for the fifth race, the Steeplechase, made to go out of the birdcage for their perliminaries, but they stood no chance, the crowd refusing to let them through the gate. Two mounted policemen, the clerk of the course, and several constables were on the spot, but they could do little. And all the time the affair began to grow worse, the crowd jostling the police up against the enclosure fence, some coming into violent contact with this solid structure. The Steeplechase In the meantime the stewards had inquired into the start, but apparently had decided to adjourn to let the next race be proceeded with- This did not suit the demonstrators, however, and as they still refused to let the competitors out on to the course the horses were taken in a roundabout way through the hill enclosure and so on to the starting point at the seven furlongs. The starter probably travelled to the barrier by the same route, for he certainly did not proceed through the birdcage as usual. Perhaps the stewards considered that if the next race was started the crowd would leave the course clear, particularly as in the first circuit the home straight in possession of the mob would not be traversed by the horses until the finishing two furlongs. In this they were mistaken, and their decision to carry on was fraught with

possible grave consequences. Obviously they did not think the humour of the crowd was as bad as it proved. Dastardly Trick When the first horse came into the straight, a hundred yards in front of his nearest opponent, it was obvious that there was going to be serious trouble. One man rushed to the last fence, situated about 300 yards frorxj the winning post, and just as the horse approached the obstacle he made a desperate attempt to stop it, shouting and waving his arms with a view to preventing it from completing the race. It probably meant little to this man that he was endangering the life of the rider as well as the horse by his action, for he was able to make a last second dash to safety when he failed to accomplish his dastardly object. McGregor’s Charge The horse (it was Mashoor), however, safely negotiated the fence, but its troubles were by no means over. It was A. McGregor who saved Mashoor’s few backers. The mob on the course was still pretty thick, although more scattered.

A. McGregor, the jockey, was not to be baulked of the winning honours, however, for he 'drew his whip and drove his horse straight for the winning post. Men attempted to stop the horse by catching the reins, and ail the time the whip was in use, on the crowd perhaps as well as the horse. In this manner Mashoor passed the post a winner by 30 lengths, and horse and rider were quickly escorted back to the weighing-in enclosure. Clockwork, Cui Bono and Syndicate, the only other horses to finish the course, had a bad run, and were nearly stopped before they passed the winning post. Spectators Knocked Down There were many riderless horses careering up the straight in the next few seconds, and several spectators were knocked over by them, some receiving severe injuries. With the steeplechase over, the mob once again took charge and pressed the police cordon hard. The two-year-olds were paraded for

the Welcome Stakes, which was timed to be run at 3.47, but as they were not permitted on the course by the crowd the stewards met and decided at 4.5 p.m. to postpone the three remaining races—Welcome Stakes, Gordon Handicap and Flying Handicap—until this afternoon. The first intimation the public received that there would be no further racing was when the band struck up the National Anthem, but there was still a large number ori the course an hour later.