Horse Pens to Remedy Starting Mishaps

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 571, 25 January 1929, Page 10

Horse Pens to Remedy Starting Mishaps

i It is distinctly unfortunate, to say the least, that the last two important juvenile classics have been spoilt almost completely by wretched starting. It is now history that occurrence in the A.R.C. Royal Stakes on January 2 at Ellerslie. and. too, the Wellington Stakes last Tuesday . has also passed into history. But after having road most of tinreports of the Trentham race, it is obvious that very few of the spectators and critics could have seen wlmt actually occurred at the start. Incidentally. Mr. O’Connor was not in his usual good form at Trentham on Tuesday, and to some extent he had some very bad fields to contend with. It is really extraordinary that big events of recent months have nearly bordered on the farcical through some of the greatly-fan-cied runners not getting away with the rest of the field. In this respect, the spring and summer of the current racing year has been nothing more nor less than a series of tragedies, tragedies affecting the owners concerned and the public, who have had the courage of their convictions to back their fancy. Series Of Incidents The debacle —for such it can U called —started at the Pakuranga Hunt meeting at Ellerslie at the end of September. In the principal fiat race there was a false start, the race having to be run over again, after several horses —all but two in fact —had taken part in the affair, some completing the course, ridden out. This was followed, a week later, on the same course, by the Mitehelson Cup tragedy, half of the horses in this

valuable race taking no part in the contest. Then there was the unsatisfactory dispatch in the Royal Stakes, and now in the Wellington Stakes. I nterference The field of nine in the Wellington Stakes on Tuesday was very much on its toes, and it was some time before they got away. Then Admiral Drake, Childsplay and Gay Ballerina, of the inside division, were interfered with, or got away badly, sufficiently at any rate to spoil their chances. The outside three at the barrier were Ceremony, Speed Light and Goblin Market, the last-named being on the outer. When they got away Goblin Market and Speed Light jumped inwards, and caught Ceremony off his balance, nearly knocking him off his feet, in addition to chopping him right out. There were many who wondered what had become of Ceremony in the race. Now they know. The Absurd gelding had no earthly chance after that, although his rare turn of speed enabled him to run a good race for a bit of the way. Honour’s Win There is no necessity to detract from the great merit attached to Honour’s brilliant succes. He was a bit slow in the early payt, and perhaps it was that he too suffered a little at the start. He put in a wonderful effort at the finish, and confounded those critics who thought that the five furlongs would* be too short for him. Probably he would not have had so much of his own way had the field got away

has now won £2,040 in ‘ r , he has already repaid the best SLV* 1 * ! ‘he -.300 suim-us paid for ! months ago. u ii But to come back again to i n „u . ot the start of races, of which ents dents it must be agreed that th* e Zt~ there are altogether too many of With a continuance of dispatches something will have^o K do " e - ° It't' public - and the b.g bettors Will lose confidence. The time will come. too. when u„.. ne will be started from pens, or stalk* as is done nowadays on a numbeV of American and Canadian courses. l*Yom all accounts these pens .. i stalls ttre expensive affairs to inst-m a lthough there seems to be little Ho, i ’ that they have their advantages so S as starting is concerned. The stalls are permanent structures, and *hen> fore are erected in an alley just off the course proper, with a run on to t 1,,. course, which apparently our Yankee at o air mtn fllendS d ° "" t seem 10 Hind those“ awfi'il 11 mi'sh'in' I '' b ° l ,’ etter tha " tllo ? c «L\\tul liiibliaps we have betn seeing ot late. That start for the Wellington Cup was a wretched affair, and perhaps the unsettling influence the delay and the dispatch laid on a few of the jockeys might well have been responsible for the terrible amount or interference in tbe first couple of fur-