Tactics—As Seen in a Paeroa Steeplechase

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 617, 20 March 1929, Page 12

Tactics—As Seen in a Paeroa Steeplechase

An interesting battle of tactics was i witnessed in the Steeplechase at Pae- j roa on Monday, and created some excitement among the spectators, as well I as a certain amount of amusement. Glenotus was made favourite for the j event, many thought on account of, the! fact that the extra distance, three miles in all. would suit him much better than I several of the others, for he has proved j himself nothing if not a stayer. But there was more to it than that, for trainer E. C. Rae had something up his sleeve. What that was, of course, was a Hark secret between the trainer and jockey Sharkey, who was in the saddle, if the latter himself had not sprung the idea off his own bat. The steeplechase ground crossing the : top is beyond the course proper, and j the horses take a wide detour to come up a track about four feet below Hie course proper at the straight entrance. | to take the brush fence at the distance post, still off the course itself, then j veering sharply across the course. ( through an opening in the inside rails j to the brush double opposite the stands, i after which the horses come straight j through to the course proper again ; and so on along the back. Saving Ground Now there was no flag or any dis- ; tinguishing mark to say that the horses must take the lower track to approach the single brush fence at the bottom of the straight, and this gave the Glenotus party a brain wave. What was there to stop any rider taking his horse across the course

proper and make direct for the next fence, instead of swinging round and covering the obviously placed course, but not marked by the necessary flags to keep them out? Nothing at all. By doing so a horse would save considerable ground, probably as much as half a dozen lengths, and as this portion had to be gone over twice in the race—the final time round the horses came round the home turn to take a brush hurdle on the course proper—it meant in all a cutting off of from 10 to 12 lengths. It was a chance to be availed of, and anybody doing so would be quite within his rights. What Happened The plans were no doubt well laid. Star of the East was the leader from Master Arch and Glenotus when they negotiated the fence situated at the top of the course, and there was a gasp when it was seen that Glenotus was making a beeline for the next fence, running about a chain on the inside of the other horses. Even this saving of ground failed to \ land him at the fence first, for GlenI otus came right over on to Star of *he

am ilio .uuor was not to denied. Bans went Star of the Em against the intruder, and probable 7w hetty bump unsettled Glenotus kin,, what. H. Dulieu was not letZl Sharkey get away with everything The contest at this stage had devei oped into "every thing-is-fair- in-lo\H and-war” style. A Repeat Came the field to the top fence . second time, and although Glenotus was again pulled in ler the short cut was noticed that none of the riders followed the lead. Was the "hv Sharkey kept slightly behind Star of tho Bast and Master Arch? ProbStar of the East got to the approaen ot the next tence level with GlenotuT lint he was not going to be done out of Ins inside running. and he ken, ■■“' Rhl *i“ li w tlie inside corner of the fence. In doing so lie nearly ran Glenotus oft. It was diamond cut di-. mond now. However, the efforts of Glenotus were perhaps frustrated by the bustling ta ,. tics adopted by Star of the East’s rider by way of retaliation for putting acro-s cut-corner tactics. It might not have been strictly in accord with the Rules of Racing Anyway. Star of the East pulled it off, and Glenotus was hard pushed to nose Master Arch out of second place. All Could Have Done li Xo doubt the riders of the other horses were aggrieved at Glenotus’s pilot putting it across them, but would they deny that they would have done the same if the idea occurred to them’* It is Queen Street to Green Lane that they, too. would have taken the short cut so plainly pointed out to them bv Sharkey The course was not flagged at am part, apparently, except for the flags erected at the two ends of each tence to be negotiated. It is a Pretty safe bet to assume that the Ohinemuri Jockey Club will next season have the flags well distributed to ensure all horses keeping to the right course. The action of Glenotus’s rider was quite legitimate, if not considered by some quite within the spirit of the sport, and had he won there would probably have been a demonstration ty the crowd, not so well versed in these matters as are the more experienced racing folk.