Clash of Racing Dates Most Undesirable

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 704, 2 July 1929, Page 12

Clash of Racing Dates Most Undesirable

TIME FOR ACTION COUNTRY CLUBS SUFFER By ABATDOS One of the disabilities to be faced by country trotting and galloping clubs is the clashing of dates, and unless a few of the racing organisations in the Auckland Province who are suffering financially as a result of this bugbear face the situation fairly and squarely for the approaching season, the position will continue to remain in its present unsatisfactory state. There is absolutely no valid reason why the clashes between country trotting and galloping clubs should not be avoided, and the sooner those implicated in the entanglement realise this the better for all concerned. After all. the Auckland Province is not so large that clubs, and particularly those situated outside the metropolitan area, can afford to engage m a game of cut-throat when it comes to the arrangement of racing dates. The employment of tact and common sense, combined with the true sporting spirit, would soon find remedial measures to abolish this disturbing element, and pour oil on the troubled waters. A Hard Struggle It mav be argued that the small clubs which clash annually are able to carry on their respective fixtures without either going to the wall, but it has been proved that the struggle is a difficult one. There is an old saying, “Between two stools we come to the ground,” and if those clubs mostly concerned continue to race in opposition on the same dates, there can only be one ultimate ending to the detriment of both organisations and the respective pastimes. Last season the "Waikato, Thames and Te Aroha Trotting Clubs held their fixtures at the same time as the Taumarunui, Tauranga and Whangarei Racing Clubs staged their meet-* ings, with the inevitable result that each suffered more or less. Had the clash been avoided each club would have recorded highly successful functions, and the finances in each instance would have been much more Trotting Club’s Effort Those guiding the destiny of the sporting bodies mentioned should make an effort without delay to rectify the mistake before dates are finally allotted for the coming season, and it is gratifying to note that the Thames Trotting Club is taking the initiative in this direction. A similar move by the other organisations thus handicapped would have the desired effect, and a reshuffling of the cards, mutually arranged, will prove highly beneficial to the clubs, the public and the sister recreations. In a desire to avoid a clash with the racing at Tauranga, the Thames Trotting Club has applied in the coming season for the Saturday following the Bay of Plenty Jockey Club fixture, while the Te Aroha Trotting Club, wishing to have a date that is not in opposition to the Whangarei racing fixture, has also requested for March 29, the date selected by Thames. There will be no danger of the light-harness organisations clashing, but a further effort should be made to avoid country trotting and galloping clubs racing on the same day.

RACING FIXTURES

JULY 10, 11, 13—Wellington R.C. 25—Waimate Hunt. 25. 27—Gisborne R.C 27—South Canterbury Hunt.

AUGUST 3—Christchurch Hunt 3—Po\*erty Bay Hunt 13. 15, 17—Canterbury J.C. 24—Pakuranga Hunt (at Ellerslie). Bay Hunt 28— Dannevirke R.C. 29 Dannevirke Hunt 31—Taranaki Hunt SEPTEMBER 4, s—Marton5 —Marton J.C. 7—Otago Hunt 12. 14—Wanganui J.C. 21—Ashburton R C. 21—Napier Park R.C. 21 23—Avondale J.C. 26, 27—Geraldine R.C. 28—Hawke’s Bay J.C. OCTOBER 2—Manawatu Hunt s—Kurow J.C 5, 7—Auckland R.C. 10, 12 —Dunedin J.C. 19—Masterton R.C. 24, 26—Poverty Bay J.C. 26, 28—Wellington R.C. 26, 28 —Waikato R.C. 28—Waver ley R.C. Dam Of Rapine Mr. A. B. Williams’s imported brood mare, Sweet Charity, left Mr. H. M. Reeve’s Hororata stud last week for Australia, on a visit to Gothic. She is in foal to Shambles. Of Mr. Williams’s other imported mares at the Hororata stud, Pineta, who has had only one foal —the two-year-old Rapina now in work at Riccarton —since she produced Rapine, is believed to be in foal to Hunting Song, whom she will revisit, while Symene missed to Shambles and will be mated with Hunting Song. On Names Commendable efforts at appropriate racehorse nomenclature are not a feature of the entry lists for next season’s classics. Exceptions are:—“Open Cheque," by Paper Money—Graceful; “Courtesy,” by Limond—Homage; “Eminent,” by Leighton—Exclusive; “Sea Scout,” by Night Raid—Sea Maid; “Love Song,” by Hunting Song— Mandoline; “Counter March,” by Winning Hit—Counterscarp; “Bail Dress,” by Winning Hit —Equipment; “Peep,” by Limond—Glimpse; “Caught,” by Tresham—Forest Girl; “Intruder,” by Trespasses—Graciosa; “Scotland Yard,” by Grandcourt—En Parole; “Awaken,” by Chief RulerWake Up.