SPORTING.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 229, 2 November 1909, Page 4

SPORTING.

TO LIMIT <JAMULL\a wii vr is this rosrrioxv Auckland, Friday hi n rtiilo on the gambling e\il the Herald this morning; hit* the following: "The Auckland ttanu<; Club, on each' of it* thirteen race days, lionised an average of thirty-one bookmakeis. nnd received in foes for the yoai from Ibis source Ihc sum of CSliI!) for the rinii- t. ( bet. this bein« only a pcund* !<•>- tiian lite amount received by Ule Victoria tt'acinu ('tub. which took ill tees fnr -ixlecn day-' racing tile -um of tH'tllt) a Ic-mm' average per day, but tlk! compari-on doe*. nut: end here. Tiler is no totalisalor operatimr at Fh'inin<2icn.. while. at Kllerslie, the machine is a L-rcat rival to (lie pencillers. It would he reasonable. willi so many bookmakers doiiiti bu-iiie-j.. tn expect the to- i Uli-ator receipt-- to shrink, but lien 1 .isain another extraordinary po-itiou ;d'stdo>cd, for. despite the operations of |kg many bookmakers, the machine ro- ; ceipts-increased for tile year.

"It U 11)it> very evident (hat Hie ideal of. gambling lor which purpose tin- IJill '.van presumably drafted. has not. bncM and it uould be somewhat har.l 1:> lind au answer to the charge that lliirs failure U due lo th;> lironsiii;* of bookmaker?. Tlie Act uf IHO7 (to quote ; the wunN uf Sir .lnsopli Ward) eout.iiu* jtd 'sniuo of the m<M dr-.Mie proposes id at hud ever been in any I ,i'i'.ml)tinj( Kill sulmiiUed to anv Parli.xhit lit- in the world.' Tliew ■il rustic' ]>io-;>o.-als included the prohibition of tins publication of tytiilisiitor oiM>, anil tile suppression of street netting and totnlisatov shop*. Tlic iirst' has been .strictly carried out, but its elliencv in .saducinjf gambling is doubtful. The'-sec-Olid-and third clauses are dead letters, for money is wagered every day of the

week in Queen street on races being heid' in all parts of the Dominion. It is a notorious fact that, when a race meeting ot any importance is being held outside Auckland, a great crowd gathers in Queen street, and the vicinity of .Vulcan Lane, and wagers are laid race by race. ; The attempt of the Rill to conline bet--I'iig to tiie racecourse can only be described as a. dismal failure. In the UM-antime, although -the Act has pronibited betting oil athletic events, aud did real service by closing down pro prietary sports, the practice is still cari.'ed on illicitly, ami other forms of gambling are also indulged in.

THE. CAULFIELD CUP. j Australian papers to hand give fuh details of the race for the Caul Held Cup, and from the Sydney Morning Herald the following is taken: —ln the birdcage before the start the various competitors tor the Caulfield tup were inspected oy an unasually large number of people. The New Zealand-owned mure Artillenc Jinld a large levee. She is jt long mare of the greyhound type, and looked to cave gone up a little in the waist since her Caultield Stakes race. The objection wan taken by some racing men that her preparation had not been solid enough tor a race like the Caulfield Cup, lmc, judging by appearances, she could not have stood anything more severe in the way of work. It U generally admitted 'hat tlie Caulfield Cup is one of the hardest races in Australia to win, and for that reason an open betting market usually associated with it. Despite rht Gaming Act passed in the various States, betting on horsc-raeing shows no sign of diminution, and the volume of business over thin year's Caulfield Cup was large. There was no very pronounced favorite for the event until Artillvrie displayed such attractive form in the Caultield Stakes on the previous Saturday. The line style in which she won helped to settle the issue as far as the uig handicap was concerned, as she 'was '0 favorably weighted; but, as it turned out, this was only another case of the unreliability of weight-for-age form. It was, on the whole, a well-behaved field at the post, and Mr. fiodfrey Watson's htart was a good one. Mindful was the hist to show out in front, and she carried on the running until relieved of the duties of pacemaker by Trelo Vouni at tiie railway side. Coming into the straight with a pronounced lead the litf,!«; Ilymettus horse, whose sire had twice won the Caulfield Cup, looked to have si. fair chance of scoring, but 'oy Ihe time the distance was reached he was in trouble. Blue Book was the first to cut him down, -while a little further oil Kveadgerie, Aborigine, Thisfclebrook, jArtillerie and Carl Dour joined issue (and Pendil was stNo threatening danger. Any one of half-a-dozen might; have Wen picked as the winner at this point. Blue . Hook had an advantage at the ?ialf-di«-lance, but in the last flO.vds Aborigine v»as with him, and thev fought outgone of tiie best finishes ever seen at Caul:ie d. They reached the post locked together. and the judge wn* unable to separate them. The onlookers in general agreed with his- deeiuion () f a ,] Pa( | ], nit It was a fitting termination to a splendid race, and well fought out at evenstage. It. is usual to make excuses for ronton horses, but anv unbiassed judtre who -witnessed the race must admit that 1 was " nl «<*v to lose. He was interfered with about five furlongs from home, and as thev came oh to the turn ;vn« a long way back. Once in the home stretch the Bobadil colt buckled to with characteristic gamenes* He was fast catching tlie leaders, 'and an even more interesting race tlian tile 'I veniiniN fight i.chveei, Bin ■ Rook and At.rnsrmn 'was the spec-lade of IVndil's I'lng-sn-tniied inn and tlie donl.t as to '-'""It,- T "fn-tiniately for the stalile and Fnr hackers lh-. \vinnim'.|>ist was a ,v strides too elose for Pendil. l m t it »as a matter nf a short neck that he missed to wm 11,,, race for Victoria.