SPORTING.
TOATERE'S DISQUALIFICATION. By Moturoa. Tlio principal topic of conversation this week, both locallv and down the coast as far as Wanganui, lias been the rubbing out of Toatere, owner, trainer, and jockey. The parties concerned are too well-known to require any introduction.
In the notes in Saturday's News the Writer made it plain that on the face of it Toatere's disqualification did n.it seem justified. This opinion is backed t up by many close observers, who had no pecuniary interest in the horse. At the same time .it was mentioned that several other glaring cases on the first day , of the meeting strangely enough escaped notice. Two wrongs do not make a , right, but what everybody wants to know is why Toatere 'was'singled out for punishment. Coming to the punishment dealt outsix months. Mow, if Toatere w.-s ic.'.i'v pulled, what sort of a sent-ice is s ..\ months! If proved beyond doubt, Char:,e Price should have got five y;irs and the other connections, if proved lo be acquiescing, richly deserved from three to five years. As stated before, Toatere is a notoriously slow beginner, and on Wednesday he was not sighted in t!ie first six when the field hopped away. Whether he could have won from that position is problematical. Tile writer thinks he is not the horse, and lie lias yet to prove himself as good as unthinking boomsters allege.. His performances with colors up have been mediocre so far, and tales of marvellous track gallops should not be allowed to wei#h in settling this question. Toatere's eleven starts this season resulted in one win, the Maiden at Wanganui, j and a second in the St. John's Welter at the same place. Sub-equent racing at Trentham, Feilding, Xew Plymouth Christmas meeting, Ilawera, and New Plymouth Autumn meeting was resultless. Tho horse's recent form did not make his prospects of success appear bright last week. A noor start, a bad passage in the ruck, and a wide run in the home bend did not improve matters, and another bad defeat was registered against the son of Maniapoto. The writer has been pormitted t6 look over Mr. Herbert Curtis' record of wagers on Toatere. The journal ia kept in businesslike style. The entries have plainly been entered at various times. When Toatere won at Wanganui his owner had only three pounds oh him. Bigger wagers were lost 011 the second j day at Wanganui, and the first day at I Feilding. Mr. Curtis backed the horse j pluckily in his only start at the New ! Plymouth Christmas meeting, but evi- J dently sickened of losing money, being | content with moderate wagers on each I day of the Egmont meeting, and in the \ Timaru Hack Handicap here last week, j Roughly, Toat«re has cost Mr. Curtis { two hundred oounds in wagers, besides training fees, feeds, nominations, acceptances, and travelling expenses. In addition an aggregate of £SO has been put on for the trainer, R. Johnson. As stated before, Mr. Curtis has the reputation of being a good sport and a white man in racing, and in this case proof can be offered that he backed his l/orse. It is had luck for a straight-going owner and trainer, if, for instance, indifferent handling by the jockey, or the booming of the horse by ignorant touts, led those who were in authority to expect move than the horse was capable of. In the present case an injustice appears to have been done. Public feeling demands that Ctrtis and Johnson should, at the very least, have a further opportunity of placing tlu*r case before the oommittee.
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Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 197, 18 February 1914, Page 7
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601SPORTING. Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 197, 18 February 1914, Page 7
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