HORSE TRAINER'S TROUBLES.

Taranaki Daily News, 31 July 1920, Page 7

HORSE TRAINER'S TROUBLES.

AN UNPROFITABLE STEED. CLAIM FOR TRAINER'S FEES. (From Our Own Correspondent.). Stratford, Last Night. The trials and troubles of a horsetrainer who trained a "likely looking marc" for several races, which for lack of money she did not contest, were ventilated at the Stratford Magistrate's Court before Mr. T. A. B. Bailey, S.M., to-day, in a case in which Michael Conza (Mr. Truby King) claimed from J. Romanice (Mr. C. H. Croker) the sum of £SO 10s, being balance of training fees in respect of a mare owned by defendant. Mr. King said that about Jaly, 1919, the plaintiff was engaged by the defendant to train his mare Violante. The arrangement made was that the fees of training were to be £2 a week until Labor Day, when the Waverlev races were held, and that after that date,- if defendant was satisfied, the fees were to be increased to £2 Ms per week, Plaintiff took the mare in hand, but at the time of the Waverley meeting he advised the defendant not to take the mare down there, as he had insufficient time to get her in good training. Plaintiff told defendant he expected the higher rates after Labor Day, and the defendant agreed. His Worship:"How are the fees mado up to £SO 10s. Mr. King: That is the balance remaining. Plaintiff in evidence admitted that the hqrse had been nominated for races at several meetings, but had not gone to the meetings owiijg to defendant not sending the money to pay the expenses. "PIGEON-TOED." To Mr. Croker, plaintiff said that his brother .had paid him £3 a week For training a horse for two years. Another man had promised to pay him £3 a week for training a horse, but was still owing the money. He had paid the nomination fees for Wanganui. He had been offered £25 for the mare by a man in Stratford. The mare had never run in a race, because when it was ready to race, the defendant did not send the money. The horse had a good chance at Wanganui, and he was prepared to have put a pound on her. The only defect that he had been able to find about the horse was that it was pigeon-toed, but he did not regard that as serious, because El Gallo, one of the best horses in the country, was pigeon-. toed. .Mr. Croken. Was it because the other horse was pigeon-toed that you decided to train defendant's mare. Plaintiff: No. Corftimiing, plaintiff admitted that flfcre was another slight defect, some hair having been ktiocked off one of his knees. He denied that she was knock-kneed. Practically everyone in Stratford with a vider's lloense

had hcen on her back at one time or other. She was four or filve months on Mr. McDonald's farm, in order to work her on the hills. He worked two of the horses on Mr. McDonald's farm. Plaintiff told' defendant that he would be able to tell him by Wavcrley whether the mare was any good or not. At that time defendant saw the mare do half a mile in 52 seconds, and he said that would do him. The horse was "as green as a lemon" when he took her, and was not ready for a seven-furlong race when Waverley came on. The horse which won the half-mile at Waverley waß Ruddy, which did the distance in 4S seconds. To the Magistrate: Plaintiff did not have sufficient money of his own to take the mare to any of the meetings. Asked how lie made up the £2O which it would have cost him to take the mare to New Plymouth or other meetings, plaintiff made up a list of expenees totalling £l3 10s. VALUE OF THE HORSE. Plaintiff, re-called by Mr. Croker, said defendant had told him that he was out of work for about three weeks, but not that he was/ hard-up. At one time defendant told him that he could not pay him for a fortnight, but that he was getting from £6O to £BO out of a bankrupt estate. Soon after that he understood defendant got a job in New Plymouth at £9 a week. His Worship: What! A laboring man? Plaintiff: He was working a shift and a half at the oil works, making 9'hours a day. Mr, Croker: I <»n say tue defendant never was paid £9 a week. He is working twelve hojirs a day and ie getting much less than that amount. Plaintiff, .continuing, denied that he said the horse was not ready for the New Plymouth races. He had nominated the horse for that meeting, but as there was no money sent to him he did not run her. It was not true that he told defendant he did not take the horse to New Plymouth because she wasn't right. His Worship: Didn't you know the horse is no good. Plaintiff: She is all right. If 1 had the money and wanted her I would give a hundred pounds for her. His Worship: Yet you offered to sell her for £2O. s t Plaintiff: That was an offer made for the horse by another man. At this stage the case was adjourned for a fortnight owing to the non-arrival of one of the principal witnesses for the defendant.