RACING IS HER BUSINESS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 3, Issue 63, 6 September 1940, Page 34

RACING IS HER BUSINESS

a horse lover, I lingered round the room, feasting my eyes on such champions as Phar Lap, Spearmint, and Diamond Jubilee. A luxurious office, with its long broad table, padded chairs, and red carpet underfoot. Brown curtains outlined the windows but let in the afternoon sunlight. The door opened and she entered. A slight young woman in a fawn skirt and a brown coat and jumper. When we had exchanged the usual preliminaries, she seated herself at her desk, and with a most disarming smile, motioned me to a chair. While she commented on the weather -and proffered cigarettes-I was gathering impressions. Here was that rare thing-a woman with a masculine mind. A capacity for a clear, unbiased outlook; calmness and a decisive judgment that would dispose of an emergency without fuss or bother. a race-going enthusiast and Doing a Man’s Job This particular young woman was doing a man’s job-and doing it with 100% efficiency, Her unusual post was Secretary of a leading Racing Club. Women Secretaries of Race Clubs can be numbered on one hand for the whole world-and at the time of her appointment, she was the only woman to hold such a@ post in New. Zealand. I have never been an ardent feminist, but I felt a stir of pride in my sex as I talked to this attractive and most unassuming member. I found her loath to talk of herself, but of her job, well that was a different matter. She .has been fourteen years with the Racing Club. ‘The first seven years she was engaged doing office and routine work. But seven is her lucky number. Seven league boots carried her in one swift step to the next seven-year period, lifting her in one sweep from office assistant to the all-important post of Secretary. That was rather breathless going, for conservatism does not capitulate without a solid reason. The appointment of a woman to this post was an unprecedented step. That this capable girl earned the distinction by sheer worth and merit is. something that she herself would not talk about. But the club and the race-going public reaped the benefit of her appointment. Her admirable powers of organisation, her tact and keen business ability, have been reflected during the seven years of her office in a series of highly. successful metropolitan Tace meetings. That is her job. For the moment she was envious of mine. She was. wistful of my freedom to free-lance; to move round the world at will. She has been for fourteen years behind a desk. It has meant concentration, hard work; a sacrifice of leisure and

those feminine pastimes that make up much of a woman’s life. But she really did not believe what she was saying. She would not have exchanged places with me if the whole world had beckoned. This was her job-and in it was her heart, and her pride-and the best years of her life, One Rainy Day I have a weakness for beginningssuch as " Once upon a time. . ." I do like to know how people start things-im-portant things. And this Lady Secretary’s beginning is as romantic as any fairy tale-and it all began on a rainy day. For a year she had been working as Acting-Secretary to the club, with no thought of a permanency. Then the rainy day happened-and it coincided with a big race meeting. During the course of the day, and while hundreds on the grandstand were cheering their favourites to victory, another victory was being perpetuated in the Steward’s room. The Acting-Secre-tary, all unsuspecting, had been summoned there by the President to meet the Stewards. They told her then, with due solemnity, that by general agreement, she had been appointed Secretary. It was an event in racing history. The announcement of her appointment spread from paper to paper-even to the other side of the world. But the new Secretary was not concerned with that-she was interested in getting on with her job. She is Kept Busy Here is-her own description of a typical " working" day out at the racecourse. "The days preceding the big race meeting are always rather frenziedreceiving nominations, issuing acceptances, arranging for the compiling and printing of race-books, selecting the staff of the course-about 500 in all-and a hundred other details, Then on the day itself, I’m always out at the course early, I like to take a final look over everything; the dining and tea rooms, the lounges, the cocktail bar, the grandstands and the tote building-to see that everything is running without a hitch, " Before each race I have to be in the office giving out tickets and attending to such details; then just before the race starts, I go up to the control board. From here I ring a bell when the tote is ‘to close down, and when I receive word that everything is checked satisfactorily, I signal to the starter-that is when the ‘balloon goes up just prior to the race ‘beginning. I always follow the race through my binoculars-just to see that the ambulance is on the spot-and that there is no hitch. The same procedure accompanies every race."

No Bets for Herself "A most important question," I said, " Are you a racing enthusiast yourselfdo you ever plunge?" She shook her head. "Fortunately, no. I am like people who have no card sense-I have no racing instinct. It leaves me quite unmoved. If I am attending some meeting away from home, I might have a modest bet, but it simply doesn’t occur to me here. I wouldn’t have the time, anyway, to bother about it." Lucky, lucky person! I thought. She smiled reflectively. "Everyone has been so kind and so helpful to me in this job-both men and women. The sporting people are the finest in the world. They are so generous -so big. It is impossible to find any smallness among them." A generous tribute-from a charming and unusual woman,