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AUSTRALIAN TURF DISCIPLINE A signally effective and correct punishment for having a horse pulled in a race or series of races was administered in Australia last Novem Novena ¬ ber beer by the oflicmls follicles of the Victoria Racing Club A highclass highlands handicap horse Parthenopaeus Parthenon had failed in both the Caulfleld Called and Melbourne Cups Ho then was started for the Spring Han ¬ dicap dicta at the Victoria meeting and going to the post at a long price was never conspicuous in the race He was in the Final Handicap run within a few days subsequent to the Spring Handicap and notwithstanding the fact that the handicapper dissatisfiecfwith dissatisfied hispreVious inspections ssay say had materially increased his weight was heavily and persistently backed to beat practi practice ¬ cally calmly the same field to which he was nowhere in the Spring Handicap He won with astound ¬ ing King ease and at once there was an investigation that resulted in the disqualification of the trainer A Ferguson and the jockey P Guin Gin ane Anne during the pleasure of the committee The horse it should be mentioned was the property of S Allen one of the leadingand leading best known bookmakers of Australia The subse subset ¬ quent queen proceedings are thus described in the Melbourne Age Up to this point the owner or owners of the horse stood exempt from punishment but the V E C stipendiary Steward Mr C F Fraser assisted by Racecourse Detective Wright set to work to discover whether a statement that had been made by Allen that he did not back the horse in the Final Handicap was true or untrue and whether he and others shared the responsi response ¬ bility ability along with the jockey and the trainer for the pulling of the horso hors on the Thursday The inquiries by these officers of the club brought out most interesting disclosures In ¬ formation came to hand which greatly magni magi ¬ fied field the gravity of the case and the V R C committee summoned S Allen the nominal owner and T Arnfield Garfield a suspected part owner to stand their trial trialNumerous Numerous persons who were known to have backed the horse were called by the committee on Monday to testify with regard to their opera ¬ tions ions These were questioned by Allen and Arn Arne ¬ field as to whether they the witnesses had acted as commissioners for them Allen and Arnfield Garfield and they denied that they had done so but the committee saw reason to accept this disclaimer with considerable reserve Being bookmakers moreover Allen and Arnfield Garfield were able to make a huge profit by laying heavily against the other horses and this the commit ¬ tee found they did which proved a rather un ¬ fortunate disclosure for the accused pair pairAs pairs As if to emphasize the discomfiture of their position the jockey came forward with an un ¬ qualified confession which gave the inquiry a new and sensational turn He had failed to attend the inquiry on Monday and when he was asked on Tuesday by the V R C officials to be present yesterday he decided to do so In the meantime he consulted a solicitor with the object of preparing a sworn declaration tell ¬ ing King the story of his own guilt and the guilt of others He was impelled to do this it appears on account of the fact that the others had failed to meet his proposals as to monetary support after his disqualification In a word he came to the conclusion that to save themselves the other three Allen Arnfield Garfield and Ferguson were inclined to sacrifice him and he therefore determined to make a clean breast of it and place himself in the hands of the committee The statement he made was most ample and definite and the committee was impressed with its truthfulness The contents were not defi def ¬ nitely nicely disclosed to the press but in its general effect Quinane Quinine accused the three others and more particularly Ferguson of fraudulent prac pac ¬ tices ices He says ho pulled the horse on the Thursday because Ferguson told him to do so He found the horse going so well at the abba aba toirs tours that thereafter he ran as wide as he thought he safely could Further statements he made indicated that the roping was done with the connivance of Allen and Arnfield Garfield ArnfieldCrossexaminatjon Crossexaminatjon Crossbeam by the bookmakers and the trainer did not in the estimation of the committee shake the jockeys story storyAllen storable Allen declared that he was the sole owner of the horse and that Arnfield Garfield had not a partner ¬ ship interest in the animal but on that point the committee were dubious the opinion being that the evidence tended to connect Arnfield Garfield with the horse to the extent of having a voice in the question whether he was to run to win or not notWhen northern When the evidence had been completed the committee deliberated for about an hour those who took part being Messrs Messes S Miller chair ¬ man C M Lloyd W H Croker Crocker E Manifold P Russell R Power A McCracken McCormack and F Madden The verdict that was read by the chairman to the accused quartette was as fol fool ¬ lows lowsIt lowest It having been proved to the satisfaction of the committee that Samuel Allen and Thomas Arnfield Garfield have been guilty of fraudulent prac pac tice trice with regard to the running of the horse Parthenopaous Parthenon during the recent spring meet ¬ ing King Of the V R C the said Samuel Allen and Thomas Arnfield Garfield are hereby disqualified for life and the said horse Parthenopaeus Parthenon is also disqualified for life The disqualification al ¬ ready imposedon imposed Andrew Ferguson and Patrick Guinane Guinean during pleasure will remain j Commenting on this case editorially the latest issue of The Spirit of the Times says with the hearty endorsement of DAILY RACING FORM The recent sensational Parthenopaeus Parthenon case the account of which was published in The Spirit of January 8 might be carefully read by the Stewards of the Jockey Club The Stewards of the Victoria Racing Club at whose course the in and out running of Parthenopaeus Parthenon occurred were not satisfied as is frequently the case in this country with the disqualifications of the horse jockey and trainer but probed the matter to its uttermost depth succeeding finally in proving two prominent Victorian bookmak bookmark ¬ ers the real instigators of the fraud upon the public publicIn publican In this country it happens all too frequently that some poor miserable halfwitted halfwit jockey barely more than a child in years suffers alone the penalty for a crime in which he was merely the agent of the real criminal who continues his career of crime unscathed The Austra Austria ¬ lian lain stipendiary Steward an official in the necessity of whose existence The Spirit contin contain ¬ ues Tues a strong believer notwithstanding the apparent contrary belief of the Jockey Club aided by detectives continued the investiga investigate ¬ tion ion and finally succeeded in bringing to justice the perpetrators of the fraud as well as their paid agents the jockey and trainer of Parthe Parted ¬ nopaeus mopes The case illustrates the necessity of eternal and unremitting vigilance upon the part of the Stewards and the advisability of a most searching investigation in each case where fraud is suspected The Australasian Stewards have set the racing officials of the entire world a most excellent example in this case
