view raw text
FOREIGN HORSES IN ENGLISH RACING. New Rule Adopted Forcing Them to Run Thrice in England to Become Eligible to Handicaps. London. Eng.. July 1. The Jockey Club today adopted the following new rule: "No weight shall be allotted to any liorse in a handicap until lie has run three times in the United Kingdom." Daily Racing Form referred to Uiis new rule shortly after its proposal some time back. It Is doubtful if. as has been suggested. It was adopted with any especial view to preventing American and French horses from being nominated to the Important English handicaps, although that will be the immediate effect in the cases of horses that have not been raced in England. When the English spring and early sumlner handicaps closed it was found that Colin. Ballot. Priscillian, Fair Play. Helmet and other stars of American racing were nominated. The English handicappers were a unit in giving them crushing imposts, holding that thev had nothing to go by except the high-class form of the horses in their own country, and were justified in handicapping them to be better than the English racers until their racing in England should prove to the contrary. This was a satisfactory line of reasoning to some, but not to all. and there has been considerable adverse criticism and dissatisfaction about the matter. It Is quite probable this had more to do with tlie introduction and adoption of the new rule than anything else.
