view raw text
SOME GIMCRACK DINNER SUGGESTIONS. The annual Gimcrack dinner is always an event of the highest importance to horse-loving Yorkshire-men, which means all Yorkshiremen, and is awaited with great interest by Englishmen at large. Who-. ever may be the owner of the winner of the Gimcrack Stakes for two-year-olds at the York August meeting, is the guest of honor of the occasion and in response to a toast is expected to make a speech touching what is best for the maintenance and prosperity of racing. Addresses by other leading lights of the turf are also in order and it is a fact that much Jockey Club legislation has been based on suggestions advanced by thinking men at Gimcrack dinners. On the occasion this year, December 12. Viscount Villiers, representing the Jockey Club, and Mr. E. Ilulton, whose horse, Lomond, won the Gimcrack Stakes at the last York August meeting, were the principal guests, and the chair was occupied by Mr. James Melrose, chairman of the York Race Committee. Mr. Hulton was heard attentively In a review of the racing season, in advocacy of Inquiry by the Jockey Ciub into evil rumors commonly current in betting circles on race tracks and of allowing no horse to be started in a race until it had been given a duly registered name, which should not be a duplication of a name already registered, particularly those of famous horses. In concluding, he was warmly applauded when he said: "There was never a dinner held yet under the auspices of the Antient Fraternitie when horse-racing was in such a strong position. There was not only more racing, but increased attendances, and a better class of speculator. It did not necessarily follow that the increased attendance meant that there was more betting. People could bet just as easily at home, and at far less expense. It would seem they really liked to see the sport. There was no doubt that foolish betting was the cause of very great misery, though there were, some Very exaggerated statements on this head. In any case, compared with the number of people Interested, and the great opportunities of national relaxation, the percentage could not be large. "If they abolished racing, what were they going to substitute to interest the crowds that watched it? They could not eliminate the gambling instinct by Act of Parliament, any more than they could make a man virtuous by Act of Parliament. They must not uproot a great sport, almost part of the national character, because of a small percentage of foolish persons. Let a man learn how to control himself. He could learn, and nine times out of ten did. Deliver us, he added, from so much protection, so much spoon-food. We may not box too vigorously nowa days, lest we should do one another hurt; we arc protected from strong drink; shielded from every temptation like chicks under a fussy old hen, and what sort of men are you going to get as a result? "Englishmen self-controlled and self-reliant must be a better race than the spoon-fed article. Let lacing be kept clean. Let people of every class feel that they could take part iu It with comfort and decency. Let people realize that betting was an amusement, and a very dangerous amusement, not the get-rick-quick business, and racing would flourish, and benefit the nation." In replying to the toast to the Jockey Club, Viscount Villiers vigorously advocated the abolition of half-mile racing for two-year-olds. . Of this matter he said in part: "There could surely be but little pleasure or interest to a real lover of horses in watching a scramble, which was of necessity devoid of those varying changes and incidents in which were found the chief interest and charm of races over a distance of ground. These events were reintroduced as an experiment, primarily with the idea that a race over a half mile would be a less severe strain on a two-year-old than a race over a longer ocurse. At first sight tliis, of course, seemed a very plausible theory; but ho much doubted if it was the case in reality. Athletes would, he believed, tell them that a quarter-mile race was a much greater strain on a man than a longer one, because he was kept on the stretch all the way at top speed. "So with horses in half-mile races. Most of them never got balanced, and the whips were going from the start. He had only heard one excuse advanced in their defence on this point, namely, that it was all right with an experienced jockey, as if he did not get well away he had sense enough not to persevere or knock the horse about, knowing at once that he had no chance of winning." "To his mind this defence was the most eloquent condemnation that any counsel for the prosecution could wish, for it admitted two things: firstly, that half-mile races were practically won or lost at the start, and were therefore not races in the true sense of the word; secondly, that they were events in which a jockey was not only justified, but was acting rightly, in not trying to win if he did not got weil away. In other words, they were avowedly misleading for future events. For these two reasons alone if for no other, they could not be good for racing. "He always thought we raced to encourage the breeding of good horses, and not so as to make a market for Inferior animals. He had looked up with considerable care the subsequent performances of all the winners of half-mile races on the fiat during the five years 1905 to 1909 inclusive. "In these five years there were 31G races run over less than live furlongs. These were won by 2G4 different horses, some, of course, winning more than once. Of these 2G4 winners only 52 in subsequent years won any sort of race of one mile or over, selling races included; G5 more won races, selling races again included, of less than a mile; 7S ran without winning: and, most significant of all, GO never ran at all after their two-year-old career. This meant that on an average 2G per cent, of winners of half-mile races were not worth keeping in training another season, while more thau half never won another race after their two-year-old career. These figures surely needed no further comment. "He could not help thinking that these half-mile races were largely responsible for three somewhat glaring features of present-day racing, namely, the wild riding which they sometimes saw, the number of apparently ungenerous horses, and the number of the horses who misbehave at the starting post."
