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• I J ! I | r • 1 r 1 • 8 1 I e 5 . II S 0 -, .", I a 1 ill 01 » ol RACING FOR SPORTS SAKE ALONE Is the popular interest in horse rating as entirely dfjirndml oa gambling as Ihe people who never patronise it seem to imagine? II may freely be ad-; milted thai on many of the smaller courses it is conducted as a business, and nothing but a business. and often a pretty sordid business, loo: but on courses like ITemiiigton, Caiilfield and Baadwiek here is a great dial of sport patronized purely for sports sake. The professional racing fraternity appears to constitute a larger proportion, of the attend-» unci- than is really the case, for it is a loud, bustling ami obstnisive element, and by its noise alone seems ; lo dominate the proceedings. The great majority of those present content Ummeerres with a mild Investment, many of them going no farther than to 1 risk a half iro.vn or five shillings in a private sweep, and many others not going even so far as that. Strictly speaking, of course, :l half crown ! sweep const iiittes a gamble, just as playing bridge lor sixpence a hundred does: but only the moral purist- who generally defeats his purpose by pushing things lo impossibly extremes — refuses to allow weight to the question of degree in such a connee- lion. And not a few people who find racing SUf- licit n!ly interesting and amusing without any bet- ting at all refuse to play bridge without the small I stake required to steady the game. To those wh wish to bet. the turf UUSjUeBt ionably affords an e- cedent medium for hitting, just as bicycle racing , did. and Si ii-plane raeing will. The reason for its J being made the principal medium is that people of f Hntish blood have always had such a strong passion , for the horse. Therefore, though racing is the fn- roritC -port of many simply because of lie facilities it offers for gambling, it should net be forgotten , that gambling originally fastened on it. and still I maintains ils grip, because the spoil was and is in ! ils.-lf so popular. The taiiger of l-lemington race course has seen forty four Melbourne Cups run tvith-,-, out having put M much es a Sixpenny bit on u horse, Bad is of opinion that many people go there without t a thought of gambling. Chose who know anything about it will have no hesitation in confirming this * view. An important meeting at one of the big race J rearara F something in the nature of a social fuue- lion, ami thousands of people find all the pleasure f thej .va nt in the life snd brilliancy of the scene. • Cnmhliii:: counts for a good deal in horse rating. bin it does not constitute anything like ils whole i* i harm.- Melbourne Argus.
