The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-29 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, JAN. 29, 1870.

Sul JOSEPH lIAwLEY has astonished the sporting
world by a sweeping proposal of turf reform. The
baronet has entered as a fellow-labourer in a cause
which already numbers many willing, . but
despairing advocates. For years "past the
press and the public have been shocked by
the doings in connection with the " national
sport," and have vainly called for a change. But
hitherto there have been no signs that the period
during which an oppressed people has been delivered
into the hands of a gang of swindlers is coming to
an end. Quito tho reverse; the practices which
have made horse-racing in many quarters one of the
most disastrous of amusements have attained unpre-
cedented proportions during the last few years. Nor
is such a result to be wondered at, for horseracing
may be rendered undoubtedly one of the safest and
most convenient instruments of roguery that ever was
designed ; and whilst the Jockey Club in the first in-
stance, and Parliamentin the second, allow the profes-
sionals the quiet and easy enjoyment of their trade, it
is just as rational to expect self-reformation amongst
thieves as among the lower class of turfites.
It will be wise, too, not to be over sanguine that
Sir JOSEPH HAWLEY will secure what the public
voice has so long vainly demanded. Last year ho
proposed a salutary change in the Jockey Club
rules touching two-year-old racing, and was con-
strained to put up with a miserable compromise.
One thing, however, is certain. If Sir JOSEPH
HAWLEY cannot induce the Jockey Club to adopt
his scheme, the intervention of the Legislature will
be the only remaining resource. The baronet
is one of the few remaining inrfites who
possess station and character. lle is one of the
largest stud owners, the winner of four Derbies, and
of great popularity, which a late untoward event has
not diminished. The rejection of his proposals will
be tantamount to a formal declaration that horse-
racing is a profession among whose members rogues
may be numbered.

Sir jOSEPII.S suggestions are calculated to be very
beneficial. If they do not eradicate turf swindling,
they cannot fail to greatly diminish its extent and
moderate its flagrancy. They will not realise the

common wish in some quarters that racing were
classed with bull-baiting and prize-fighting, and
reformed off the face of the earth ; but they are prac-
cal, and compatible with the continuance and pros-
perity of a sport which seems to be so very dear and
indispensable to a large proportion of the com-
munity. The baronet, in the first place, will ask the
Jockey Club at Newmarket early in the year to appoint
a committee to inquire into the state of the turf. To
this committee he will submit his series of reforms.
The most important of the list, and one to which not
the shadow of a logical objection can be taken, is the
proposal that no bets shall be paid upon a horse
which does not start. If this proviso alone be adopted,
a fell blow will be struck at the odious
system of " milking." At present nothing is
more common than to enter a horse for a race, to
force it into a favourable position in the betting, to
bet against its chance while the public is confidingly
supporting the animal, and then to withdraw it
altogether from the race. Under the present system
the public loses its money upon a horse which was
never intended to run. To back one's own horse to
win is risky ; to back one's own horse to lose is
obviously a sure means of gain, and hence its popu-
larity. If no bet were payable unless the
horse started, this source of profit would be
cut off. It is true, indeed, that actually starting
animals which are not intended to win is far from un-
common ; but this is a somewhat more hazardous
and less favourite expedient.

Next in importance are the proposals directed
against handicaps and two-year-old racing. Upon
the former, the branch of racing which affords the
greatest facilities for dishonesty, Sir JOSEPH would
impose some salutary restrictions. He urges
that no public rewards should be given
in handicaps, and that no horse under four years be
allowed to compete for such a race. This latter proviso
will shut out those " dark " three-year-olds which are
now smuggled into the list of weights at an impost
much below their merits, and which accordingly
often carry away prizes for which they com-
pete at an unfair advantage. A young horse of
promise is kept out of public sight, handicapped at a
light weight, and wins easily. Nothing is more com-
mon now ; but once restrict handicaps to horses of
four years and upwards, and it will be extremely
difficult to get in an animal whose merits are
wholly unknown. Beyond these stipulations, the
baronet would have no flat race whatever contended
for between the 15th of November and the 25th of
March, and no two-year-olds allowed to run
before the Ist of September. Thus two-year-
old racing would be confined to two and a half
months of the year—a salutary measure which must
do much both to prevent the cruelty of severely
tasking young animals beyond their strength, and to
put a stop to the trickery of which the short
races are so productive. Of these and certain
other suggestions to be found in the list, it is saffi-
cient to say that whilst they aro well calculated to
reform the " system of simple gambling," which the
"national sport" now is, they aro also calculated to
arouse prejudices and alarm interests of groat
influence in the Jockey Club. It would La
rash indeed to speculate on the success
of such a scheme. But if it do not succeed, the plea
for the intervention of Parliament is complete, and
no considerations about improving the breed of