RACECOURSES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT. 179 



made attractive to the non-gambling portion of the 

 community, and it is endeavoured to accomplish this 

 on Australian racecourses. I have not been on a 

 racecourse in the Colonies where a good view of 

 every race could not be obtained. The races always 

 finish in full view of the people. There is an official 

 timekeeper for every meeting, and the time of each 

 race is posted under the numbers of the first three 

 horses. No one is allowed on the race-track be- 

 tween the intervals of racing — a vast improvement 

 on the English style, where people wander all over 

 the course. The clerk of the scales performs his 

 duties in the same manner as in England, and there 

 is no official stakeholder. In the Selling races 

 at suburban meetings the whole of the surplus 

 over the entered selling price of the horse goes 

 to the club, but Selling Platers do not fetch big 

 prices, as a rule. The A. J. C. divide the surplus 

 between the owner of the second horse and the club. 

 There is a decided inclination to abolish Selling 

 Races altogether, and this has been done at Rosehill 

 and almost entirely at Remington and Randwick. 

 It will be a good thing for horse-racing when Selling 

 Races are abolished. They only foster discontent 

 and ill-feeling amongst owners, and are merely in- 

 troduced into programmes to swell race-club funds. 

 Selling Races are responsible for many shady trans- 

 actions that would, but for their existence, never 



