Rioting punters, who threw stones at the horses, picketed the tote windows and swarmed all over the course, succeeded in suspending racing for over two hours at the Thorncliffe Track here after an unpopular decision by the judges had made racing history of another sort.
The decision which the crowd called in question was one which caused the second race to be re-run after it had been discovered that one of the entries, an outsider named Lassies Mary, had failed to start, The starter claimed that the race had not in fact been properly started as, noticing that one horse was absent, he did not lower the official flag.
At the second running of the race Lassies Mary won handily, paying Odds of 80-l om the tote. Thereupon backers of the original winner, a horse at short odds named Vanished, proceeded to picket the tote windows to prevent winnings being paid out on Lassies Mary.
Horses coming out for the. next race were stoned from the course and had to be taken back to their stalls. To make sure that therd should be no more racing other disgruntled punters swarmed on to the course and defied the police to remove them.
Officials of the course tried in vain to appeal for order over the loudspeakers. They were booed and shouted down. ' Finally a delegation of five, representing the striking punters, was chosen to negotiate with the general manager of the course.
They failed to come to any agreement. Fifty special policemen, hastily sworn in and armed with rolled up newspapers, thereupon cleared the course and restored order.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.