The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-07-21
From the New York Times.l

The news of the breaking down OF Tom
Bowling will be received with regret, if
not with something akin to positive sor-
row, by all who have ever seen that peer
less animal run When he appeared on
last Tuesday, cantering away from Wits
per and Ransom, and only kept, by the
most prodigious efforts of his jockey, from
leaving them altogether out of the race, lie
seemed the very perfection of equine sym
metry strength and beauty, and TO his adj
mircrs it will be grieyous surprise that
he is so soon to be eXilcd hopeless Grip
pie, from the scene of SO many trumphs.
If, as reported, he has ruptured one of the
tendons on his left fore-leg it is scarcely
possible that he will ever again appear up
on the turf, and he must be consigned to
the more useful but less glorious retire
ment of the stud The American turf has
seldom suffered greater loss. The noble
horse was apparently at his best, and his
enthusiastic admirers looked for such a
performance from him in the contest for
the Saratoga cup, matched as he would be
against competitors like Breakness Wan
derer, Springbok and Katie Pease. as
would have surpassed all previous achieve
ments, perhaps even Iongfellow's unpar-
allclcd though unrecorded exploit of a mile
in 40 As ii is, he rctires with the proud
record of having made the fastest single
mile and the two fastest mile heats ever
registered in the annals of American racing.
But the untOward event may well set
lovers of our running stock to rejecting on
the causes of the sudden and early break
ing down of so many OF our best race
horses Tom Bowling was only III his
fourth year, and he is but the latest of Il
long series of noble predecessors whose
early promise has been betrayed by not
less untmely collapse. Harry Bassett was
only five, when he, too, broke down. Mon
archist. in his sixth year, vanquished the
then champion of the track by an effort
which ruined nina costly victory. Ken
lucky never appeared in public after his
famous fOur-mic race against time. Mar
ragansetrs racing ability did not survive hls
four-year-old fame. Loadslone died in hi,
sixth. Kingfisher failed in his ifth year
and at the same age True Blue is utterly
broken down. And ut this very meeting
mt Monmouth park Tammany and Victol
and Village Blacksmith, all horses of eX
cellent record, gave way upon the track,
the two former having to be killed, while
the latter will never run again.
This is certainly not an encouraging ex-
hbit, and it behooves the lovers of oul
race-horse to inquire into the reason of this
lamentable deficiency in endurance. With
out going very deeply into the matter, We
suspect that two causes will be found tC
have at least a share in producing this early
exhaustion: First the running of two
year-olds; and second, the hardness anC
heavness of most American tracks The
frequent running of horses in their two
year-old form cannot but prove injurious
ard the best English authorities have pro
nounced against il. Yet last week there
were at Monmouth park, with only three
days interval, two two-year-old races. in
both of which many of the same horses
were entered and ran. The effect Of thii
early strain on an animal Of so fine and Sc
high-strung an organization as the race
horse mus. inevitably be preiudicial to hi
stamina.
Nor haye we ever been able to under
stand why. American turfmen cling so per
sistently tothe dirt tracks which make the
very title OF their pastime misnomer a
turf track properly cared for would Ger
tainly be easier on the horses, and not less
speedy. AT any rate, the eXper
iment seems worth trying. We certainly
cannot afford to lose our best horses in then
prime for want of proper scrutiny into the