The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1876-05-19
farlNets' Column.
speed the PlOsC."
The Arabian Horse Considered as Racer.

AS the pure-bred Arabian seems to &C.
cupy so much of the attention of the pub.
ilc' and Is growing so popular with all
| lovers of pure-bred stock, and as some of
the most distinguished gentlemen of the
| turf advocate the cross of the Arab and
| the thoroughbred race mares, beg leave
TO occupy small space in your valuable
paper TO give few notes and extracts of
the many noble performances of the Ara
blan ON the race course in India and Egypt,
| as we'll as in Australia.
| Having lived among Arabs who own the
hnest race OF horses in the world, and hay
ing made the noble animal a lifetime stu
dy, it is to be presumed that the writer
has considerable knowledge of everything
relating to the Arab horse. The notes
which l take the liberty of quoting were
written by gentleman who is thoroughly
acquainted with the racer of all breeds.
who has witnessed many closely contested
races between the thoroughbred horse
and the little Arabian. In some of his
| writings of the Arab horse, his speed,
great endurance, &C., he says:
at is said and will he said again, the Arab
is small animal and without speed, there.
| fore incapable of either being racer or
| begetting racing stock. This is frequent
| assertion; let us see if it holds good. Our
horse which we call the thorough bred.
our terrible high-bred racer, is the Arabs
| halfbred descendant. The Arab has, in
fact, made breed of racers by the infusion
of his blood into a very inferior breed
| Our racer, (English) such as he is, is liv.
ing witness of the Araban's capacity to
found and create breed of racers. He
has made breed of racers in spite of the
many inferior strains of blood that he has
to combat with. AS racer himself the
Arabian possesses every natural gift and
z qualifications courage, docility, tenn
per, endurance, good and untiring action,
great determination, nervous energy and
speed for horse "a to 144 hands, that
can run two miles under Derby weights in
3:49 cannot truly be called slow horse or
devoid of speed. The speed exhibited by
Arabians on the race course may be term
ed their normal speed, in contradistinction
to the artificial speed of the English racer,
because he has not been bred generation
after generation as O racer for the sole sake
of speed. The Arab will run an honest
and true horse from end to end he stands
training for years, his temper is so good a
large field can be sent from the post with
out difficulty the first time close finishes,
severe struggles, dead heats, and not infre-
quently dead heats after dead heats are the
characteristics of Arab racing. Then he is
so kind and so generous. In his compact
form is also contained every requisite for
combined speed and strength-the broad,
deep and swelling chest (the most desira.
bic for rapid progression,) length in the
right place, length of quarters, length in
arms, immense power to work the parts of
motion, the great nervous energy to excite
the power, and owing to his true symmetry
lie has nothing superfuous to carry. All
these points are more conspicuous and
more developed in the Arabian than in
any other horse. He has more length in
proportion to size and more power, is q
bigger, larger and far more powerful ami
nal than our thoroughbreds in proportion
to size. He does not open his mouth and
drop his bit when you ask him to do his
best. His heart is all right and in the
right place, which with his sound consti-
tuition and his perfect formation enables
him not only to struggle to the end of his
race, but to come out day after day."
The writer then quotes numerous in
stances from the Oriental Sporting Magazine,
and from English turf records, showing
that not only in staying qualities but in
speed the Arab compares favorably with
the best English racers.
A notable instance is that of the Arab
horse Gray-leg, IA hands II inches, who
was never out of training for seven years,
from 1861 to 1868, ran eighty times and
won tifty-one races at all distances and
under all weights. The Arab horse Hon
eysuckle, years old, 144 hands, ran two
miles in 3:48, making better time than
that of the Flying Dutchman for the same
distance in his race at York, England
The ages of the horses were equal, but
there was a difference of 1 ] hands in height
in favor of the English and 81 pounds
weight in favor of the Arab. The article
continues:
The writer in company with the field
editor of your paper, has witnessed races
ON the desert race course, near Cairo, Egypt
between Arab and English horses, (the lat
ter some of the best blood in England in
which the Arab horse proved himself
worthy the name of racer. An Arab horse
called Hadid, (now in the stud of the Khe
dive) was o wonderful racer at all distances
has frequently beaten English horses at
long distances, especially on the Cairo race
course, where the sand is fetlock deep
Hadid is of the same stock and from the
same desert as the Jenifer Arabian, who
was imported into Maryland some two
years since.
These performances are not given to
prove the Arab speedier horse than the
English or American racer, but they do
show him to he possessed of speed, cour-
age, endurance, and to be essentially a
weight-carrier, and worthy the name of
racer The time is not far distant when
we will be breeding from the Arab stock,
just as we are now from the Lexington,
Australian, bennington strains-for our
so-called thoroug h-brcds are evidently be-
coming soft, weedy and unreliable, and
very few of them can put in an appearance
after few closely contested races, cspe-
cially at long distances.
There is no doubt that our racing stock
is deteriorating, and that we want judi
cious cross, a cross with the parent stock
to get that stamina, endurance and hardi-
ness which was possessed by such horses
us old Sir Archy, TimoleoD, Boston, Red
eye, Planet and others-horses that could
run their four-mile heats two days in the
week, and be fresh to carry their owners
to church on Sunday. The performance of
Limestone, by War Dance, out of Transyl
vania, by Arab Massoud, prove the excel
lence of the Arab cross, lie has probably
won as many races as any horse of his age
in America, and he is the grandson of an
Arab. Messenger, the founder of the tiot-
ting stock in this country, is also the close
descendant of the Arab through Mambrino
to Regulus, son of the Godolphin Ara
bian. ARABIA.
Cor. Turf, Field and Farm.
Two sparks from Tendon once came