St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-30
sTAYERs AND NoN-sTAYERs.
The Majority of Owners Run
Their Horses for Pleasure.


Their Horses for Pleasure.
The English Jockey club has ordered
that there shall be in each days pros
gramme two races of a mile and up
wards, zone race being neither hand
leap, race in which there are any sell
ing conditions, nor confined to two-year-
Odds" The proposed alterations were
not carried without discussion. Sir
John Ashley and Lord Suffolk expressed
the opinion that the breed of horses
was not improved by long races. Lon
don Field wants to know if there are
score of men in England who "spend
money on keeping race horses for the
reason that it improves the breed" 1t
thinks that the majority of owners run
their horses solely for the pleasure
they derive from seeing them race"
And it argues the question in this con-
servative fashion: 1t has long been the
fashion to assert that the horses of the
present day cannot stay like those of an
earlier generation; but, while not pre-
tending to contradict the statement, it
may be pointed out that no conclusive
proof of it has been forthcoming. That
they are not required to stay to the same
extent is true enough, because Of the
prevalence of short races, and it is also
true in a degree, as the Duke of Beau
fort remarked, that horse cannot be
made into slayer by training. Not
altogether, perhaps; but just as five
furlong races require one sort OF prepa-
ration, so races over mile and upward
require another. If we cannot abSo-
lutely make horse go faster than nat
ure intended, by training him with a
view to short races. we can at any rate
To fJll
powers as he possesses. The same argu-
ment applies to long distance races.
If training cannot convert non-Stayer
into slayer, it can at least enable a
horse to run up to his best powers,
whatever they may be; and possibly
not even trainers themselves know in
how many cases a supposed want of
| stamina is due to lack of condition;
| or how often horse wears down others
| by reason of superior condition. Were
| any one, who took it into his head to
! abjure all races under a mile, to buy the
! best reputed stayerS he could find, and
| to have them trained for long races, we
| might then find out what a continuous
| preparation for one object could effect.
| The charge that our horses cannot stay
may be true for all we can tell, but it
| has never been proved to be true: and
no one has ever stated clearly what he
means by staying. nor has any one at
tempted to show how far speed and
stamina are connected. Few will quar-
rel, possibly, with the statement
that the horse which can fol
the greatest distance gaIlop at his
best pace, or something approaching
thereto, is better slayer than one who
at equal pressure can gallop less dis
lance. Yet the slayer may be a SLOW
horse when tried against the clock
whereas the other may be a fast one; ht
may in fact be cantering when his op
ponent is galloping, and may thus b.
enabled to defeat horse who is reall!
a far better slayer than himself.
training cannot make non-stayer int
a slayer, it can, at any rate, bring abou
the result that horse can run two O.
more miles in quick time. When horse
after leaving the fiat are put to steeple
chase work, they carry heavy weight
over three miles, or more, of country
but then they have no preparation TO
short cuts. Without attempting to dog
Matte on the subject, we cannot Sc
that any proof has been adduced il
favor OF the statement that there is an
perceptible falling off in the stamina o
the British thoroughbred, when he
trained to enable him to do his best owe
| long distance of ground.