Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-12-01

for themselves; but, as for the Horse
man, 1t has never taken the position
above ascrbed to the critics of the tin
cup system. Ii Is not champion records
made against time to which this paper
has objected. 1t Is well enough for the
horse that has already proven his merit
in racing to then go on and demonstrate
the limit of his speed capacity against
time. Such horse does not need that
his record against time have the regis
tering power nor would the honor or the
righ of any such honest horse be alb
breviated or infringed by the adoption
of the rule that the Horseman has
favored. viz, that race-recOrds only
should be accepted for purposes of reg
istration. No, it is not the efforts of
the champions against time that we
criticise. The evil is not worked at the
fast but at the slow end of the , 80 list.
racing merit to burg larize their way
into the $50 list and the TrOtting
Register through the tin-cup lOophOle,
and thus stand side by side with and
undistinguIshed from performers that
have won their way in contests with
their peers, that is condemned. No
other one thing contributed so much to
the pronounced decline in the respect
for and value of standard registration as
the fact that horses that were not trot-
tiers by families and by scores were
launched into the Register by single
scratches in :293 aud 80, often, very
often, under very shady conditions. Mr..
Wallace acknowledged that this was his
greatest mistake in registration policy.
First it increased his revenues. for every
lineup hero brought IA herd of no.
account relatives in with him at 81
head, but Wallace's successors are
bearing the weight of his bunder in
cheapenng the registration requirements
and the value of registration as well.
Time records should not be accepted for
registration purposes, and their non
acceptance would cause a sudden fall
The horse that has not sufficiently good
tIotting blood to entitle him to registra-
ton, and who has not the racing capaci-
ty to earn a place in the record of the
breed, had better, for the sake of the
breed, not be encouraged until he has
proven his merit in the stud.
The writer quoted above continues:
The majority of the great records of
the year have been made in races, and
this, too, nOtW this anding the fact that
many of these record-breakers have
essayed single-handed to beat Father
Time with more or less success. but
their gre atest success has been in actual
races. which would tend to show that a
horse can go faster in "A properly regula-
ted race than alone in a performance
against time.
From superficial premises the writer
draws superficial and unquestionably
erroneous conclusion. While it might
happen that in an actual race a horse
might get away in front on perfect
track and not be interfered with, but
urged by the contestants to as fast "A
record as he could make against time, to
say that as rule horses can take their
chances in held of trotters and trOt
faster than on Il specially-prepared track
all clear before them seems rather
absurd. The two most noted instances
cited by the writer in support of the
remarkable postulate he lays down are
unfortunate. The records of Fantasy
and Drectum are cited. Both, though
technically race-records, were practical
ly tests against time. In each case dis
lance was waived, the other horses kept
out of the champions way, and each had
IA running prompter at the end Just as
IN flights against time. In neither case
did the field cut any figure nor did the
performance really differ from dash
slngle-handed. There have been many
vain and fantastic apologies offered for
the lineup system, but the theory that
it is harder to acquire record against
time than record in race is perhaps
the most remarkable sophism yet offered
in defense of comforting registration and
record rank on animals of alleged :293
tin-cup capacity.