The evening world., 1893-10-02
GREAT RACE This.
Can a Thoroughbred Beat a
BiCyclist Twenty Miles?
THE WORLD WANTS Attest.
Is It True Our Thoroughbreds Are
Merely Sprinters
HERE Is 4 CUP FOR THE WINNER.
Whsslmsn Have Never Bsatsn Good
Raeshorss In Condition.
HERE IS 4 CUP FOR THE WINNER.
IT WOULD BE A WONDERFUL MATCH.

IL the American thoroughbred improving or
deteriorating? For ten years the constant
tendency of all racing associations In this
country has been towards the shortening Of their
stake races. The two mile, three. mile and
four. mile races of the past have disappeared
completely. 1t is most unusual now to see
thoroughbreds in a contest of over a mile and
a quarter, a distance that would have been
considered a mere sprint in days gone by.
The American breeder, 1t is claimed, Is breed
ing from sprinters for s%printers. 1t is said that
there is no longer a demand for horses that can
nun four mile heats, and that instead what is
wanted Is a horse that can beat other horses ut
distances shorter than a mile.
Many of the shrewdest and most experienced
turfmen deny the truth of this statement.
They say that the thoroughbred of to- day is as
superior to the thoroughbred OF ten or twenty
or forty years ago as the man of to- day Is
superior to the men who dwelt in caves that
in recent years a revolution has been wrought
in the whole system of breeding horses, and
that the thoroughbred horse can now run
faster and stay longer than at any period in his
history since his ancestors were brought over
to England from the deserts of Asia.
1t is admitted on all sides that the thorough
bred WINS never speedier than he Is to- lay.
The only question at issue is, In acquiring
speed has he lost stamina7
The World suggests a practical test by which
this question may be effectunlly answered.
The recent remarkable development Of the
bicycle, due to the adoption OF the pneumatic
tire, furnishes n splendid opportunity to try
satisfactorily the endurance OF the thorough
bred. Bicyclists can now cover a distance of
twenty or twenty five miles, almost as fast rs
the average passenger train. If a thorough
bred could beat a skilful bicyclist over a dis
lance of, say twenty miles, it would prove be-
yond all dispute that our breed of horses has
not degenerated. The best class of thorough
breds can run a mile in about one minute
and forty seconds. The fastest bicyclists cover
a mile going a distance In a trihe less than two
minutes and thirty seconds. If the races were
left to a mile the horse would win without an
effort. But at what average speed could a horse
run twenty miles? The question Is altogether
one of endurance, not OF speed.
The race would be more satisfactory to turf
men If an average thoroughbred could be Sc
cured to make the test, not a Domino or a Tam
many, but a fair class selling platter who would
more truly represent his race.
Now, can a thoroughbred horse beat a bicy.
clist? The attempt has never been made with
a good racehorse in training. There have
been contests in the past where hunters and
half breeds and unframed thoroughbreds have
vainly tried to defeat the wheelman, but a fair
class racehorse in good condition has never
been pitted against him.