Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-26

fox hunting in the immediate neighborhood.
Mr.. Clay was connoisseur of thorough
breds and breeder OF them, and was very
anxious to see the horse that had won
worldwide fame on the turf. My father
was peculiar, In that every horse he owned
or had charge of was a triae better than
his predecessor. And as he was fluent
talker and could describe all the good points
of horse Mr.. Clay, it appears, for the
amusement Of the gathered company, de-
cided to draw out Uncle Ned. as my
father was called. After Eclipse had been
viewed and admired the guests adjourned
to dinner Mr.. Clay was in excellent spirits.
While the wine was being passed he raised
his glass to his lips and proposed the health
of my father and the health of Eclipse, the
greatest horse on the continent. Ny father
was not to be outdone. Filling his glass
and rising slowly from his seat and bowling
to Mr.. Clay, he responded, Eclipse is among
horses, but Henry Clay is among men, This
display Of repartee and gallantry put Mr..
Clay on edge, and he scintillated as only
Gallant Harry Of the West could when he
was at his best. Eclipse lived to be thirty
three years old and died at the farm of Jill
son Yates, near Shelbyville, Ky.
Importation Of Arabians.
1.-THE breeding problem is worthy of pro-
found study, for those who seek to solve 1t
enrich mankind. 1t is not and never can
become an exact science. I state this as an
abstract proposition without going at this
time into the why's and wherefores.
knew Mr.. A. Keene Richards, who at
tempted to solve 1t by importing Arabians,
very well, indeed. He was an excellent man,
an enthusiast, and deserved a better fate
than was his. AS Senator McCreary has al
| ready said in The Star he bred his Arabans
with the very best blood that could be found
| in Kentucky. When his youngsters came
on the turf they were badly beaten. Turf
men who disbelieved his theory, that the
Arabian could fertilze the blood of the mod
thOrOnPhbrpd allowed him
pounds and they were beaten. Then they
| made the generous concession of fourteen
pounds-equal to a double distance, and
still they were beaten.
Mr.. Richards did not give up the fight.
Accompanied by the eminent animal paint
er, Troy, he turned his face once more
toward the. orient. He lived with the
| Arabs in their tents. He ate and slept
with them, worshiped with them, and
dressed like them, and all for the purpose
of getting the best Arab horses to be found
among the descendants of Ishmael. He
studied and rode Arab horses until he
could judge of conformation, disposition
and type, and he was especially careful
to purchase nothing that could not be
traced in unbroken line to one of the
| mares Of the prophet His later purchases
proved as great failures as his first.
Why the Experiment Failed.
Now. as to the facts. Mr. Richards did
not comprehend what every successful
breeder must comprehend, that the horse
has a psychical as well as physical or
| ganization and that these Arabs had no
inheritance Of a racing will. Having 1t
| not themselves. how could they transmit
| 1t to their progeny? It is as plain as the
nose on ones face that you cannot make
| a good whistle from the tail of pig, nor
can you gather grapes from thistles, nor
! figs from thorns. Nature works more in
telligently. She never performs miracles.
but produces results through natural laws.
The supreme trial of the Arabian consists
| in being mounted at midnight and carry
| ing his master a hundred miles across the
desert without food or water. In this style
of racing he could beat Hamburg, Henry
of Navarro a Tenny or a Salvador. The
truth is, the Arabian has not been SUBJ
| jected for 200 years or more to scientific
course of training and preparation to run
one mile or four miles, and having no cul-
tivation Of will nor consciousness of power
to beat all others that distance he miser-
ably fails when brought to a supreme test.
"A single illustration of my proposition,
for 1t is important to every man who
breeds either runners or trotters, and I
am done. In Abbeville district. South Car
large breeder Of thoroughbred horses
named Richard A. Rapley. He imported a
number of the most fashionably bred stall
lions and mares that could be found in
Great Britain. He was scrupulously care
full in all the crosses that he made, and
soon gathered about him a herd of pure
bred animals that had never seen a. race
course. He kept up this fancy through
several generations of horses The at
tention of racing men was naturally turned
in time to this stud Of pure bred animals,
and number were selected and tried. But
Notwithstanding their high lineage and per-
lection of form they did not prove to be
race horses. The speed which they in
herited from their ancestors had been lost
through lack of usage. The consciousness
of speed and the will and ambition to win
had died out"