The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-04-18

grandsire; dam. Aiilers DamseI by Messenger, the great-great grandsire of Hambletonian K. founder of the Hambletonian family of trotters. He was bred by General Nathaniel Coles Of Long Island, and his training conn menced as a three-year-old.
 He had star on the forehead and his left hind foot was white some dis tance above the ankle. In height he was about eighteen hands two inches, but was built on a massive pattern. He was not a handsome horse, prohH- ] bly due to his Messenger blood through 1 his dam. Duroc. his sire, was an ex- ceedingly handsome horse. Eclipses action in front was heavy, and he struck the ground heavy, dwelling a little, but the style and regularity with which he brought up his launches and 1 the power with which they propelled him forward overbalanced all criticisms of his individuality and way of going.
 His temper was good, and he re- quired a good deal of whipping. The account of his great race with Henry, which was virtually between the north and south, still thrills the blood of men who have an ounce of love for the thoroughbred in their hearts. Henry l won by head in the first heat, but Eclipse the race. It is estimated that twenty-five thousand people witnessed the race, and that over two hundred thousand dollars in side bets changed hands.
 While Eclipse was in my fathers stable my father received one day an unexpected visit from Henry Clay, who was accompanied by several gentlemen from Fayette and Woodford counties. They had been fox hunting in the im- mediate neighborhood. MT. Clay was a connoisseur of thoroughbreds and a breeder of them, and was very anxious to see the horse that had won world wide fame on the turf.
 My father was peculiar, in that eve ry horse he owned or had charge of was trif1e better than his predecessor. And as he was a fluent talker and could describe all the good points of a horse, MT. Clay, it appears, for the amusement of the gathered company, decided to draw out Uncle Ned as my father was called. After Eclipse had DCCit NlGWGu anu lIS SuGSlS adjourned to dinner. MT. 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 My father was not to be outdone. Filling his glass and rising slowly from his seat and lowing to MT. Clay, he re- sponded, Eclipse is among horses, but Henry Clay is among men, This dis play of repartee and gallantry put MT. 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 JiIson Yates, near Shelbyville, Ky.
 'The breeding problem is worthy of profound study, for those who seek to solve it enrich mankind. It is not and never can become an exact science. l state this as an abstract propositnon without going at this time into the whtys and wherefores. I knew MT. A. keene Richards. who attempted to solve it by importing Arabians, very we'll, indeed. He was an excellent man, an enthusiast and deserved better fate than was his. As Senator Mc- 1 Creary has already said in the Star, he bred his Arabians with the very best blood that could be found in Ken lucky.
 1 When his youngsters came on the turf they were badly beaten. Turfmen who disbeieved his theory, that the Arabian could fertilize the blood of the modern thoroughbred allowed him. first, seven pounds, and they were beat en. Then they made the generous con- cession of fourteen pounds--equal to a double distance, and still they were | beaten.
 MT. Richards did not give up the fight. Accompanied by the eminent an- imal painter, Troy, he turned his face once more toward the Orient. He lived with the Arabs in their tents. He ate and slept with them, worshipped with them, and dressed like them, and all for the purpose of getting the best Arab horses to be found among the de- scendants of Ishmael. He studied and rode Arab horses until he could judge of conformation, disposition and type, and he was especially careful to pur- chase nothing that could not be traced in an unbroken line to one of the mares of the prophet. His later purchases proved as great failures as his first.
 Now, as to the facts. MT. Richards did not comprehend, what every suc- cessful breeder must comprehend that the horse has aFphysical as well as a physical organization, and that these Arabs had no inheritance of racing will. Having it not themselves, how could they transmit it to their progeny? It is as plain as the nose on ones face that you cannot make a good whistle from the tail of a pig, nor can you gather grapes from thistles, nor figs from thorns. Nature works more intel ligently. She never performs miracles, but produces results through natural laws.
 "The supreme trial of the Arabian consists in being mounted at midnight and carrying his master hundred miles across the desert without food or water. In this style Of racing he could beat Hamburg. Henry of Navarro, a i Tenny or a Salvador. The truth is, the Arabian has not been subjected for two hundred years or more to a scientific course of training and preparation to run one mile or four miles, and having no cultivation of will nor consciousness