Omaha daily bee., 1909-02-14


derfui az yet he has shown ability to pro-
duce winners. and last year 1901 for ex-
ample, he was credited with five winners
Of eight races. worth fi.Ho. while during
the last season he has had three winners
Of five races worth e5S. He stood for a
time at iOe g~uineas. which was too much TO
ask for him in spite OF the fact that he had
won the Ascot cup. Carbine has been much
the greatest success OF all the colonial nags.
and though he is getting on in years The
was foaled in 1855 he holds his own fairly
we'll.
During the last season be was twelfth
in the list Of winning sires. with thirteen
winners of twenty-three races. worth eS,3iS,
ana among them was Glscis, one OF the
most genuine stsyers OF the day. though
found to be a little short OF class when he
attempted TO race against the cracks in
the Doncaster cup. spearmint is OF course
Carbine's best performer. but we are quite
at sea when confronted with the statement
that he was the best horse of this century.
lie may have been. Of course. for the CEN
fury is not very old as yet, but we shout
hesitate a long while before placing him as
superior to Ard Patrick and Sceptre, to say
nothing OF Pretty Polly. and we should like
much to know the evidence on which this
bold statement is made.
SpearmInt Was UneertaIn.
1--WE know that Spesrmint won the Derby
and Grand Prix de Paris easily enough,
but he was not a great two-year-old on his
public performances. and he did not win
his first three-year-oid races by any great
margin. In the Derby he beat Pictou by
a length and a half and at Paris he
finished half a length in front OF Brise-
occur, with Storm q fair third, and in the
subsequent st. Leger Storm was only sixth
TO Troutbeck. who had run third to Spear
mint at Ensom. 1t Is true, however, that
the White Knight and Radium were among
the unplaced lot in the Derby, and their
subsequent form speaks highly in favor of
Spearmint. As Pretty Polly was trained
in the same stable as S~pearmint. we sup
pose the statement was based on a trial
with her; but Pretty Polly failed to beat
Bachelors Button in the Ascot Cup Of
1906, and as she had beaten him in the
Jockey Club CUP Of the previous October
II Is possible that she was not quite so
good as she had been when a three and
four-year-old. We do not think that we
are prejudiced on the subject, but even
IL we are told that Spearmlnt was better
than Pretty Polly we shall incline to the
idea that sceptre and Ard Patrick are
the best horses which the present century
has given us so far. : But nc matter whether
S~pearment's form was better or worse
than that of the great horses of 1902. the
fact remains that he was in all probability
a good deal in front of the average Derby
winner, and that he is likely to get good
stock. He began stud life at a terribly high
fee, but one supposes that any fee is justi-
fled so long as breeders are willing to pay
It, and anyhow 1t Is most satisfactory that
Carbine can be succeeded by such a high
class horse. Trenton has not been alto
gether a success at the stud, and yet he has
sired some very fair animals since he came
to this country, OF which the dual Alexan-
ORA Plate winner Torpoint is a long way the
best.
A Colonial of Quality.
'rorpoint is very handsome, too, and is
remarkable for quality-a remark which can
not be mad about all the Colonial horses
which nave been sent to this country He
should have a big stud career before him,
though on this point IL Is never safe to as
sumo too much. The horse Is q great
slayer, however. and 1t should be an easy
matter to find suitable mares for him.
What enc would like to see would be
an importation OF sound. young Australian
or New Zealand mares To mate with the
best English stations. and one is Inclined
TO think that IL such could be bought rea-
sonably they might do a great deal to-
ward strengthening the present breed of
thorouehbreds. Two American sires we're
fairly high IN the last seasons list, viz,
Octagon and Americas. octagon was in
twentieth place. owing to the victories
of Norman III, and Americas (who IL now
in Germany four places lower, with eleven
winners OF twenty races worth $4,000.
This is not a bad record, but hitherto
American sirss have not lone we'll in
this country. and It Is a fact that most
of their stock that we know are short Of
staying power. Moreover, there is a preju-
dice against American blood because Of
the fact that a good deal of it's
originally from sources which cannot be
traced. The same thing can be said Of
English blood. with the difference that
the blots in the pedigrees OF English horses
are. broadly speaking, 100 years further
back. From the breeders point Of view,
Colonial blood should appeal more than
American. and doubtless mares by these
Colonial horses will be very valuable at a
not distant future"