Omaha daily bee., 1909-02-14
OR COLONIAL HORSES
English Discussion On as to Benefit Of
Outside Breeds.
STATISTICS ON THOROUeHBREDs
I~Bbreeding sad Early Racing said to
ne the Ceuse of Nonstayers-
Free Trade In Racers May
BeEet stamina.

ne the Csuse of Nonstayers-
Free Trade In Racers May
Beget stamina.
American and Australian strains Of the
thoroughbred are attracting a lot Of at
tention in England just now. for at no per-
iod in the history OF the turf have so many
horses from the colonies and this country
set foot on English soil. Some Of the
breeders are OF opinion that this infusion
OF strange blood may be Of use. for they
claim that Of late there has been too much
inbreeding of the race horse. This they
say has caused a crop OF fast non-stayers
and IT IL limited that the fault showed In
the classic winners of the Last few years.
Others, and among them are numbered the
conservative breeders who believe the Eng
lish thoroughbred supreme, scout the idea
Of having anything at all TO do with breeds
from either Australia or America. In
handling the question the Field says;
"At once we may declare in favor Of
free trade in horse breeding. for we are
firmly Convinced that too much inbreed-
ing must some time or other have a dis
astrous result; indeed we are often in
clined to think that the great dearth OF
stayers and the apparent superfluity of
speedy no%n-stayers may be due to too
much mbreeding.
1T is also possible that the softness,
both OF constitution and of limb, which
is so frequently found in the modern
thoroughbred Is also due to the same thing
But there are doubts in connection with
each side OF the case, and first IL may be
that there are more stayers than one wots
Of, and that the great number Of short
distance runners rs accounted for by the
fact that there are more short races then
long ones, and that it is easier to train
horses for short races than to run q long
course. And as regards delicacy OF limb
and constitution, how much of this Is due
In the first place to early forcing, and In
the second place to coddling in the stables
1T is almost impossible to show a really
smart quarter mark unless a horse has
been kept in a very warm stable at an
even and very high temperature, and II is
also a difficult matter to keep a horse
sound on his legs who has begun to gal
lop when about 20 months old and who has
continued to gallop almost daily while in
what may be called the childhood period
Of its existence. It may be, then, that
It is the system and not the horses them
selves which should be blamed, and that
II we insist upon having yearlings which
have been forced for the market upon
early 2-year-old racing and upon hot sta-
bles We can only expect a very small per-
centage OF even the best nags to last long
on the turf. II we look at the old turf
guides and take note OF what was done
with horses In the early days of racing we
shall see that there was no forcing and
that in fact all horses had plenty of time
in which to mature. Let anyone examine
"Orton's Turf Annals of York and Don
caster and he will find that all the early
racing was for horses which were fairly
matured. These annals begin with racing
in l7oe and from that date until 1T4s there
were no races-of which Orton make mem
tion--for horses younger than 5 years old,
and most of them were for 6-year-olds and
aged horses. "
First Racing Of Four-Year-0lds.
I'm 1743 a plate Of ESQ for 4-year-olds was
run for at York in heats of two miles
each, and we are not aware Of any 4-year-
old racing which took place previous to
this date. In 1751 there is a record OF a
4-year-old race at Doncaster. but the re-
turns of the Doncaster meetings for several
years are missing and It is possible that
similar competitions had taken place at an
earlier date. The first mention OF s-year-
ODDS given by Orton-who had all the oldest
calendars to work on--was In ITO, and six
years later the 81. Leger was established.
while the Oaks and the Derby date from
179 and 1850. respectively. Two-year-old
racing came a good deal later n for a
time during the middle Of the nineteenth
century there were yearling races at some
meetings. but these did not last long. Also,
IL we glance at the calendar return of the
races run In four-mile heats, we shal find
that they were In a great measure con-
fined 20 5 and 6-year-olds and aged horses.
and IN fact these races appear 10 have
given way before the influx of racing for
2 and s-year-olds. The change was doubt
less the outcome of a desire not to have
to keep such costly things as race horses
any longer than necessary for giving them
a chance OF paying their way. The Derby
oaks and st. Leger, it need hardly be said,
quickly became the greatest races OF the
year, and thus S-year-old racing was made
more important than racing confined to
older horses, and this position It has ever
since maintained.
ThorouEhbreds Forced.
1T may be. then, that the average thor
oughbred is better gifted with speed than
stamina because he has been forced al
most from foalhood and because he is
trained for speed. And In all probability
" the modern race horse was not trained
until he was rising four he would be found
to be far too slow. There would. Of course
be exceptions, but a return to something
Ike the old style is not desirable for a
score OF different reasons which are too
obvious to need detailing at length. Whai
we are low concerned with is whether II
Is advisable to use suitable out crosses
OF blood when such offer themselves, anc
we are greatly Inclined 10 think that n
Is. especially when an out cross result,
in breeding-of course. at a long remove
TO an original female line which has PROVED
Its worth. Now such out crosses as thes,
are to be found IN the best colonial blood
whether from Australia or New Zealand
because the Colonial horses are ali de
scended from British expectations and hav,
no base blood low down in the pedigree
II Is true that the Colonial sires have no
been a marked success In this country a
yet; but. truth 70 tell, with an exeeptiol
or two they have not had any very grea
chances, and moreover Il Is far too earl,
To sneak decisiveiy either one WAY mr. IN,