Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-02
NEW METHOD OF BREEDING
Horses to Be Bred on Lines Of Col
ored Charts.
SOME ACTUAL RESULTS SHOWN
sOuthRll system and what ~ Demon-
strateS-spearmint, the Derby
Winner of 1900, Cited as
an Instance.

Breeding classic winners according TO
what Is shown In colored charts Is one of
the latest fads Of the turf abroad just now.
and from a scientific standpoint II has at
tracted the attention Of the men interested
In the production of the thoroughbred
This chart plan Is the Invention Of w.
Southall. who was for many years agent
for Sir Tatton Sykes. and though he has
used the system for some time for his own
personal guidance II is only lately that
others have recognized the utility of the
scheme.
What directed attention mostly to the
Souihall charts was the case Of Spear
mint, winner Of the Derby in 1907 and the
colt who made the present record Of 2:36Ss
fol the course. AS a 2-year-old he was
not figured even In the mediocre class.
yet the Southall charts showed him to be
far and away the best Of the youngsters
In training. That the charts were the best
indication of the animals true form was
emphasized the following season when the
big EPSON race came around.
To describe these charts on paper is not
an easy task, because the colors they show
arc the essential feature. The charts are
~fan-shaped, and each generation is set
down In a semi-circle, Of which there are
seven, so that In the outermost there are
the names of sixty-four sires and sixty
four dams. All these tracing in tail male
from Whalebone through Camel and
Touchstone are colored canary yellow.
through Birdcatcher and ~Stockwell pale
Pink through Birdcatcher and Isonomy,
together with all other descendants Of
Whalebone and Whisker, deep pink. The
lines from King Fergus through Blacklock
| are dark hl1a fbrOuoh nrttfIIo c.oz. -.
Tramp red, from Johanna and Cation
brown, and from Saltram and all other
lines OF Eclipse chrome yellow.
The members of the woodpecker branch
Of the Herod family are colored purple
those OF the Highflyer branch pale blue,
while the descendants of Matchem are
light oak. By this time It is possible to
tell at a glance what blood predominates
In a pedigree and also whether the chief
strain In a mare has it's complement in the
sire. Southall has colored the pedigree of
all sires at the stud at the present time
SO that he has only to color the pedigree
OF any given mare and place it alongside
those Of the sires in order to find out
very quickly which will make the best
mate for her; that is leaving all other con-
siderations aside.
How far 1t will be possible to bring those
charts into general use cannot now be
determined, but the only obstacle that
might be in the way is the expense. A
practical solution of the difficulty would be
to publish a volume giving the colored
charts of all available sires, bound in such
a manner that additions and removals
could be easily effected, and in that way
II could be kept up to date. Were the
charts arranged in that way 1t would be
quite a simple manner for an owner to get
his mare colored, and then he could
quickly decide which sire would be the
most suitable mate, that is so far as the
best strains of blood would be concerned.
In case Of the failure Of this plan the
only other method would be for the owners
to put themselves in communication with
Southall, who would, no doubt, supply all
the material necessary. One English
breeder who has mated his horses accord.
Ing to SouthalPs plan is elated over the
result, and a string of youngsters which
have classic engagements will be closely
watched for the next year or two. Speak
Ing Of his charts, Southall says:
i am hoping that the more skillful
mating OF our mares will in the near
future somewhat check the 80 per cent
of MASTERS which annually appear before
the starter. 1t is a fact, which I en-
phatically affirm, that hundreds of our
brood mares, If judiciously mated, are cap
able Of producing distinguished winners in
stead OF offsprings destined to finish at
the tail end of selling races-horses worth
LOCO or more instead of ESQ, or something
under, and dear at that. Our best sires
are frequently visited by unsuitable mares,
with results that might readily be ex-
pected. In 1908 nine of the get of st. Simon
l eta rfoH In fhRwky-k-u1 ,-., aAh..A
ing a win between them, and, similarly,
there were twenty by St. Frusquin who
ran unsuccessful 1S times, nineteen by
G%allinule, 81 times; twelve by Cyllene, As
times, and nine by Volodyski. AZ times.
One doctrine that is often wrongly re-
commended is the constant change of
sires for a mare. No advice could be more
irrational. 1t is one of the faults of our
present methods of breeding and entirely
at variance with the grand old practice of
former days, which 1 wish to assist in re-
storing.
Now as to the value of inbreeding,
let il be understood that Il is not a new
system OF breeding winners. It is merely
q means whereby the experience gained
by generations OF breeders may be readily
applied with less risk of failure. A study
OF the pedigree of the best and most sue
cessful horses reveals the correctness
OF the century old theory that inbreeding
to certain we'll defined families is the most
promising method of procedure. L can
not stop now to give examples. There are
scores of them. Count Lehndorf in his
book gives a list of over a 100 well known
animals inbred to ancestots removed from
one to six degrees, and shows that those
most successful were inbred at the fourth
or fifth degree. But this principle can
surely be useful applied to families as
well as to Northumberland is to say, to
potent strains Of blood The late Joseph
Osborne laid down the general rule that
where the pedigree of sire and dam most
assimilate, there the success of their pro-
geny had been most pronounced. The