The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1919-12-24
THOROUGHSREDS
PROVE STRONGER
GREAT WAR TAUGHT IMPORT.
ANcE OF BREEDING OF
HORSES.
RACIkG ENCOURAGED ABROAD
Nations Who Bore Brunt ~ Conflict
Maintained the Sport as Much as
Possible az Matter Of Sound Policy
In ITS Relation to National Defense.


AT no time In the course OF. the last
i've years. not even while the great
war was at lts height, did the Cen.
trail Empires stop the racing of thor,
oughbred horses. The great tracks nj
Hamburg. Buda Pest, Vienna and Ber-
lin were the scenes OF brilliant gather
ings, even when the Grand Duke Mich
olas was threatening East Prussia
with invasion and Brusilcf was on the
edge of the plains of Hungary with his
Wild Cossack riders. At no time dur
Ing the course " the great war were
American and English trainers and
Jockeys, who had been caught by tho
declaration OF war In Germany and
Austria-Hungary and were unable to
obtain passports lnterned. They were
permitted by governments their gov
ernments were seeking to destroy &c
pursue their accustomed callings un.
molested and unrestrained.
To a certain extent racing was cur
tailed In Great Britain during the first
two years of the great war. The use
of the famous El'sOm Downs course
as n resting place for convalescing sol
diers necessitated the running of the
famous British Derby ut Newmarket
IN 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917 and 1918. The
pre0ccupation of thc sportsmen OF
Great Britain In the business Of war
caused them, to a certain extent, to
neglect the thoroughbred sales of 1918,
1916 and 1917, and Americans were
enabled to slip In and buy up q lot OF
first-cl6ss stations and mares with
which to enrich the American thor
Oughbred industry
France Alone Stops Racing.
OF the great nations participating I'm
the great war, France alone felt the
necessity of stopping horse racing.
Threatened with utter destruction in ~
food of Teutonic barbarism, France
had to send to the fighting lines on rht
Marine, the SoInme, the Aisne about
verdun, in the vosges, every male
Frenchman capable of bearing arms.
Back of tho fighting lines she had to-
mobilize the elderly men with the
women and children for the imperative
work Of making munitions. Upon
France alone fell the burden Of resist
Ing the German tide for upward of two
years. Throughout the course of the
war speed tests were held at the great
French tracks, but not as public spec
tacles. But there was no letting down
of the bars as regards the expectation
from Franco of thoroughbred blood
any time during the war. AS special
consideration citizens Of the United
States, country from. which the
French, from the very beginning of the
war, were drawing enormous qunnu-
ties Of military material, who had thor
0ughbred studs in France, such men as
John Sanford, of Amsterdam, Major
August Belmont, Joseph E. Widener
and Thomas P. Thorne, were permit
ted, when transportation was availa-
bile, to ship to the United States linn
tied number of thoroughbred yearlings,
NO matured thoroughbred stations or
males were allowed to leave the cOun-
try, whether their owners were French
men or outlanders.
With the signing of the armistice
France and England resumed racing
with characteristic enthusiasm. The
attendance at the race trucks about
Paris has been greater this season
than In any for the period of half
dozen years preceding the outbreak Of
the great war The crowds that wit
messed the running OF the Derby, the
Oaks, tie Ascot Gold Cup, the Leger
ETC., In Great Britain, we're greater by
the thousands than the greatest OF
ante-bellum race track gatherings.
Sport Encouraged In Europe.
In France ami Great Britain the pat
OF horse racing, by the public,
has the highest government encourage
ment now as the support OF racing had
In Germany and Austria-lfungary even
through the dark months when human
beings were finding 1t difficult to OBJ
tain nourIshing food. France and Eng
land recognize today as Germany aud
A AUSTRIA Hungary have for many days
the indIspenslbility OF thoroughbred
blood TO national defense and neces-
sity Of thoroughbred horse racing for
the maintenance at its highest eftlclen-
~ az thorouehbred blond