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JOHN S. MDONALD MAKES UNiaUE WAGER. Bets That Castleton-bred Horses Will Win 300 Races During Year of 1906. John S. McDonald lias made a unique racing bet for the year. Mr. McDonald bets that the horses bred at James It. Keenes Castleton Stud will win S0O races during the year of loot. As Castleton is a private breeding plant, the wager looks a rather precarious one at the first glance. Briefly, it means that Castleton racers must win on an average almost one race a day throughout the year. The annual output of the stud that gets to the races Is possibly less than thirty, but those racing this year will Include horses of all ages, from two years old up to seven, the age of Keynote, which Is now racing at New Orleans. There are a number of fiorses covered by the conditions of the wager racing at the New Orleans and California tracks, and the average of winners so far this season Is about one a day, so that the wager does not look such a bad one, after all. The wager wus the outcome of an argument ou breeding indulged In by McDonald and a number of friends in New York recently. "All these finespun theories about breeding are rubbish," said one of the party. "It is largely a matter of chance, this breeding of good horses. There are, of course, certain well-defined principles that must be followed out for success, but all this talk about scientific breeding, colt nicks and filly nicks and such is balderdash. "Now, there Is Major Foxhall A. Daingerfield, who is probably one of the best posted men on the fine points of breeding in the country, and his management of Castleton is conducted along scientific lines. But look at the result. What did the scientifically bred two-year-olds of last year do? Nothing to it, 1 tell you." McDonald, who is something of a student of breeding, took exception to this line of argument, and offered to make the wager, the offer being accepted.
