view raw text
OVERDONE TWO-YEAR-OLD RACING. Premature racing of two-year-olds Is one of the acknowledged blots of the turf In this country and hi England. With no autocratic governing turf luthorily in the United Slates, there Is.liltlc chance 3f improvement here, but in England it lies wholly within the discretion of the Jockey Club, as to whether there shall Ik; an abatement or restriction jf two-year-old racing iu the early months of each rear. London Field, an authority of great influence, is earnestly urging I he Jockey Club to bring about i radical reform lit HiIm department of the turf and hi a recent Issue Hiiyx: "The only really IndlNpiilable fact about the modern racehorse Is that only two or three iu every iiundred are really good. Year after year some half dozen or so stand out, and the rank and file are of little value, and thus it would seem that deterioration if it really exists, is chiefly a question for breeders to solve. That less two-year-old racing would help to make things better we have always thought and w are. also of the opinion that the distance of the average race is too short and that speed "is far more catered to than stamina. "In France two-year-olds do not race before August, and long-distance racing is held in far higher consideration than it is in this country, and the result is that the average French racehorse, as a rule, stays better and lasts longer than the English horse, and we are under the impression that, allowing for the fact that far fewer are bred, .there are more fair-class horses In France every year that there are in England. The French people only began to race in comparatively recent times, and they began, of course, with English horses, and have constantly been buyers of fresh supplies. They have employed English jockeys and English trainers, and founded their style of racing on ours; hut for at least a quarter of a century French racing has been conducted on Hues of great common sense, whereas we have drifted away from the old days of great stayers to a plethora of plating and to endless meetings, at which a really good horse is rarely seen. "That the fixture list is too large we are much inclined to think; but what is chiefly wanted is further restriction as to the running of two-year-olds and an increase in the distance of races. Sprint races run at top speed are not half so pretty to watch as longer races, and, If the former were decreased and the latter Increased in value, owners and trainers would quickly discover that their horses " could stay. "It is excessive speed over a short course which Is at present far too much encouraged, and we should like to see a two-mile race in every program, and not more than one race a day of less than a mile, except for two-year-olds. And we quite agree jWlth Ir Keddiugqn that.the date, of two-year-johi racing might" well be postponed until the Ascot week except In selling plates of 100, and should like to fee the value of all two-year-old races cut down. "Something has been done in this direction of late years, but even now a two-year-old can win a stake of about 4,500 in July, and this, we think, is quite ridiculous. We think that 500 is enough for a youngster to win before August, and that 1,000 should be the limit value of any two-year-old race after August. This would cause owners to save their backward youngsters and would steady the hands of public breeders in the matter of forcing, and, if some such restrictions were adopted, the, tale of cosily failures would in all probability be nothing like so large as it is."
