view raw text
AUSTRALIAN BREEDING PROBLEMS. A writer in the "Australasian" deplores the fact that blinkers have been introduced into Australian racing, and makes some interesting remarks on the comparison of horses bred iu the Commonwealth with those raised iu England. He says: The sight of a horse hooded and blinkered, as Tangaroa was, at the V. A. T. C. meeting, is quite common iu Cngland; but, fortunately, Australians do not often see horses got up in this way, and the hope may be expressed that the craze for St. Simon stallions will not lead to such sights becoming common. We are afraid, however, that the next few years will see the Galopin temper and irritability developing in our horses. So far, not much harm lias been done. The sobering strains of Sir Hercules, Fisherman, Panic and Musket have counteracted the excitability of the second-class sons of Galopin and his son St. Simon which have beeii imported to Australia. It is true that the Victorian breeders have iu Bouge Croix, Challenger and Caiman avoided sous of the stallions which have made the "accursed Blacklock blood" so fashionable; but our racing men buy extensively in New South Wales, ami there is no denying the pace of these Galopin and St. Simon horses. Pace, of course, is the main thing iu a racehorse, and the English racehorse is faster than the Australian, while we have the advantage iu slaying power, general soundness and temper. At present there is no question about our breed being as good as ever it was. The fear is that as we get further away from the hardy old strains and breed horses closer and closer to the Galopin tribe, our horses will lose their reputation for hardiness, and become more like the English horse of today. Pare will be increased at the expense of soundness and stamina. At present there is not tiie slightest justification for the assertion of old-time horsemen that the Australian thoroughbred has deteriorated. Horses like Carbine aud Wakeful could carry Mo pounds and run two or three miles in something like twenty seconds better timo than It took Tarragon and Panic iu the sixties. Time is not everything, and the courses are better now than they wore in the time of Panic and Tarragon, but, apart from this, you can take them for make and sliape. or hardiness, and there is, so far, no fullliiy " I off iu our race horses. In England one race over a distance at a meeting seems to lie enough for any horse. The. majority would be quite upset by two races at Ascot. Willi us, Abercoru, Carbine, Wake-fill aud other good ones were often seen running on each day of a four days meeting. Carbine would ruu on each day aud sometimes twice iu one day. The old-time champions .did not run oflcuer than this, and in the matter of boue and substance they were not a bit superior to horses like Dividend and Tartan, which came later than Wakeful. Dividend Is by a son- of St. Simon, but he has the good old Australian blood on the dams side, and in Wakefuls pedigree the predominating strains are Musket, Fisherman and Panic. We certainly do not want everything sacrificed to pace, and for this reason wo hope our stud-masters will make the most of the blood which has made Australia a reputation for producing sound, hardy horses that can - stay as well as sprint. With the exception of France we can give the stayer more encouragement than he gets in any oilier country, and long may it continue so. That inbreeding to the fashionable sires, whose yearlings fetch high prices, is doing harm iu England Is coming to be recognized.
