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HARD TRACKS CAUSE UNSOUNDNESS Colin at Saratoga and Physically Well but Legs Under Suspicion Though Colin has gone to Saratoga with trainer Roweand the rest of the Keene cracks which in ¬ clude Ballot Celt Helmet Melisande and Wedding Bells it is not certain that the champion will start there or race again He is doing well but his fore ¬ legs are under suspicion More horses are per ¬ manently injured by putting a weight of 122 to 126 pounds on their bucks and racing them at distances above a mile at record speed than are broken down by track conditions says one of the best veterin ¬ arians in America AmericaEver Ever since it was reported that Colin bad gone amiss there has been any amount of argument over track conditions weight scale and the like until that muchabused term broken down goes to everything from a split hoof to heaves and the track superintendents are coming In for a share of criticism in having the tracks too hard in order to break records Such injuries as come from a hard track are most commonly manifested In a rupture of the suspensory ligament The ligament being I below the knee controls the action of the foot and the trouble is manifested Jn a dropping down of the ankle joint and the appearance in front of a bow ¬ ing put of the leg from which the term bowed tendon Is derived In this condition the horse suffers considerable pain and racing Is out of the question Because of this trouble Colins racing days are probably over overOne One of the most peculiar features of Colins in jury was that it was received on an apparently ab ¬ solutely perfect track Colin is or was one of the best gaited horses ever seen on a New York track Some believe that It was a stone or hole that caused the InjuryI Injury I am willing to admit said the veterinarian that there is danger in the hard tracks but no ¬ where are the courses better cared for than about New York In Ballot Mr Keene has one of the grandest horses I have ever seen He is a per ¬ fectly sound horse horseBallot Ballot is beyond the age of the dangers to which younger horses are susceptible from hard tracks or overweight One mistake that is made in America is that of overracing young horses and they get i ton of weight for early winning before reaching their maturity That there is a lot of truth in the statement of James R Keene to the effect that horses are sacrificed Tipon hard tracks for speed is the opinion of Edward Corrigan master of Haw ¬ thorne and one of the best trainers in the world While Corrigan was iu England several years ago Richard Fitzgerald then in charge of the Haw ¬ thorne track at Chicago permitted the course to get very hard The speed Idea was predominant Mr Cprrigau however upon his return immedi ¬ ately set the deepest cutting barrow at work and the speed limit was reduced
