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EARLY RACING OF TWO-YEAR-OLDS. ! ;. Somebody started n report, and managed to get it Into" the New York newspapers, to the effect that .1 bill, to prevent two-year-olds from being raced prior JoiAugust 1 would le introduced In the New York legislature next winter and be pressed to passage; if "possible. It was absurd, on Its face, but lias been KrAvery discussed. A legislature can be moved to etiact repressive legislation concerning letting on rajdng without much effort, but to induce it to make law of a racing rule is iuite another matter. ao doubt the .TtockCy Club would pass a rule to prohibit early racing of two-year-olds if convinced of the wisdom of doing so, but it does not appear its members deem It wise or expedients despite the arguments of restless .theorists. .iBarly racing of two-year-olds may be an evil lh sflhic cases and not in others. It. depends on the constitution of each horse. No doubt it is hurtful in the case of nervous and delicate horses, while others of rugged constitution thrive on the cxercis? received in training and racing. It is a matter in which the natural endowment of each horse is the determining factor. Formerly in this country Uic age of thoroughbreds dated from the first of May instead of the first of January, as is now the rule. It might, be- that a reversion to the old rule would i,o benefit, but it is only guesswork. Early. racing wf-two-year-olds has become so. much an established custom in tlds country, that its abolishment would be jdmost impossible .of execution, and, whether It Is. an evil or not, it will remain a part of our racing aslong as we have any. In France two-vear-olds Pre. not. raced until June.. In England they begin at Lincoln. irt .March. There is no evidence in favor of IH?. French horses because of this difference in custom. It is true those who decry early racing of two-year-olds claim the French horses are hardier and remain sound longer than the English horses, hut FerN "" Iroof in fupjiort of the claim. The fact that French breeders are constantly recruiting their studs from England seems to disprove It.
