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KENTUCKY IDEA IS LAUDED BLUE GRASS BREEDER HAILS DAWN OF A NEW ERA IN RACING. Commends Policy That Encourages Cultivation of Genuine Sentiment for the Thoroughbred and Congratulates Projectors of Four-Mile Race. Lexington. Ky., April 20. Breeders of tin; blue grass region lire enthusiastically supporting the jilau for the four-mile race which is to bo run during the coining fall on some Kentucky course. The projectors of the contest are receiving much praise and commendation for their initiative on all sides. Fred A. Forsythe. the well-known proprietor of Fountain Blue Stud, at Harrodsburg, lias .addressed an open letter to Muj. Foxliall A. Daingcrlield, .1. O. Koene and others who were instrumental in taking the preliminary steps for the race, which fairly represents the sentiment of the Kentucky breeders and from which the following excerpts are made: "Gentlemen: It is with great pleasure I note that you are establishing a stake, open to the world, for the thoroughbred at a distance of four miles. 1 regard this step as a litting second to the splendid work that has been done and is still being done by the Kentucky State Kacing Commission and so heartily co-operated in by the dilTerent racing associations of Kentucky. I am thoroughly convinced that. Kentucky is blazing a fresh trail and one that will be enduring, for the greatest breed of mans best friend. What man in all of this country that "lias good red blood in his veins does not thrill at the name and deeds of Lexington, Longfellow or Ten Uroeck, those kings of American long-distance horses of years ago? The test of a great race horse of any breed or gait is speed and stamina. Too long have we sacrificed the latter to intensify the former. . The public docs not have to be educated to appreciate classic races, especially over a distance of ground. There are still some of the lovers of good horses that journeyed to Louisville to witness the last of the great mutch races the one between Ten Uroeck and Mollie .McCarthy, and their sous are scattered all over this broad land. Have we degenerated from that love of sport and that magnificent test of speed and stamina so enjoyed by our ancestors V 1 think not. "Shall such races as the Ascot Cold Cup in England, or the Cautield Cup in Australia, and the old s Louisville Cup in this country., be as a tale that was 1 fold? .1 hope not.- If we need evidence of the pub-lies appreciation of a great race even at one and a quarter miles, "witness the crowds that throng Churchill Downs on Derby day. It is a well-known fact that among the immortals of the thoroughbreds, the name of t lie sprinters appears not, but that of the great cup horse stands out in-bold relief. What lover of the thoroughbred does not treasure the names of Gladetcnr, Voltigeur, The Flying Dutchman, Barcaldlnc, Persimmon and hosts of other winners of the Ascot Gold Cup or the Goodwood Clip in England, or the Caullield, the Chester or the Melbourne Cups in Australia; of Fisherman, Trenton, Carbine or Glaucus and other great names associated with these great contests? Who lias not heard the praises sung of Lexington, Roston, Fashion, Pay-tonia. Ten Uroeck. Tom Uowling, or in our day of Bramble? Give the people what they want, and you will find such a rejuvenation of the noblest and oldest sport of man that you will yourselves be surprised, and you will put to shame those traducers of tlie thoroughbred who have dared to say that his day of usefulness is over. Wc have in Kentucky the blood lo breed other Lexingtons: wc still have his blood reinforced by the blood of West Australian, Hindoo. Gleneoe, St. Simon, Ormonde and many other great sires. "For the last twenty years our racing associations have been gravitating toward sprint races, with now and then a spasmodic rally toward the establishment of a few races modeled on the old-time classics, but these efforts were not persevered in, and they soon reverted to the sprint. I sincerely hope that you gentlemen are inaugurating a movement that will be permanent upon this continent, and that the racing cssociations will so second your movement that races under one mile for three-year-olds and over will be an exception and not the rule. I further think that a good stake at one mile should be given for two-year-olds in the fall to correspond in this country in importance to the Middle Park Plate in England. In this way our trainers would get a line on their Derby material. "We are badly in need of more sentiment and inure historic contests to encourage that sentiment. Let us be able to refer to some modern heroes of the turf, and not have to always speak of those long gone to their reward, as representing the Augus-tlnian age of our thoroughbred. Let us breed horses that will make history for themselves and not have to depend upon their grand sires for glory. Re-infuse the sport-loving public of this country with the spirit of a Titanic struggle of the equine heroes for a valuable stake and a suitable trophy, such as you gentlemen offer, and I know you will bo surprised by the response of au appreciative and generous people. "I hope to see the day shortly when traveling back from the ntces one can hear an enthusiastic public extolling the prowess of some great equine hero, instead of the nauseating chatter of prices, speculation lirst, last aud all of the time, the horse forgotten. "I congratulate the Kentucky State Racing Commission on its good work in behalf of the thoroughbred. Too long had the noisy bookmaker aud his equally noisy clerk given racing a degrading name among those who judge the tree by the parasites. But there was a remedy. The tree needed but little pruning and good men to get at the roots to cut away the cancer that was eating its vitals. We now have races honestly and fearlessly conducted, and a class of citizens participating that insures honesty and fearless punishment of the guilty because there is no menace by the threatening politician. "Our state racing commissioners have done much that is laudable and deserve much praise from the people of Kentucky. May their good work continue until we shall see every hypocritical and blatant Pharisee driven from every legislative hall iu this broad and liberty-loving land."
