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1 ; : i AFTERMATH OF KENTUCKY SALE. Prices Realized for Yearlings at Lexington Not Encouraging to Breeders. Lexington, Ky., September 23. There was nothing encouraging to breeders of thoroughbred horses in the sale of yearlings that was held Jtbis week under the auspices of the Kentucky Sales Company. The general average for the 282 head that passed under the hammer during the auction was .50, and that is no more than half, if quite that, of a profit able price. It was not the fault of the sales company that the prices ruled low. The auction had been properly catalogued aud well advertised. There was simply no demand for anything save the choicest individuals witli alluring pedigrees back of them, and the offering of such was not abundant, though, on the whole, these youngsters compared favorably with the crops of some former years. Unless it should be that a great many more people of the turf than one would ordinarily suppose have lost faith in the future of the sport, it is hard to account for the waning spirit at the ringside ami the low average for the youngsters. The Kentucky Sales Companys booking represented more than two thirds of the yearlings that are, or rather were, on the market in the United States and Canada, and assuredly that number is not sufficient for the racing of the coming year iu Kentucky and in the provinces of the Dominion beyond our northern border, to say nothing of those that will be needed in Cuba, Mexico and at other points in the United States. The highest price paid for any yearling during the week was ,100, for the brown filly half sister to Running Water and Yankee Girl, by Star Shoot Breakwater, by Hindoo. This filly was bred by Col. K. P. Clay, chairman of the Kentucky State Racing Commission, and was knocked down to Henry McDanlel. who bought her for Edwin Gaylord, the widely-known Denver sportsman who owns the good colt Anion. The next highest prices were ,000 for Dissension, a bay colt by Planudes Dissembler, by Hanover, and ,775 for Old Coin, a bay colt, by Planudes Pocketpiece. These two were in th? consignment from August Belmonts Nursery Stud, and were bought by B. L. Belt, a wealtliv New Yorker, who is identified with the American Tobacco Company. Neither of these colts was bred by M- Belmont, though both were foaled as his property. In the fall and winter of 1009. Mr. Belmont instructed Superintendent Ed Kane to buy several Hanover mares wherever he could find them. A short while before this order came Charles II. Hughes, then trainer for Henry M. Ziegler. had attended the Rucker and Stone dispersal sale iu Scott county, and had purchased Dissembler and Pocketpiece in foal to Planudes, which had been leased by John E. Madden to Rucker and Stone in the spring of lt00. At Col. Milton Youngs dispersal the previous fall Mi. Hughes had purchased Itetained II., another iaug.i-tor of Hanover, and had mated her in the spring of 1000 with Hermis. These three Hanover mares he sold to Mr. Belmont for ,C00, aud their foals as yearlings on last Thursday night brought him ,025, the colt by Hermis Retained II. 1oing to B. S. Mitchell, probably the only Canadian buyer at the sale, for 50. Mr. Belmont, chairman of the Jockey Club, scored the honor of the highest average for any consignment in the sale, his seventeen head bringing 0,450, an average of 1911.sh15. Colonel Clay, chairman of the Kentucky State Racing Commission, wns only under Mr. Belmont, his nine head bringing ,475, an average of . The eleven sons and daughters of Fatherless Glorifier, sent here from the Ellerslie Stud of Capt. R. J. Hancock and Son. in Virginia, brought the third best average, which was 13. The twenty-six head sold by President Catesby Woodford of the Kentucky Association averaged 42.50. . The get of Star Shoot, the noted son of Isinglass that is owned by Clay and Woodford, showed a higher average than that of any other stallion represented, barring Planudes, whose two sons fetched an aggregate of ,775. The twenty-three Star Shoots averaged 50.25, and the eleven sons and daughters of Hastings that were in the Belmont consignment averaged 10. The several head that were purchased by Dr. M. M. Leach, the well-known veterinarian, arc, it is understood, to go to Australia, where Dr. Leach intends to have them trained and developed with a view to selling them for a handsome profit, or he may, after he readies Melbourne, conclude to remain in the Antipodes and race them himself. Many of the cheaper yearlings, those selling for under 00, were purchased by dealers who intend breaking them to harness and selling them to por-. sons in quest of horses for general purposes. The mountains of Eastern Kentucky have in the last four years been literally llooded with sucli animals. their buyers uninformed of the fact that they were thoroughbred. In a short while there will be much better blood in the average equine product of the mountains, and the natives will wonder at the improvement.
