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VIRILITY OF THOROUGHBRED STALLIONS It is generally admitted by those experts who have been able to decide the point by practical tests and critical observation that the power of transmission decreases in stallions at the age of nineteen or twenty A good deal depends however on the uses and abuses of service as for instance hi the case of a horse that has not been raced much through accident and although retired to the stud had not many mares in his lirst few seasons seasonsThe The practice of sending young stallions to stud early has not met with marked success Some that break down as threeyearolds seldom do much good if their lirst stud season is too severe Breeders learn by experience and tho belief that stallions should be given good time to develop to more ma ¬ turity before being tried for stud purposes is jjretty general among those qualitied to form an opinion They know that fertility is a doubtful quality with those stallions that were used a lot in their young days at the stud old stallions improve in this re ¬ spect if their procreative powers have not been taxed by too strenuous stud work workIt It is a curious phase of the problem of breeding that old stallions indicate a tendency with age to transmit staying power it is probable this idea Is illustrated by the stock of the sprinter stallion Sundridge in the success of his sons Sunstar and White Star etc at distances for which they wero not hereditarily suited But the theory is faulty as the dam Doris would naturally have a big say in suppositionThe the supposition The deterioration observed in young stallions in respect to worse fertility is attributed to those that have been raced a lot or for a long time For instance a stallion retired at the close of his tliree ycarold career with a record covering say twenty or more races should be allowed at least one com ¬ plete season to recuperate before his stud duties should commence and it would be all for the bet ¬ ter if then the number of mares could lx limited to less than the ordinary total restricting the services until the horse is fully matured The change from tho race track to the harem is sometimes too sud ¬ den to bo beneficial beneficialReverting Reverting fo the opinion expressed that the virility of stallions is at its highest prior to the age of nineteen or twenty it is by no means a positive cer ¬ tainty that this can be accepted as a general rule for such an age is not a sound argument if 1 quote a few examples to show that the heredity power may not be impaired at a later age Some modern instances can be cited in the case of Hampton which was twenty years old when he sired Bay Ronald sire of Bayardo Another more notable case concerns the great sire of the chaser Ascetic this famous stallion was twentylive years old when he sired the National winner Ascetics Silver Her mit was the same age when as the result of an alliance he produced Missal Curiously enough having referred to Bayardo it is interesting to re mark that his dam Gallcia was got by Galopin when that famous stallion was his full twentylive years old and he was a year younger when he got Merry Gal the dam of White Eagle Qrnis in Th Latest South Africa M0
