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THE NEED OF THE THOROUGHBRED. C. E. Brossman, who achieved fame as the trainer of that famous mare, Imp, aud who now makes his home at Columbus, O., has written the following for reproduction in the press: "The sparkling performance of Whisk Broom II. In winning the last Suburban Handicap, one mile and a quarter, carrying 139 iounds, in two minutes, made the blood of the owners, breeders and trainers of good horses all over the country tingle with excitement, gratification and satisfaction aud demonstrates to all those critics who depreciate the qualities of the modern thoroughbred that the American race horse is still supreme and the peer of any horse on the face of the earth today, when it comes to speed, endurance and weight-carrying abilities. A mile and a quarter in two minutes is equal exactly to fifty-live 55 feet per second for every second of the two minutes. "What a grueling, heart-breaking contest it must have leen, aud it shows to what perfection the art of careful, scientific breeding has attained in this country, when we can produce an animal with all of the desirable qualities with which Whisk Broom II. is endowed size, speed, sameness, endurance and the ability to pack weight over a distance of ground. It must be remembered that it has taken over 300 years to develop the thoroughbred from an Arab, Turk or Barb pony of about 14 hands high to its present state of perfection. Careful selection of the fittest, determined by actual competition on the race track, the only reliable method by which an intelligent, judicious selection could have been made, has produced a big, strong, intelligent, rugged, vigorous horse. "You cant breed good horses in one, two or three generations. It takes more than 100 years of careful selection to establish a breed and have it reproduce true to type and character. Whisk Brooms ancestors were royally bred and sturdy performers on the turf. His sire, Broomstick, a stake winner for three seasons of fourteen races and 4,570, among the number being the Brighton Handicap, one and one-fourth miles, in 2:02. which, until recently beaten by his son. Whisk Broom II., was the best on record. He was a son of the mighty Ben Brush, a stake winner of twenty-live races, among the number being the Kentucky Derby, Latouia Derby, Suburban and Brighton Handicaps, etc. The sire of Ben Brush was Bramble, one of the most celebrated horses ever on the turf, winner of more cup races than any other horse in the history of American racing. Brambles sire was imported Bonnie Scotland, one of the most famous horses of his time and a stake winner iu England, by lago. out of the immortal Queen Mary. "Bonnie Scotland was foaled iu 1S53. He was owned and raced with success by W. I Anson, but broke down at the finish after winning the Doncaster Stakes September 19, 1S50. It was against the policy of the owner to keep a stallion, so he sold Bonnie Scotland in 1S57 to Captain Cornish, who brought him to America on the ship Baltic. Upon his arrival in this country he was purchased by Mr. John Reber, of Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio, for 81,200. While at Lancaster Bonnie Scotland sired among others Nellie Gwynne, Bonnie Kate and Malcolm, and did a world of good to the breeding interests of Fairfield County. Malcolm afterward became famous as the sire of Marian, the dam of King of Norfolk, Duke of Norfolk, Duchess of Norfolk. Prince of Norfolk, Emperor of Norfolk, The Czar. El Rio Rey. Rey del Roy, Yo Tambien aud Yo El Rey. Roxaline, a sister to Marlon, was the dam of Princess, 3S wins; Willie , 17 wins: Brait, 33 wins; Fred 15., 0 wins, and Roquefort, S wins. These two mares by Malcolm produced sixteen winners, which won in the neighborhood of 200 races and 75,000. "Bonnie Scotland made nine seasons in Ohio, remaining at Lancaster until 1S07, when lie became the property of .Mr. E. A. Smith, who sent him to Kentucky, where he made the seasons of 1S07 and 1S0S. In 1SC9 he-became the property of Mr. J. C. Simpson, who traded a farm in Iowa for liini, the estimated value of the horse being 1914.sh,000. Mr. Simpson 1 subsequently sold the horse to Gage and larks, of Chicago, 111. Mr. Parks finally buying out Mr. .ages interest and standing the horse at Ills farm at Waukegan. 111. "General Harding in 1S70, after seeking all over the country for a stallion to put at the head of the great Belle Meade Farm at Nashville, Tenn.. concluded that Bonnie Scotland was the best obtainable, and so purchased him, and the horse made his first beason there in 1S77. Soon he became one of the most popular stallions in the United States. He Iea. th winning sires in America for the vears 3SS0 and 1SS3. And when he died at Belle Meade February 1, 1SS0, aged 27 years, bis skeleton was ft tlculated and placed in the Vanderbilt Universim Nashville, Tenn. "Audience, the dam of Whisk Broom II., was a porronner on the race track of unusual merit, and just such a mare as we would expect to produce a champion. A stake winner in her two aud three-year-old form of 5.0S2. Among the races she won were the Produce Stakes at Brighton, the leiinesseo Oaks and the Kentucky Oaks. She was by Sir Dixon out of Sallie McClelland, by the great Hindoo. Now. Sallie McClelland was the champion two-year-old filly of her year, a winner of S..m.0.5, and dam of great stake winners. "llie next dam. Red and Blue, by the speedv Alarm, was the dam of a number of winners and grand dam of Blues, winner of 1914.sh3,2SO, and Blue Girl, winner of ,950, out of the famous stake winner, Maggie 15. B by imported Australian. Maggie L. 15. produced Iroquois, winner of the Epsom Derby. St. Leger, etc.. and a successful she; the great race horses and sires Flutlands. Harold. Paniqne. and grand dam of Sir Dixon. There lore. Whisk Broom II. has a double cross of the blood ot Maggie B. 15.. through Sallie McClelland and also through Sir Dixon. The famiv traces back through Magnolia, dam of twelve "winners, imported Myrtle and the famous Bobadilla. winner of the Ascot Cup. etc., to the twenty-third dam. a Layton Barb mure. "Horses of the class to which Whisk Broom II. belongs are what the United States Government ought to have at the head of all of its breeding farms, instead of experimenting with horses, the greater part of whose tabulated pedigree is blank and unknown. There should be stallions whoso every ancestral line has been tried and tested, and of known excellence. "The breeders of the thoroughbred should lie encouraged by enacting just and equitable laws, as has been done iu the state of Kentucky, for the thoroughbred horse is invaluable for cavalry purposes, and you cant breed them in a hurry. In cases of unusual stress, where haste is absolutely necessary, the manufacture of every other equipment used by the army and navy, battleships, cannon, arms anil artillery, can be hurried and rushed, but cavalry horses must be bred in the same old way. for it takes just as much time now to breed a horse as it did before the days of modern invention, and no one can change the process. With a racing commission the business will prosper the army can be supplied with suitable remounts aiid our cavalry will again be an efficient, confident, aggressive branch of the service in case of war. "Let us not lull ourselves to sleep with the Idea that war will be no more and that universal peace is about to prevail, for nation shall rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom while the world stands. The political moral anarchist would prostrate a great industry, cripple a valuable branch of the army, destroy patriotism and jeopardise the lives of our people if they can only continue to draw salary and become notorious as reformers to further their own personal, private, selfish ends. "Copenhagen, the horse upon which the Duke of Wellington rode through his most arduous campaigns, was a thoroughbred, and nearly all of the most brilliant exploits of the English" arms have lieen through the medium of their mounted forces, notably the desperate charge of the Light Brigade at the battle or Balaklav.;. When the gallant Custer made his last charge in the battle or the Little ISig Horn he rode to his deatli on the back of a thoroughbred mare; man and horse both readv and willing to die for their country, but never surrender. "In the civil war the cavalry regiments from Kentucky and Tennessee had horses in which the thoroughbred blood largely predominated, and when Morgan startled and terrified the north bv raiding through Indiana anil Ohio he at one time covered 90 miles iu 25 hours with a command of 2,100 men. This is no time for theories or sentiment. A grave condition confronts us and if we are wise anil patriotic we will be guided by the experience of all European nations and do everything iu our power to promote and encourage the breeding and development of the thoroughbred horse."
