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THE QUESTION OF COLOR IN RACE HORSES W S Vosburgh Iiaudicappcr for the Jockey Club and an authority of high standing on ho thorough ¬ bred commenting on the statement of another writer that 1 have not liad a single authenticated wise where chestnut sire and dam have produced any thing but chestnut says that nc can recall two eases whore chestnut parents did not breed trie trieHo Ho goes on to say The brown colt Dick Wilson foaled lb by Hawthorn from Grace Edwards is u son of parents both of which wore chestnuts Haw ¬ thorn a chestnut colt foaled lStO was by Major Richards from Lady Longfellow a daughter of Long fellow owned by Mr Stinford Lyuo of Lexington Ky Grace Edwards chestnut mare foaled ISll by Harry Edwards from Grace Tower by Jack Gam lol This colt Dick Wilson raced for upwards of live seasons and he had a younger full sister like himself a brown brownThe The famous race horse Checkmate is another example lie was a brown foaled 1874 and his parents Glen Athol and Full Cry were both chest ¬ nuts I have a strong personal recollection of Check ¬ mate having seen him run most of Ills races He was what I would call a mousebrown Ills sire Glen Atliol was a light chestnut son of Blair Athol which came here as n twoyearold with Buokden in 1S71 and the late Mr R W Cameron sold him to Woodburn in the autumn of that year lie was pigeontoed and useless nx a rac horse but he sired Checkmate and Glenmore two of the best performers of their era eraCheckmate Checkmate was lirst credited in the Stud Book to Planet but Mr Lucas Hrodhcad manager of the Woodburn Stud had it corrected and he now ap ¬ pears as a son of Men Atliol I recall having stated in the Spirit Of the Times In 1SS2 that Checkmate looked more like some of the Planets notably Whis ¬ per than he did the Glen Athols and Mr Brodhead wrote me a long letter bringing evidence that Check ¬ mate was really by Glen Athol AtholBut But even if Checkmate was by Planet It would not alter tho matter for Planet too was a chest ¬ nut the son of bay parents Revenue and Nina The two cases I cite those of Dick Wilson and Check ¬ mate are the only ones of which I have any knowl ¬ edge There may IH more if any one will search the Stud Book for them as it lias been mv experience that the Stud Book will furnish a man anything he desires whether to prove a theory or to disprove it Of course chestnut is a color that usually breeds true but the race horse is a breed thai lias never been bred for color as have some other breeds of horses and Is more likely than are other breeds to perform queer freaks in coloration colorationAnd And that is the point wlircli some recent writers on the coat color of race horses setin to overlook The race horse the lighting cock anil the coursing greyhound have all been bred for generations without regard to color but for speed courage and nervous force constitutional qualities as opposed to fancy qualities Their trial is on the race course the cock lit on the coursing ground the other belongs in the show room Such breeding without regard to color produces some strange results often cases of reversion to a remote ancestor ancestorIt It Is aside fropi the present question but per ¬ sonally I regret that so much has been written re ¬ cently on the question of color for we have seen what breeding for color has done with poultry and dogs Exhibitions are useful in that they stimulate the interest in stock but they demand a breeding for points often at variance with utility Some of the dogs exhibited at shows in the sporting classes show by their feet and toe nails they are seldom if ever used in the field and as for the show grey ¬ hounds it is likely that Winning NuiulHr the last winner of the Waterloo Cup could give one of them a furlong start and beat him in a quarter of a mile And so it is with garni fowls The show room with its breeding to feather color has pro ¬ duced a monstrosity with legs like stilts and necks like cranes Now cranesNow such fowls are useless except for show The Into Mr Hunters lighting fowls wore not bred to color neither wen the Ileathwoods nor the North Britons of Syracuse N Y bred from the Gillivor birds brought from Cumltorland in England Neither were the Fealherstonohaughs for three cocks came over the ocean in 1S71 with Buckden and Glen Atliol and ono was a brown red one a black red and 010 a pile and Mr Cameron and Mr Hunter who had them found their progeny invincible anil breeding all colors If we breed with regard ti color we often have to disregard constitutional qualities which for physical contention is the most necessary necessaryI I can remember when a boy hearing turfmen claim the chestnut sous of Lexington were inferior True during the lirst ten years in the stud I sxing tons liost were bars but in 1SOS Gen Duke a chestnut won the Belmont Stakes and was about the best colt of the year In 1S70 camo the chestnut Foster a grand race horse and in 1871 Wanderer another chestnut and another grand race horse I heard the same of Leamington which in his lirst seasons produced1 his best in browns and bays but then came Aristides Olitipa Harold Spinnwny and Ouondagn all chestnuts and race horses of the first water Leamington was himself a brown like his sire FaiighaBallagh but the latter was full brother to the chestnut Birdcatcher and moreover Leaming ¬ tons maternal grandsire Pantaloon was a chestnut hence there was a strong leaven of chestnut in L aniingtou despite his own color and the fact that his progeny were mostly brown brownAll All these controversies as to color and pedigree afford subeets for intersting conversation and open a field of interesting study to the novice But to those of long experience who have been faco to face with tho practical side of racing it is difficult to understand how anyone can be impressed with their utility To them a horse is a horse without regard to what his color is or what his number is or whether ho conforms to any system or any ism i figure theory fad or fancy
