The Breeding of Horses in Russia, Daily Racing Form, 1915-07-22

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TEE BREEDING OF HORSES IN RUSSIA. It is Raid, ami 1 believe truly, that there are mure horses in Russia than in all the rest of the w.nlil. .mil i! hard quality of these horses is due to maiu imported thoroughbreda and to the ad mixture ol good oriental blood. The Tear Nicholas, Father nf Peter the Creat, founded various simi-. il.o noei --,1 stallions being bought In Asia. Livonia and Kstonia. Peter the tfreat himself greatly extended this policy and established several studs i i- blghei lueeiis ei horses in the governments ol KietT. Ka-.-:n. Astracban, etc., ea h simi being managed bj equeries of the court. He procured mans and stallion- in Prussia and Silesia. In 172i: he. wiili enlightened prudence. Issued ■ proclamation nendlug the Institution of horse races, with ■ lew to improi ing the i •,•• e I. After the death of Peter the Great bone breeding in Russia was neglect d for a while, lmt in the reign of the Empress nm- 1730-1740 special at-l ni iii w.i- again paid to It, and under the man agemeat of Votlnskj Grand Equerry most active measuro were taken fee the improvement of the quality of horses in the empire and the proper organisation of horse breeding. Later, during the reign of the Empress Catherine II. 1762-1788. the studs In Russia, both government and private, were nourishing. The moving spirit at this time waa Count Orlofl Tcbesmeusky. who in l7is Founded his laiieiii- Cbrlenovoya Stud, the real origin of the It i xsiaii In !■• d of trotting horses. After the count* death I he Russian government purchased the stud n in hi- daughter, and it then totalled 2.124 head. ng other Russians who about Ibis i -i i«d--foumiod "tjHa.atr put down money l.-i- Enslish thoroughbred horses Were "PnunT- Raaa-t..|i.hin. .. inn Rasumovsky. Iminl Coodovitch Moo rat ii. Count ScberenietieFr, Pun-, UoHtaea Raj • lf-kv and many other m tables. It was tints early recognised that for light horse breeding the British thoroughbred is an absolutely essential factor. Curiously enough, it is maintained in Russia that I io ii eil. uir tirsi Derby winner, wa- taken there and not :-i America a: all. the official record being that In wa- bought in 1799 by Count Mourn vieff for 25,000 rubles. Anion;, several other English classic winners undoubtedly imported to Russia were Noble. Tartar, Daedalus, Symmetry, Soothsayer, Nectar, Middleton, Memuon, Birmingham, Coronation, Van Tramp, An-dover and Caractacus. very »iu foundation of good blood was thus from lime to time distributed, ami fortunately for Rasaian horse breeding, men with Hie necessary intelligence were not found want-It _. and it di.i in t take them long to realise that the thoroughbred bone, pure and simple, is the basis from which to reinforce all others that need activity ami endurance. llie name of Miasnoff will always remain eole-in fid in the hi-l r of Russian blOOdstOCk, not only a- ihat of a breeder ami lover oi" horses, lull a.-o as a thoroughly practical 1 enlightened Judge of them. He it was who established the Moscow race course and his works about the th roughbred ami the necessity of racing, written in the yean isji and is.;:;, wen- Founded on such a thorough and broad-minded knowledge of hi- subject thai even low Uny may le consulted with advantage. Under Hie wis,- lufluence of Miasnoff and his contemporaries studs of thoroughbreda were formed and regular i.-ne- instituted so as to bring about improvement of the breed by uncompromising testa The first im. course was established at the town of Lebedjaj in lso. This no longer exists. Afterwards, in 1*-:;:;. came the Moscow line coarse. There had been rac- in Moscow at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, lmt these bad no official sanction, .-in,! ceased with the death if Count Orioff. Another coin-.- waa made in is;i in Tsarkjoe Selo, where the emperor resides, m i St. Petersburg. For about sixteen yean alter that lime the development of thoroughbred stock in Russia rapidly advanced, and aftei a temporary set back owing i tin- economic conditions which IW lowed on the emancipation of the serfs, a new laape in- waa iMii to breeding by Count Woronaofl Dashkoff, win. became I be director of the Russian imperial horse breeding board some little time after the Crimean war. Under his patronage many new simis were established and numerous horses ami mares wen bought in far-land ami France. Among these may be ineiiti -,! Christmas carol. Kaiser, Bocard, Merry Sunshine. Paganial, Pen; 1:1 e. Paugh-a-Ballagh, Typhoeur. etc. Count Woronaofl wa- keeadj alive to the was and menus question in improving the breed of burses ami it was through him that totaltaator betting wa-taken under oflVlal control -. that a proper quota might he levied which weal to the credit of race funds ami hoi-e breeding. Everything went on well unili"- his regime, and Ids servic - will always be gratefully rememb red in Rnasia. In is: 7 the Grand Duke Dlmltrl succeeded Count Woronsoff-Dashkoff in the direction of tin- bone breeding board, ami he Hlgr allied hi- accession ti otlie- by tin- purchase of Galtee More for 20.000 guineas. Since then Russia ha- come still mure extensively Into the market a- • buyer of blood stock, hut al the period referred to there were ala government -iinls in Rnasia routamiag i.7M animal-. Besides these tie:, v.iic Hiiiix three stallion depots where the government stallions are sent for the purpose ■ r mprovlng the local breeds, in these depot- the government had 4.099 stalltoas, aad these were covering tearlj about 90.000 nan--. This may he no greal number for the whole t Russia, but is a vast Improvement on anything done in England, lu 1900 there were 1,500 thoroughbred mares in the Rnsflan stud Hook, ami no fewer than thirty-two race eoiii-es bad been established with JIM days racing in iin ,iii. the -lake- : latlag to Iimiihni pounds. --"The Special Commissioner" in London Sportsman.


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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800