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* i" — + AN APPEAL TO AMERICAN BREEDERS TO AVAIL THEMSELVES OF A REMARKABLE OPPORTUNITY By De. M. M. LEACH ►J, . ___ — j. ] I • . , ] . , , , An unparalled opportunity for the purchase of, English bred ldood stock now presx-uts itself. I Anc.-rican-bred blood stock has ever and always I will have to depend on the British thoroughbred horse to maintain a certain standard of excellence. in other words, blood stock after a certain length if time appe;Ts lo deteriorate in this country. Any wcll-iiif-riin-d breeder will tell yon as much. There is a tendency to grow line in the. blue grass sec-iions: horses lose somewhat of their robustness of anatomical conformation, which can only be kept up to standard by freipieut importations fr.un ai.road. Of course. Kentucky-bred stock has its excellencies as well as its deficiencies. For instance, the feet of horses reared in the blue grass are of the best, dii". of course, to the substrata of clay, which, during wet weather, acts as a natural cushion. Auierican-bred horses, too, are possessed of a brilliant Might of speed, more ?o, perhaps, than those reared in any other land. I know well that a few turfmen, or their emissaries, are now safely landed on British soil and iliat not a few purchases have already been made, but as far as 1 am able to ascertain, these purchases have been made with a view to racing, and the wisdom of this policy I am inclined to doubt. There is Ihe acclimatization process to be g.me through with. Car one thing, which takes longer in some cases than in others. Mr. Jefferson Livingston last year purchased abroad a numlier of really well-bred youngsters, and. even though his Uo.val II. was so fortunate as to carry off the I.atonia Derby. I very much doubt if the financial returns have been at all commensurate with the outlay. What we need more than anything else, right at the present, is. first if all. stallions, good ones, and secoudlv, broodmares, and the race horses :;.. L.r.g. What eniourageiuent in the stallion line is there for breeders next year/ Broomstick is located away off in New Jersey and. ••nsequeutly. his services are practicaly unavailable to the breeders i f Kentucky. The Mere Hill stallion, McOee. meets with all the success that his tine pedigree and good ra-ing rec.rd suggest. The Hamburg Place Miltiris. Star Shcot and Ogden. turn out any number ef good winners annually, but the latter will be t weni y two in the spring, anil you can take it from ;ae that luirs s after they have passed the twentieth milestone db nM meet with the success that was theirs carier in life. Tiie matchless St. Simon is a esse in point. St. Simons sire, Oalopin, was the exception, for ialopin headed the English-winning stallion list at twenty-six and gained for himself much posthumous honor by leading all other broodmare sires thirty-eight years after the date of his birth. But there was only one ialopin, and I much doubt if the turf or stud ever knew a better. Trap Bock, Tracerys brother, stands at the Ni;rs,-ry Stud, and must do well, but I should fav.ir his chances lietter if his coat coloring were I sy or brown. Old Ieep oDay has answered the last call. Sain. Ballot and Hessian, all of them imported bred, are shortly lo be offered for sale at public auction. Sain is well into the sere ami yellow, but the latter two are. right now. in the prime of life, and I sincerely hope some enterprising Kentucky breeder will purchase one or the other of them to" stand for service in tlie blue grass. As I live, this about winds up the list of imported stallions, or stallions bred on imported lines, available for service in this section. Emil Herzs Short Crass, a well-bred sun of the I.end Or horse I.aveno. would lie a fine-addition to the stallion ranks of Kentucky and. in due course, there will be Koyal II.. and I was aliouf to forget the newcomer, the Glen Helen stallion Bruiuniel. a good, sturdy sort, by Desmond, and which traces on the dams side t.i a sister to Irish Birdcatcher. I have no hesitancy in predicting a blight future for Mr. Barbees horse, which. 1 am pleased to learn, made a full season at the first time of asking. Mr. Sanford has recently imported a good one in The Curragh. by Spearmint — Currajoug. by St. Frns-ouiii. and Arthur Hancock has managed to pick un Wrack, a go nl race horse 1m.Hi on the flat and over the sticks. Wrack is by Kebert le Diable. a real good one. though only a little fellow, and son of Ayrshire. Peep oPays sin-, which perhaps Mr. Hancock had in mind when he purchased Wrack. The Curragh, I suppose, is destined to pass his stud life in the Eni|.ire state and Wrack will find a home at the Ellerslle Stud in Virginia. So it g.x-s. nothing coming to Kentucky, the one spot above all others which should be plentifully supplied with the best of sires, both imported and native-bred. The question conies up. are Kentucky breeders i discerning horsemen : They would have none of Leamington, perinilted Itonnio Scotland to be carried • IT to Tennessee. The president of the Jockey CMS i sold off Bock Sand to the French. Broomstick and i Hamburg were taken to Xew Jersey. Meddler and Adam went to France. Col. E. F. Clay, however, deserves much credit for having rescued Billet from • across the Ohio. The fact is, Kentucky stands in I iinmiiK nt danger of losing her pride of place as a i In.rse breeding state if some of our enterprising breeders do not step in and secure some first-class English stallions at this particular time, as such an opportunity may never occur again. What about the mares: There never was the remotest doubt in my own mind that imported mares were, more than anything else, responsible for the excellence of the Castleton output. Mr. J. K. Keenes two big English winners. Disguise and Cap ard Bells, were tioth out of daughters of Ialopin. S/sonby was, of course, got in England, but foaled at Castleton. Ballots dam is imported Cerito. Peter Pan is ut of Hermits daughter. Cinderella. Pastorella. bv Springfield, foaled the undefeated Colin. Midge is the dam of Luke McLuke. Elf, by Halliard, gave us the thr.ce crowned champion sire. Broomstick, and really only two. Commando and Delhi, of the Castietou-bred dyers were what may be determined, for want of a better expression, native-bred. The former, however, was out of Emma C, by Dare-bin, and the latter out of Veva, by the giant Frenchman. Mortimer. Anomaly produced for Castleton Superman: Mavourneen, Voter: Sundown, Peep oDay: Mintcake. Castleton: Maid of Erin. Celt; Fair Vision, Trance and Ieter Quince, and this by no means exhausts the list. Some fine day I shali undertake the compilation of a more complete list of the success that awaited the imported Castleton Stud matrons. Many another turfman and breeder is also largely indebted to inipoWaii mures*- sMBjausa Belmont bred « his St. Laser w;inner. Tracery, from Topiary, by Ornie. Beldame from Bella-Donna, by Hermit. Fairy Hold foaled Fair Play. Tlie Messrs. Clay bred the champion of the all-aged division. Boauier. from Bose Tree, by Bona Vista. Bavello, which was brought across by Douglas Grand, gave us Frank Hill. Sam Jackson and the Two Thousand Guineas winner Sweeper II. Balantrae produced for Mr. Clarence Mackay Mediant. The Task is the uani of Sain, and so it goes. One cann t get away from the excellence of hjajaartai mares and it Is well enough to remember that there are only 25N imported mares to be found in Vol. XL of the American Stud Book, as against 5.500 nativc-hri-d. Does not all this point to the excellence of the imported mare? Is this golden opportunity to lie let slip? Hreeders. bestir yourselves: loosen your packet strings: pay heed to the passing show: the ..porSuiiity presents itself. England must, perforce, dispose of her mares at some sort of figures. Continental markets are just now denied her. Argentine alone remains open, and any one who knows anything at all about the- English blood-stock market, knows that the Continetal breeders were — prior t.i the war — mainly res| onsible for the high prices obtained fo rEnglish-bred blood stock. The supply, however, must be got rid of somehow, and I hereby enter an appeal to our breeders to avail themselves of this unprecedented opiiortunity to purchase, at greatly-reduced values, the cream of what England has to offer, and thereby not only improve their own holdings, but also advance the standard of excellence of all blood stock in this country. It !s to be supposed that Tattersalls will hold. as usual, their December Newmarket sales. These sales usually take place the first week in Decemlier and many fine stallions and well-bred broodmares — in foal t.» first-class sires — are certain to hi- oil offer. I sincerely trust the Inited States may be strongly represented ot the ring side.
