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AMERICAN BUYERS ARE DISCRIMINATING. Lesson Drawn from Comparison of Recent Sales of Imported Thoroughbreds at New York. By Ed. Cole. New York. January 27. — While it will be an ad-rentage to the breeding Interests of America to have foreign bio...! infused inio the future thoroughbreds I I his country it was plainly shown bv the recent sale of horses from the Haras de Villars establish-in. nl. in franco, tiiat buyers want conformation as well as blue blood ill all importations. In contrast to the sale of the Clarence hfackay horses, the eighteen head sent from Mr. I.elmonts French establishment did not come up to the expectation of individual buyers, in fact the result of the sale was distinctly disappointing. All interested in turf affairs would have been pleased to see them bring h! prices, but they felt oft greatly from what was expected and the cause, ipioting the best judges at the sale, was that they did not come up to exaecta-i us as regards size and furnishings. It has lain said that the purchaser of the lot. prior to their being lauded here, was Mr. II. I.. Pratt. Whether tins is true or not is of little Importance and that he paid 825,000 for the eighteen head as a speculation is no ones business but his own. The result of the sale shows two things — that American Bayers want a good and impressive look-iag article for their money. It was the hfackay sale thai probably furnished the buyer of tin- consignment with the Impression that yearlings coining from Mr. Belmonts French establishment would bring similar prices. It was a case of buying a pig in a bag, as it were. Mr. Belmont was no doubt willing to sell in bulk anil have done with the annoyance of an auction sal. and the buyer was willing to take a chance. A case of speculating, purely, but when il came to passing judgment on the collection by those who Intended to purchase individually the real test of the values was proa uinced. Few of the offerings wire taking to the eye. though beautifully bred, and the result was many were presumably bought in. owing to the low prices offered, and the sale was a disappointment. Bat the figures obtained at the hfackay sale ex-ert"ti an intluence in other quarters and speculators have heea busy in France and England buying up youngsters which are intended for importation into this country as so n as means can be found to get them here. Fred lturlew left here on Saturday last i » pick up a consignment which Jockey Frank ONeill and some associates hare bought in France intending to s|ii| them here immediately. It is safe to any that local purchasers will not pay more than they are worth. It is likewise safe to perdict that the bulk of the big in. ney to be spent in imported Ii men in this coaatry has been already spent and thai the buyers from now on. unless there is a vo.mgster offered of exceptional quality and breeding, will come troin the ranks of owners who cannot afford to pay fabulous figures for yearlings or untried tw .-year-olds. If the I.urlew agents have bought horses of recognised breeding and conformation that will catch the eye of the horsemen there is every reason to believe they will bring good values, but not such fancy figures as were obtained in the Mackay sale. It is not fair t this country to import the culls of the English and French establishments. If there are to l e importations to Improve the breed of thoroughly ds, patriotism should be an incentive to get the best or none at all. Of coarse they may be some real g ol hotaea in the consignment from Haras de Villars. many of them are certainly highly bred and their rough appearance was probably the result of not having lime to recover from their sea voyage, hut there is no denying the fact that they were small and lacked the usual visible qualities accessary to impress a buyer. As for the Johnson lot imported from the stable of Mr. Bastard, sold at the same time, they had so little to recommend them that they were purchased practically for charitable bids. These are BOi the sort of horses men who believe in the welfare of the turf here should encourage for Importation. If the breed of the American thoroughbred is to be Improved the desired result cannot be accomplished by hooding the country with the culls of Emope any more than breeders here would help tic bred in Europe if it sent all the culls from Kentucky ami other stales to France and F.nglainl. As one horseman put it after the Johnson horses had lieen sold: "they are dumping a lot of thoroughbred emigrants over here.- From gleanings around winter quarters in this neighborhood home breeders are not greatly afraid of being dispossessed owing to the inilux of European horses. Beta can easily be covered that the champion two-year-olds of this year will tie Amcri. -.inbred th .ugh tier" are quite a number of promising youngsters from aboard, most of them, however, were picked out of hundreds and boaght privately. These are the kind of horses acceptable to this coon-try. There me loo many bad horses here now without adding to the number.
