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NEW YORKS BREEDING ACHIEVEMENTS. Sterling Improvement of Stock Wrought by Jockey Clubs Breeding Bureau Stallions. Ky. C. J. Fitz Gerald. Saratoga Springs, N. Y., August 14. G. 1. Stryker, who has the Jockey Club sires Accountant and Fashion Plate at his Twin Creeks Farm, near Derby, Erie .County, has done a lot of educational work in horse breeding in his vicinity and has succeeded in enlisting some of tlie most progressive members of his community in a movement to produce better horses. Mr Stryker saw service in the army before establishing Twin Creeks and he is familiar with what the horse of blood and his descendants have done under actual tests. He talked entertainingly a few days ago when he stopped off at Saratoga Springs on his way home from the military training camp at Plattsburg. "I have found the Jockey Clubs prizes for foals by their Breeding Bureau stallions a great aid in getting the farmer interested in the breeding industry," said Mr. Stryker, "and a further stimulus was given to the movement by our own private-fair which is held at Twin Creeks annually in September. We have classes for foals by our own stallions, tine for saddle horses, one each for runabout horses to be driven by men and women and also a class for teams of farm horses that weigh ni to 1,400 pounds for an individual member of the teams. For them we offer cups and ribbons. In order that the event shall have its cpiota of excitement a course is laid out in one of the big meadows and then; are races for farmers horses which are as keenly contested as though a thousand dollars in gold was awarded the victor instead of a ribbon. Ijist year we had an attendance of 1,500, many persons making the journey by automobile from Kuffalo. "The fact that the bulk of the work on our twelve hundred acres is done by half or three-quarter bred mares, which are kept for breeding purposes," continued Mr. Stryker. "is a podwerful argument in favor of the thoroughbred with those of our people to whom this horse was a stranger. Erie County has been the home of the trotter for many years and there are many good mares of that blood in our district. Some of these have been bred and the size and quality of the produce of the thoroiighbred-stundard-brcd cross is making converts for us daily. It has been slow work but there is only one end in sight. "When your American trainer Thomas Welsh was interviewed on his return from France a year ago," continued Mr. Stryker, "and told how the French government aided in the development of their horses by giving races cross Country for trotters and horses of mixed blood, he sounded the keynote to a situation which would have a local application. When I saw the great crowds "at the beautiful course of the Saratoga Association today the thought came to me that material progress in horse breeding in this state could be made if contests for half and three-quarter-bred by Breeding Bureau sires could be added to the program here each year not many events say one each 011 the flat and over the jumps to get the movement initiated. The entries would at first be few in number and the contests perhaps wouldnt equal those of the thoroughbred but cant you see the added incentive it would be for the farmers of New York to breed to the thoroughbred. Your men of wealth would find many hunters and saddle horses in embryo among the contestants and back of it all would be the building of a sentiment for clean sport among the growing generation. If a portion of each purse went to the breeder of the winner of these contests, interest would be still further stimulated. "Another feature which would have a useful purpose would be races over the jumps for army horses ridden by officers in uniform. When Perry Kelmont inaugurated a movement of this kind some years ago at Kennings it was very well received. If there was reason for it then it would be doubly purposeful today when military training ha-s an added significance. It would encourage our officers to secure the best possible mounts and would furnish a market for the surplus thoroughbred geldings of the race course which would have the qualifications for an officers mount. As Saratoga is so centrally located a greater portion of our rural population would have a chance to see these contests. We are all endeavoring to produce a type of horse that will bring a big prize as a hunter or saddle horse or will be available as an army remount. The federal government could make the breeding of this type of horse a commercial proposition by increasing the price for remounts in the rough. The farmer hasnt any foolishness in his make-up and if you show him a profit he will breed the horse. Prizes for sires such as the Kings Premiums in England would also encourage the movement. It would mean that only sires of the proper type would be offered for service and we would in a short time be producing something really worth while. Inder such a policy I believe that this state alone would in the course of time be able to produce the 3,000 remounts the service at its present standard would require in time of pence. "Just now," said Mr. Stryker in conclusion, "we folks up the state are all getting ready for the Jockey Clubs prize of 00. for the best yearling bv a Breeding Bureau stallion at Syracuse the latter part of this mouth. The State Fair attracts tremendous crowds each year and it is a splendid educational institution. There are twenty-one priza-winning yearlings eligible for this prize and the breeders of Genesee Valley and other regions where thoroughbred stallions are in service will have to look to their laurels as we have some splendid material for that class. This competition is to be held in the breeding section, but I do hope that representative types will be exhibited in the horse show division also, as we are very anxious to let everybody see what we have produced to date."
