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LIVE EASTERN TURF GOSSIP. Livonia, Dam of The Finn, Again in Foal to Ogden — Examination for Trainers License Suggested. New York, January 19. — Announcement of Gilford A. Cochran as the purchaser of Livonia, the dam of The Finn, renewed attention to the breeding establishment of that gentleman at Mount Kiseo. N. Y. Livonia is now in foal to Ogden again and the prospect of a full brother or sister to The Finn was of itself sufficient to add interest to the Cochran purchase. The Finn lias been the only foal from this mare to race. She was bred by Clay Brothers and is a daughter of Star Shoot — Woodtrap. a daughter of Rayon dOr. Livonia raced only one season, as a two-year-old. when she was owned by Max Hirsch. being retired at the end of that season. Livonias name naturally appears in the 1919 Futurity entry list in the ere s of Ogden. Mr. Cochrans stud at Mount Kiseo is headed by His Majesty, a seven-year-old stallion by Ogden — Her Majesty, so that it is easy to see that Mr. Cochran plans to perpetuate the blood strains to be found in The Finn. His Majesty was retired at the end of his four -year -old career with a racing record that was more notable for excellence than extent, he having raced but few-times in his two-year-old. three-year-old and four-year-old form, yet with credit. Examination as a prerequisite to trainers licenses is discussed among New York horsemen, it being suggested that before a man is licensed by the Jockey Club to train horses lie should convince a competent board of examiners that he knows his business. Such licenses have always been granted without much formality; the names of two turfmen of standing have been required on papers of applicants, but as a rule this provision is easily met. A Jockey Tub offi -ial calls attention to the fact that out of 2H trainers licenses granted in 1910 there were eighty -two who never raced a horse on the New York tracks, and that there were twenty such men who never had an entry on any track under the clubs jurisdiction. At that, it would seem the main reason for p-puring examination, if any should be decided uiKin. would be to guard against unfit men gaining licenses. A code of questions put to applicants for trainers licenses would not make bad reading. Recent sickness among horses in a stable at a prominent track whore a stableman died of an ailment resembling pneumonia suggests the possibility, not merely that the stable employe may have | I contracted the disease from the animals, but also of the possibility of horses contracting ailments I such as commonly alludtd to merely as severe colds, from human visitors to their inelosure. In these days, when the sources of such old -fashioned and prevalent ailments as "bad colds" are being attributed by pliy -ieians to contact with other persons suffering from "colds" rather thun to exposure to draughts and other supposed dangers, it would not be surprising to hear of up-to-date trainers, with valuable thoroughbreds in their charge, establishing some such stable rule as to forbid spitting and sneezing around the stable, and telling employes who show up with distempers to go home on a vacation. Possibly such rules maj already prevail in some aristocratic equine quart its. If fiie danger to humans of spitting, and even of coughing and sneezing, in public conveyances, sacs as street cars and trains, is bo generally recognize*! as to lead to warning advice from city health officials jnicl other physicians and. in the case of spitting at least, to punitive ordinances, why should not the sensitive thoroughbred be regarded as prone to such infection.
