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WARS EFFECT ON ENGLISH BREEDING. Such Celebrities as Tracery. Lemberg, Neil Gow, Spearmint and Others at Reduced Charges. At the beginning of the stud season it is interesting to note the numerous cases of stallions whose fees have been dropped, owing to the war in the great majority of cases. Lest Thurs. ,.!_?■ "Calendar" contains a preliminary list of ~*t lions fees for this season, and the wholesale n -ductions as compared with the spring of 1 it 1 1 show plainly enough how hard owners of broodmares in general have been hit owing to the unexampled curtailment of racing. The great mi jority of breeders that owned a few broodm in s soon found it impossible to go on paying the huge fees demanded for fashionable stallions in the pre-war days, when the only thing that kept fees within reach of even wealthy ne-n was the scale of allowances in races for tin progeny of sires serving at less than stated sums. The war. however, speedily led to a fairly general deflation of fees, but, even so. breeders in many instances have been in the unhappy position of having to get rid of their yearlings at lower prices than they paid for the services of the sires of their young stock. There have been exceptions, of course, when yearlings fetched what in these Hants must be regarded as fancy prices, realizing as much mom y in isolated casts as nonM of their predecessors before the war. As a general rule, however, slump prices prevailed, and stallion owners whose horses did not stand out head and shoulders above their compeers acted wlseljf in ad vertising them at considerably reduced fees. I mil not. of course, referring to stallions whose fees before the war were already assessed at rates within the reach of practically all breeders. Adam Bede furnishes a case in print, bis inclusive fee for 1914 being only nineteen imiuiuIs and one shilling, the same as for this year. Surely this was modest enough for a horse which carried off the double of Duke of York Handicap iKempton and the Cambridgeshire in 1 Oil!, and could not well be reduced. Turning to horses whose fees have come down. Alpha II.. a French-bred son of Eripon — Prima, has been reduced from forty nine sovereigns in 1914 to nineteen guineas last year and this. He is a comparative newcomer in this country, for be stood for several seasons, first in Prance ami then in Germany. He won aoaee good races iu his own country, and has sired many winners on the continent, as. for example, iu 1913. when fourteen of his progeny won thiry-five races in France. Belgium and Germany. Important Reduction of Fees. There an- a nunilwr of horses whose fees have been substantially reduced. Notable instances are Bayardo and Lemberg, each of which has come down from 301 guineas last season to 1!01 guineas this year. A still bigger drop is that of Tracery, which from 400 guineas in 1914 now figures at the war time rate of 200 guineas. In similar fashion Tredennis has been reduced from 1200 guineas to half that amount, while White Bagle, which was at 211 sovereigns in 1914. came down last year to 99 sovereigns, and has now been reduced still further by the director of the National Stud to l 0 guineas. Other important reductions Since the war began are those of Cicero, from 300 guineas in 1914 to 119 sovereigns last year and this. MarcotU from 151 guineas to 99 sovereigns, and the hitters good old sire Marco, from 9! p, muds and a shilling to 24 sovereigns. Another whose reduced rate of last season from 200 guim as before the war to 49 sovereigns, remains in farce is Radium, one of the only four foals got by rare old Bend Or in his last stud season. Then there is tin-Derby winer St. Amant a sire of stayers, whose fee has been reduced from M sovereigns to half the amount. Santoi remains at his last years fee of 99 sovereigns, whereas in 1914 it was 196 sovereigns. Then there is Neil OoW, whose owner. Lord K — bery. not content with reducing the handsome coper chestnuts fee fr..m 149 sovereigns in 1914 to 9S sovereigns last year, has now further cut it down to 49. William the Third .-.gain flgnres at his last years lowered rate of £51 guineas it was aga guineas in 191 I, and another gnat stayeigj in Willonxy now stands at fifty per cent reduc-a tion on his fee of last season, ISO guineas and M guinea the groom, instead of 300 guineas and It guinea. The White Knight like William the Third and Willonyx. a winner of the Ascot Gobi Cup. is now at about a third of his pre-war fee, his present fee being 49 pounds and a shilling. The Derby and Grand Prix winner Spearmint, which was at the already reduced rate of 206 guineas in 1910. now figures" at 140 guineas, and Thrash, which three years ago commanded a lee of just under a hundred, and was dropped last year to 30 guineas, has now been further cut down to 24 sovereigns. Then there is William Rufus at 99 sovereigns instead of the 201 sovereigns at which he stood in 1914. Present and Past Fees Contrasted. A considerable Masher of other stallion- continue at their peace-time fees. Prince Palatine J00 gnineas, Bwyntord 3 x gntaeas, Chancer 200 guineas. Suustai- 300 guineas. King William 47 guineas. Greenback 99 pounds and a shilling, and Cylgad 99 pounds anil a shilling, being Sonne of the more prominent ones. In a few cases the war has not prevented fees going up. Boi Herode sire of The Tetrarch. which was at a fee of 99 pounds and one shilling the season after The Tetrarehs triumphant two-year obi days, went up to 200 guineas and a guinea the groom in 1915, and remains at that lee. Charl-s OMalh y likewise commanded an increased fee in 1915. going up to 99 sovereigns from 19 the previous season, and is again at the high-r rate. Jaeger, which ran second to Sweeper in the Two Thousand and also to lag.ilie iu the Derby, has likewise gone up in the matter of his fin- from a shilling less than 29 pounds in 1914 to 35 guineas in subsequent years. The champion sire Polymelus, which has beade 1 the list of winning stallions for tiie last three seasons, was promoted from two to tare ■ hundred guineas in 1915. and he is again at the 300 guineas this season. The highest fee for a stallion in this country is Prince Palatines 400 guineas plus a guinea the groom.
