Enlarge Breeding Bureau Work: Jockey Club Pleased with Results Accomplished in the Past and Plan for the Future, Daily Racing Form, 1918-04-04

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ENLARGE BREEDING BUREAU WORK Jockey Club Pleased with Results Accomplished in the Fast and Plan for the Future. N.w York, April 3. — When the Jockey Club inaugurated its Bureau of Breeding In 1906 and placed in various counties of the Empire State stallions of blood and quality, the response ou the part of farmers and breeders was not as generous as the promoters of the venture had ho| ed for. but with an energy which is characteristic of tlie governing body of racing the work has lieen |»ersevered with until today it is a beacon light marking the way to the establishment of tlie most useful type of general -pui-|M se horse in the Inited States. The demand for cavalry remounts since the inception of the war was largely instrumental in arousing favorable sentiment for the half-bred horse, though he always had friends in the ranks of those of our i eople who find recreation in the hunting field, on the road or the bridle path. When foreign commissioners at the outbreak of the war began buying remounts- in the Inited States the farmer and horse breeder in every instance louncl that horses with a dash of warm blood commanded a ready sale at the highest figure. It was only when the supply had become almost exhausted that the versatility of the tyi»e was remembered by those who formerly possessed representatives of it. Pound for tiound the half-bred — preferably those produced by crossing the thoroughbred sire on trotting dams — have been found unsurpassed for general puriKise uses, whether on the farm, the road or in the hunting field. It is gratifying, therefore, to note that the work of the Breeding Bureau on the recommendation of its chairman. Frank K. Sturgis. instead of being curtailed, is to be enlarged. The benefits of the movement are la-ing felt in Virginia. Maryland. l uusylvaniu anil Ohio, in an ever increasing elc gree. Even far away Wyoming is to have assistance, choicely-bred stallions having lieen donated to assist a plan for the production of cavalry remounts in the Big Horn Basin country. The work in that, locality has been undertaken by Thomas W. Ames, who has entered into a contract with the federal government for the production of army horses. Mr. Ames has had considerable experience in horse breeding and possesses several hundred head of desirable mares, which should make ideal mates for thoroughbred sires. The fact that the range is available for practically the entire year, marks the venture as a distinct economic- advance in the production of remounts — a matter which the federal government has iiegnn to consider seriously. The great Pan Handle country of Texas is only awaiting the coming of men with the courage and ambition of Mr. Ames, to furnish many thousands of horses of the sort that are most desirable for the cavalry arm of the service. GENESEE PLAN PROVES SUCCESSFUL. While the members of the Jockey Club have always lieen sanguine of the ultimate success of the Breeding Bureau, their optimism has l een heightened by the results obtained from the plan now in use in the Cenesee Valley, where a numlier of marcs of desirable types "have been placed with representative farmers", whose only obligation is to breed them to stallions of the Bureau. Tliis plan, which is under the supervision of the Genesee Val ley Breeders Association, of which Mrs. Herbert Wadsworth of Avon. X. Y.. is the head, has made-friends from its inception. The farmers and horse breeders of that fertile region knew little of the merits of the half-bred or clean-bred horse as a utility animal until the past two years. Ex|ierience has taught them that weight in the collar is not the only qualification that makes for service in a work horse, but that the general whalebone attributes of the horse of blood and energy render him a desirable adjunct in the machinery for crop production. It has lieen found that the sons and daughters by thoroughbred sires from heavy draught matrons, walk more briskly and do their work on less feed than other horses and there is always the additional recommendation that they are the sort the country needs in time of war. Many of the mm in the hands of the Genesee Valley Breeders Association were donated by mem-liers of tlie Jockey Club and hunt clubs and by public-spirited men and women, who wanted to encourage the movement. Their number is being added to constantly and interest is being stimulated by the premiums offered by the Jockey Club at the great State Fair at Syracuse and at the various fairs in counties where Breeding Bureau sires are located. Tlie Rochester Horse Show, with commendable enterprise, has also made classes for half-breds, so that there is every incentive for the production of high -class horses of this type. NEW ALLY IN MAJOR CHANDLER. A new ally has been secured in the person of Maj. George Fletcher Chandler, head of the New York State constabulary, who was quick to see the merits of the half-bred as a mount for his troopers and who has planned to mate a number of the western mares now being used in the service with thoroughbred sires. Already two splendid siiecimens — Fashion Plate, by Woolst.horpe. and Marse Henry, by Ben Brush — have been donated for the work by the Breeding Bureau, and these will be followed by two others, so that each of the four stations — Ba-tavia, Syracuse. Albany and White Plains — shall have a representative when the breeding season ojiens in a few weeks. At the present time thirty-four stallions are doing duty under the auspices of the bureau, of which nineteen are in New York, seven in Maryland, four in Pennsylvania, one in Ohio and twelve in other parts of the Inion. It is safe to say that this number will be added to materially during the season; in fact, the sterling performer Mac. by foreign-bred McGee. a son of The White Knight, has within the past few days been donated by G. W. J. Bissell. of Pittsburgh, who savs: "I regard the work which the Jockey Club Breeding Bureau is doing as of the greatest importance, and I only wish I had a dozen horses like Mac to donate to the service. We have not given conservation of our horse product anything like the attention it deserves. I lio|»e to live long enough to find a breeding bureau modeled along tlie lines of that of the Joe-key Club in active operation in every state-in tlie Iliion." a —


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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800