view raw text
B p l of a :il w I" f: ;, is i. « :l all v m " „ _ as , ,, y tl to _ j1 . |t * 1 — ™ t " ■ J J ■ J r • , ■ a , ] i , | ■ , ! ■ , j BUYING A CAT IN THE BAG Purchase of Yearlings a Lottery— Highest Priced i Often Prove Most Worthless and Vice Versa. , "The old aphorism, pronounced years ago by one the sages, that "You cant tell by the looks of frog how far he can jump.* is especially applic- able to manv branches of the race horse business." writes Charles E. Brossman. "Nothing in racing is. IM-rhaps. attended with more trouble and less satis faction than the purchase of yearlings, as the best looking, most fashionably bred and highest-priced ones often prove to lie the most worthless. This as it should be. for if it were not so the man with the most monev would control racing, own of the iM-st horses, and the less wealthy individuals would have no chance at all. But as it is every one has an even break, and the man with only a small stable, composed of horses that only cost medium prices as yearlings, will oft I noes win more races and more money than the stable of the millionaire thai contains nothing but horses which yearlings cost a kings ransom to purchase, the highest priced ones oflen proving to lie utterly valueless as race horses. "In the selection of yearlings many things are be considered— conformation, soundness, general appearance, action, disposition and breeding are all iiniiortant factors, but. as no one can tell whether the yearling will develop that never-give-up fighting spirit that contends to the last jump, and gives its last ounce of strength freely and willingly, and seems to delight in strenuous, furious battle an attribute that every first-class race horse must possess, without which, no matter how faultless his conformation, royal his breeding, he will turn out to lie a counterfeit. That is the spirit that made John L. Sullivan I he noblest Roman of them all. and we notice that even in these troubled times, when all the world is at war and imi»ortant events are happening every day. and the news papers full of sensational calamities, the prominent dailies all over the country devote conspicuous places, column after column, to kindly tributes to his memory. All because his heart was in the right place. "No one can tell whether or not a yearling will develop into a brave, game race horse, or a Slllker. rogue or slacker with n faint heart that almost collapses whenever the bugle blows and the colors are up. That is the reason why we must have race tracks and actual contests if we expect to tin prove the breed. Racing is therefore not merely sport, but a patriotic, economic necessity. YANKEE ONE THAT MADE GOOD. "Yankee was n high-nriced -yearling that made good and he brought over 0,000 at public auction as a yearling and more than won himself out the next year in one race when he won the Futurity. He also proved to be a successful sire both in this country and France since his retirement to the stud. ... . , "It is, however, unusual for the highest-priced yearling to be among the best two-year-olds of the next year. Morello was so little thought of as a yearling by the sale ring experts that Frank van Ness secured him for a trifle, yet he proved to he the best horse of his time and was a success as a sire. The most famous owners and trainers in Kentucky stood around and saw May Hempstead sell for almost nothing when she was really worth more money than any other yearling that was sold in Kentucky that year. Numerous instances, both in this country and abroad, familiar to all horse men. could lie cited along this same line, which only goes to prove that the most competent men ofttimes err in their judgment when it comes to selecting yearlings. "Any good, vigorous, sound, rugged yearling by a sire that was a race horse out of a mare from a family whose daughters all along the line produced winners will probably race successfully, always providing that it has the proper training. Some trainers always have winners; others dont, but as each owner has an inalienable right to have his horses trained in any manner which pleases him best no objection ought to be made on that score. Each yearling is an individual proposition at any rate, and what would be the right treatment for one would possibly be exactly wrong for another; therefore, it is up to the trainer to know what to do. or to do the best he can. for the race track test will settle all arguments as to breeds and methods. "The yearlings that will bring exorbitant prices in the siile ring will be the ones that are closely related to the stake winners of the years before, but no one can tell with any degree of certainty what the next crop of yearlings will develop. The champion of the year may come from some sire little patronized and has not as yet had an opportunity, or from some young mare that has not produced a winner. It would lie well, therefore, for a prospec- tive purchaser to attend all sales and not let a good -looking, well-bred yearling pass at a reasonable price because he doesnt happen to belong to what is just now one of the ultra-fashionable families." _ .
