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BUYING A CAT IN THE BAG Purchase of Yearlings a Lottery — Highest Priced Often Prove Most Worthless and Vice Versa. "The old aphorism, pronounced years ago bv one of the sages, tfcft "You cant tell by the looks of a frog how far he can jump. is especially applicable to maey branches of the r.ice horse business." writes Charles K. Brossiuan. "Nothing in racing is. l erhaps. attended with more trouble and less satis faction than the purchase of yearlings, as the l est-looking. most fashionably bred and highest-priced ones often prove to !«• the most worthless. This is as it should be. for if it were not so the man With the most niorey would control racing, own all of the best horses, and the less wealthy individuals would have no cham-e at all. But as it is everv one has an even break, and the man with only a small stable, composed of horses that only cost medium prices as ye:Tlings. will ofttimes win more races MM more money than the stable of the millionaire tiiat contains nothing but horses which as yearlings cost a kings ransom to purchase, the highest priced ones often proving to be utterly valueless as race horses. "In the selection of yearlings many things are to l e considered— confoimation. soundness, general appearance, action, disposition and breeding are all important 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 .md 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 be a counterfeit. That is the snirit that made John L. Sullivan the noblest Roman of them all.* and we notice that even in these troubled times, when all the world is at war and important events are happening every day. and the news palters 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 sulker. rogue or slacker with a faint heart that almost collapses whenever the bugle blows and the odors are un. That is the reason why we must have race tracks and actual contests if we expect to improve the breed. Racing is therefore not merely a sport, but a patriotic, economic necessity. YANKEE ONE THAT MADE GOOD. "Yankee was a high-priced yearling that made good and he brought over *0,000 at public auction as a yearling and more than won himself oui the next year in one race wiien he won the Futurity. He also proved to be a successful sire both in this country aud 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 be 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 horsemen, could be 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 lie made on that score. Each yearling is an individual proposition at any rate, ami 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 sale 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 be well, therefore, for a prospective purchaser to attend all sales and not let a good-looking, well-bred yearling pass at a reasonable price liecause he doesnt happen to belong to what is just now one of the ultra-fashionable families." 1
