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AMAZED OVER AGITATION IN KENTUCKY E. R. Thomas Says it Is Ridiculous to Stop Racing When It Never Was More Necessary. Washington. D. C, June 19.— Edward R. Thomas, who a dor.cn years ago maintained one of the most pretentious racing establishments in the 1nited States, with the late Alex Shields as trainer, is among the many prominent men who are amazed at the present agitation in Kentucky to suspend the fall dates of racing this year. Mr. Thomas, who s|ient several years in France before and including a iicriod of the present war, is familiar with racing conditions in Europe as well as in America. ••I cannot conceive of Kentucky, of all the states in the Inion, shutting down on the thoroughbred," said Mr. Thomas. "No one ever has heard the Blue Grass state mentioned without connecting it with the thoroughbred horse. It is a portion of the country where almost every farmer in the breeding section has one or more broodmares and breeds horses either to race or sell. The same condition exists in France, where the majority of the letter class of farmers have a thoroughbred mare or two and even more and send them to the stallions placed at their disposal by the governments breed ing bureau. "It would seem to me ridiculous to stop racing in the 1nited States just as we have started to breed more and bettor horses than ever with the influx of impottcd blood, which has been showing so well at a time when our own best strains are waning in importance. The dearth of horses fit for cavalry and other army purposes long has been established, since the best available were taken from this country by the allies, even before we ever thought of entering the war. "Now that the remount division of the federal government has come directly to the race track to procure suitable stallions for the breeding farms which have been established, it seems inconceivable that the greatest breeding state of all should stop the contests lietwccn thoroughbreds, which always are necessary to establish the real worth of a horse as regards speed and stamina and gameness. "France, the war-ridden country of the world, still sees the importance of carrying on regular race meetings as a means of learning which are_ the liest horses to keep and breed from. There is a government fund there which has been provided by the revenue from racing, and from this fund purses are given to make contests worth while for the owners of the many horses taking part in the annual nice meetings that are conducted for the purpose „f deciding just which horses are better than the others. "When the question of stopping racing for the period of the war came up in England the War Ministry decided, because of the imi ortauce that racing held to national breeding of thoroughbreds, that racing should not be stopped, but rather should lie encouraged. In France and in the other European countries, even including Germany, the same stand was taken. If course, no public race meetings are held in France now, as there are in England, but, nevertheless, contests are arranged and prizes offered out of the government fund and the owners, trainers and memliers of the breeding bureau witness the contests, where supremacy is decided. "The importance of real racing readily can be recognized by any man who knows anything about horses. A man might have twenty good two-year-olds in training, and some would work faster than others. Still, some of those which might show fast woi-U. would turn out to lie morning glories and show nothing in a real contest, because of a faint heart, or some other lacking of an essential point. Possibly five out of twenty might show real worth if they" were allowed to compete in real races, and because this essential point is recognized, racing is carried on in France, where I have spent many wars. "It might be said that such a plan could be carried on in this country, but it would not be possible. Racing depends upon public support for its life, and the breeding industry depends upon racing. There is no public fund here, as in France, to provide purses, and with the long shipments necessary to bring the horses together in this country, such a plan would be practically impossible, because of the exiM-nsc it would bring to the owner of those thought fit for trials. "It would lie the biggest mistake that Kentucky could make to stop racing in that state."
