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GELDINGS TO BE BARRED Unsexed Horses Will Be Ineligible to Start in Kentucky Derby Manager Winn Makes Important ImportantAnnouncement Announcement Regarding RegardingFamous Famous Kentucky Race Louisville Ky August 5 Geldings will be barred from the Kentucky Derby Such is the word received from Col Matt Winn manager of Churchill Downs where the historical Kentucky race is run each year Tills means that Hilly Kelly winner of the Flash in l United States Hotel Stakes and conceded by eastern critics to have i strong claim on the juvenile championship will be barred from the fa ¬ mous race that annually attracts thousands of rac ¬ ing enthusiasts to the Downs DownsMalinger Malinger Winns reason for taking this step is that the government needs thoroughbred stallions in great numbers for the breeding of military horses nnl that the only way to meet that need is to make the gelding of thoroughbred stallions by breeders nd owners whose interest in thoroughbred pro ¬ duction and in racing is purely commercial unprofit ¬ able by limiting the number of races in which the geldings may take part on any terms whatever whateverIf If the Jockey Clubs and racing associations that control the nice tracks of Kentucky and the1 east Jinil not taken the JniUative in lys wprlr of iTis ouraglnc the gelding of thoroughbred horses the government would have intervened said Colonel AVinn in discussing his decision to make this radical change in the conditions of the Derby The new position of leadership in which American participa ¬ tion in tiie great war has thrust the United States imposes npou us the obligation of maintaining a great military establishment To maintain a truly efficient military establishment the government must have horses by the hundreds of thousands and horses of the right sort sortBACING BACING NO LONGER MERE SPORT SPORTMilitary Military opinion everywhere has decided that the only truly ellicient military horse is the thor ¬ oughbred grade To get thoroughbred grades in serviceable numl ors the Government must have at its disposal a vast number of good thoroughbred titallions Probably as many as 8000 or 10000 are required The remount service is calling for them eveiy day and individual breeders an responding to these calls handsomely But these individual contributions are a mere drop in the bucket The racing associations must systematically and thor ¬ oughly curb the indiscriminate practice of disquali ¬ fying by the gelding process of thoroughbred stal ¬ lions for this Government work The only way is to make the unscxed horse useless as a money maker This is more than a mere duty it is a solemn obligation Kaciug in the United States is no longer u mere sport It is no longer a mere medium for gambling It must henceforth be re ¬ garded as an essential factor in our great scheme of national defense My voluntarily meeting its obligations and responsibilities it will insure its own permanency and win for itself a popularity greater than it has ever had in the past pastWe We may have to lo more than merely exclude geldings from such great races as the Kentucky and Latcnia Dcrbys the 1reakness and the Bclmont to make sure the production of a siillicicnt number of thoroughbred stallions for this indispensable mili ¬ tary work It is within the bounds of possibility that the unsexed horse may ultimately be excluded from all races not of the sellingplate variety But if we do this we will not be doing as much as the countries of continental Europe have been doing these sixty or seventy years In France and Ger ¬ many no thoroughbred stallion is gelded until a Government veterinary condemns him as useless
