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ENCOURAGE IMPORTATION OF HORSES Says Major August Belmont in an Opinion Antago ¬ nistic to Dr 1C M leachs Views Xew York October 21 Xo man in the United States is better qualified to speak on the thorough ¬ bred and the conditions which make for his de ¬ velopment than Major August Belmont who has for many years bred and raced horses in England and France as well as in this country his nursery stud in Kentucky being the birthplace of many famous performers Among the most noted of these are Tracery and Fair Play the former which raced exclusively abroad being regarded as the best horse of his day in England where ho is now much sought after in the stud by the most progressive breeders breedersWhat What he has to say on the question of acclima ¬ tization is antagonistic to the opinion expressed recently by Dr M M Leach who while he favored the importation of sires and broodmares maintained that it was a mistake to bring in foreign bred horses older than foals and expect them to achieve a full measure of success on the turf turfI I consider it harmful said Major Belmont in referring to Dr Leachs contention and not sus ¬ tained by the past I admit there are cases where acclimatization has taken i long time particularly since the war among horses that came from France where they have been underfed and have suffered the rigors of unusual and abnormal conditions of climate The weather in northwestern France since the beginning of the war has l een exceptional par ¬ ticularly during the first two years of the war an excessive amount of rain having fallen but in normal times Dr Leachs position cannot be sus ¬ tained Mares imported with foal have delivered good and even first class horses Acclimatization is necessary for them as well as for horses in ¬ tended for racing and according to nr Leach the Ballot was a conspicuous case of immediate suc ¬ cess and when Mr Lorillard in his day was ship ¬ ping broodmares and race horses in training back ¬ ward and forward his experiences all contradict Dr Leachs position Honrless is an instance Omar Khayyam is another ami there are still others that hav v recently been successful successfulInstead Instead of discouraging the importation of horses it should lie encouraged said the major in con ¬ cluding One of the reasons is that we have not sufficient distance racing to improve our own breed as we should Many mile and a quarter races scheduled in these days have had to be given up because of lack of entries The English and Fixrich rules make for a better horse and I believe they breed them In this country the racing authorities do not get the support of trainers or owners in their efforts to increase distances particularly trainers who are notoriously commercial in their views about the turf
