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RACING ONLY WILL PERPETUATE HORSE HORSEDay Day of Farm Animal Past and Turf CoOperation Necessary to Prevent Extinction New Orleans La November 15 Upon racing and racing alone depends the future breeding of horses suitable for cavalry purposes in the opinion of W C Clancy wellknown owner and trainer of race horses who for many years has been con ¬ nected with the American turf turfIf If anyone doubts this assertion says Clancy all that is necessary to substantiate it is a trip through the rural districts of any state in the Union where the scarcity of horses almost reaches the proportions of extinction The day of the farm horse has passed Farmers of today do not care to breed or keep horses of any kind Theyre too expensive A farmer can buy a motor plow tractor and runabout and do all the work he has to do onefourth cheaper than he could with horses Thats why farmers cannot be looked to to perpetuate the breeding industry under ex ¬ isting conditions conditionsHorses Horses are indispensable That was proved twentyfive years ago when the Italian government which had curtailed racing for a period sent agents to America and literally cleaned out our country of all kinds of horses Horses that ranged the plains of western states horses that pulled city carts horses that worked on the farms and racing thor ¬ oughbreds were bought up right and left Hundreds of horsemen quit the turf to become purchasing agents of the Italian British or German govern ¬ ments buying horses in this country The result was that with the advent of the automobile and the agitation started against racing a decade ago the horse breeding industry in this country became para ¬ lyzed and broadminded men who realized the seri ¬ ousness of the situation began to think about it and plan planNext Next came the great war in Europe and once more in spite of the fact the horse was struggling for existence in this country foreign governments swooped into tlie United States arid the inroads they made on our horses will not be patched up for years to conie England whose breeders at the outbreak of the war had begun to sell a few horses to us promptly dropped tlie gate and instead of letting hbriesMeave her shores in any number she pushed her efforts to buy up our horses and more and more and as the war progressed so did France and Italy ItalyThe The situation today is this Our country during the war had to depend oh France to mount our troops We did not have enough horses in this country ta serve one of the armies which is oper ¬ ating in Europe Stop racing tomorrow and the horse is doomed doomedPKOOF PKOOF IS EASY TO FIND Of course I know it will be said an opinion from a trainer naturally would be in favor of racing But let the opponents of racing apply the proof themselves themselvesGermany Germany warwrecked as she was fought with might and main to keep racing alive for she realized that was her only hope to keep her horse breeding going France is fighting now to revive the thoroughbred sport while England wisest of all has kept up her racing all the way through and is planning big things for the future on the turf turfI I dont say there are no ways of encouraging breeding outside the race track There are and they should be suggested to stimulate horse breeding in Louisiana My suggestion would be this Let the racing associations here stage a race a week for colts or stallions with a reasonably large purse to go winnertakeall then turn the winning thorough ¬ bred over to the government of tlie state to be placed in some rmrish to stand for the public Stud fees could be rated just to pay for the upkeep of the horse By the end of one winters season enough stallions would be obtained to stand in many parishes of the state and tlie project could be continued winter after winter Such a system could not help but encourage horse breeding Farmers who today own one or two mares which have been hanging around idle and Which they are thinking of disposing of would be willing to mate these mares were it not for the high stud fees being charged nowadays by owners of stallions But give the state enough stallions and this will be remedied and in years to come tlie blood of these thoroughbreds will be spread all over this section of the country and farmers who had never intended to breed horses will find themselves raising a valuable lot of half and threequarter brcds which tlie government will be able to call But at present it takes money to breed horses and tlie wealthy men of the turf are the only ones who caii afford to do It while the rank arid file of the turfmen make it possible for these breeders to regain some of their expenses through tlie sales of their stock
