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AGAINST ELIMINATION OF GELDINGS. A. J. Joyner Thinks It is a Mistake to Bar TTn-sexed Horse from Important Stake Races. NEW YORK, N. Y., January 12. There has been much discussion among horsemen concerning the proposed new rule to eliminate geldings from some of tlie important American stakes. Canvassing quite a number of the elder and experienced generation of owners and trainers, not one of them, "favored the proposed change. "I dont think there is a chance for the rule to le adopted," said A. J. Joyneri "for the .reason .that, nothing, can lie. ob-iajned by. it-of-irxceoding -value to . the turf" or the improvement of the-horse"; All-it does Isto1 destroy-property and create a certain amount of uncertainty just what tot do with a horse the habits of which are detrimental to its future. It is impossible to determine what achievements might have been credited to a gelding had he not undergone an operation, but it is safe to say that uii-sexing a horse has many "times been the means of his being a valuable piece of property where otherwise his vitality would probably have been so undermined that as a race horse he would have become valueless. "Because a gelding will sometimes beat a good stallion it dofes not hide the value of- the latter for breeding purposes, as geldings are simply recognized as geldings and treated as such by the breeding solons. Many times running second or even close to a gelding in a race enhances the value of the stallion. For instance, should a horse like George Smith or any recognized good breeding prospect put up a good argument against Roamer, with tlie latter at his best, it would surely raise the stallion in the estimation of breeders knowing that Roamer is one of tlie exceptional geldings of the turf. "Again, it is doubtful if Billy Kelly wonld have been the horse he is had it not been for his operation. Billy Kelly has shown decisively he was an exceptional two-year-old and the clmnces are he will keep up his good work as a three-year-old. Any horse that can race with Billy Kelly is a good race horse and if a stallion should beat him all the more glory for the stallion. "Then there is tlie owners absorbing question of what to do witii a horse which gives great promise in his early education, whether to take a chance with him as a stud or unsex him to save him. If the gelding rule should be passed this problem would become simply a guess and trust -to-luck proposition. Iii the one case it would be: Shall his vitality be preserved and his value as a race horse diminished by sixuul alteration i or. Shall he remain entire with the probabilities of his racing qualities being reduced until he practically becomes a member of the selling plater division and his earning opportunities only about twenty-five per cent of wiiat they would be otherwise? "The stewards of the Jockey Club naturally wish to do everything to improve racing and its foundation, but the subject of eliminating geldings from many of the important features of the sport is one that, in my opinion, should be well discussed and all advantageous features thrashed out as well as the result of elimination, and reduction in the value of horses that are forced to operation."
