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LESSON IN THE SALE OF YEARLINGS Purchase Case Illustrates Fallacy, of -Trying to Pick the Chaff from the Wheat. NEW YORK, N. Y., March 1. "Never again will I sell a yearling, no matter how deformed or misshapen it is, unless I am offered what I consider a worthy price for its disposal." said W. B. Miller, who. with Hal Price Headley, owns the good stallion Cncle, as well as many brood mares. "The last time I saw Purchase brought me to this conclusion. He was a colt which in his tender days bore the earmarks of nothing more than a mean, undersized, unimpressive youngster. There was not one good ioiiit to recommend him in my estimation. Yet today he has- grown into not only a fast horse but one that in looks is fit to grace any mans stable, with almost untold prospects and considered so valuable by his present owner. Sam Hildreth, that the price he would ask for him would be staggering. That is the reason I have four two-year-olds in training at the present time, four that were not sold as yearlings. Should but one of them turn out even emi-respectnblo it will be worth more than I could have had for the four at public sale. "The disposal of Purchase has taught me a lesson. We are really only kidding ourselves when we think we can pick out yearlings on looks that will make good race horses. Of course there are some which look much more promising than others, but when we select a batch of youngsters which we believe are almost worthless we are liable to make the gravest errors, for I have discovered positively that good horses come in all shapes and sizes and that prospective deformities do not always materalize. When I sold Purchase to John Madden for ,000 I believed 1 had made a good sale. He thought he could see more in the colt than I could, and though he made 00 profit .on the transaction he was glad enough to let him go for ,400 when that sum was bid. Today it is doubtful if twice fourteen thousand would buy the horse. It is my intention from now on to train all the seemingly undesirable yearlings and try -them out. No one can tell just what is in store for a youngster until it has been given a chance to develop. This son of Ormondnle Clierryola is convincing proof of this fact, and he Is not the first by a large majority. , YEARLING WITH BAD TEETH. "I have one filly now in training that had such bad teeth as a yearling that she was" as poor as a church rat. All her teeth seemed to. be out of kelter, and the back molars did not even register. I had them all fixed up, and today she is a quite different filly; not only that, but I ain told she Is put up for a good race mare. She would not have brought a nickel at a sale, yet today I am more than satisfied with her, and If she lives up to her looks, then my time and expense will .have been well expended. I am just citing these" cases to emphasize what I first remarked that many a time we are only kidding ourselves when we try to pick out bad looking or deformed yearlings for early disposal. Hundreds of high-priced yearlings have proved poor selling platers frequently, and. scores of cheap yearlings have developed into wonderful race horses." Speaking on the subject of breeding and stallions begetting foals of the same color Mr. Miller cited the unprecedented likeness in color of the offspring of Sweep. All told. Sweep has .sired more than ninety foals, and everyone without exception is either a bay or brown in color; yet the dams have varied in color almost from pink to purple. "Sweep, I think, will prove not only a prepotent stallion but one of the recognized horses of this country Ie-fore manv years have passed," .said Mr. Miller, "a horse worth 00,000 if a penny. I am inclined to think well of Runnymedo, Adolph Spreckels new stallion. It is probable he will leave a long line of good horses behind him. - Tiose shown so far this year have been anything but disappointments at New Orleans, and may be capable of much better things when put to the test. Of course, he cannot be compared to Sweep, as the latter has established himself, but to my thinking Runnymede has a great future, if the sample of product he has already sent to tie market Is any criterion."
