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UNCERTAINTY OF BREED1N 1 Cases of Great Horses Failing ti Found Families Still Goes On Man o Wars Prowess Evidenci v That It Pays to Breed from and to Best Only BY EXILE u It is evident as pointed out by Mr J E Mad ¬ den that all is not quite as it should be in blooi stock breeding in this country Failure to per ¬ petuate is of too frequent occurrence but Mr Mad dens solution of incorrect mating is I fear no altogether a satisfactory explanation except it b tiken to mean that marcs with butfew excep ¬ tions which trace to an obscure tap root have out Iked their usefulness and from this time 01 should be rejected Advancement and iniprovemenl in blood stock matters as well as everythinf else should be our aim and for this reason a more exhaustive and comprehensive study of blood line and turf history is necessary on the part of those whose pleasure it is to breed the thoroughbrei horse horseAgain Again permit me to call your attention to tin fact that there is only one sire Ben Brush t head the American winning stallion list fron the days of Lexington oil down but what trace to a figure tap root This is no mere surmise bui a statement of fact and judging from this it wouli appear that breeders are breeding from mares whose sons can have but little value as progenitors As turf history is my judge members of the non figure families those which trace to an obscure source are in the main valueless even injurious ir the upbuilding of the thoroughbred horse Excep ¬ tions ever prove the rule ana the one great ex ¬ ception here the family of Maria West and per ¬ haps also the Aerolite by Lexington and Julia bj Glcncoe lines I refuse to include the Picayune family for the reason that no really indispensable sire from this family as yet has come Ber Brush by which the Bonnie Scotland line is handei on is a member of this same Maria West family aim Spendthrift grandsire of Fair Play a uiumbei of the Aerolite family and the Derby winnei Durbar II traces to Julia by Glencoe but before this family can be called safe Durbar II inusl prove himself as a sire WHEN BREEDING COUNTS COUNTSBreeding Breeding is of little consequence in the produc ¬ tion of the average twoyearold winner and the sprinter As age however advances and the dis ¬ tances of the races are increased as they will be increased so shall the value of breeding become oven more apparent and blood stock breeders find it to their interest to breed only from those mares With the above exceptions which trace to a Bruce Lowe figure tap root Another thing and one alo most convincing to me that all is not right in blood stock breeding matters is that out of the four hundred and sev ¬ enty imported horses whose names appear in Vol ¬ ume I of the Stud Book only five or perhaps six of them are strongly represented on the turf o toddy and these Bonnie Scotland Australian Eclipse paternal ancestor of Domino King Ernest Dick Welles and Dick Finuell Glencoe and lxam ington But Leamington I fear has passed into obscurity Who would have thought in the days when Sir Dixon was carrying all before him as a sire that the Blacklock line of Billet was so soon to be swept aside or that in the palmy days of Lcjxlng ton and liis sons is sires that the death1 kncll was soon to toll for this once all powerful Diomed line The hardy Glenelg failed to set up a house of his own the light of the Prince of the T Y C has flickered out King Ban is no more the intfpodeans Maxim Darebin and Sir Modred have failed Tranby Trustee the St Leger winner Rayon dOr King Alfonsos sire Phaeton Glengarrj Knight of St George Yorkshire Priam not one ot them founded a strong line of their own Even that mighty Frenchman the indomitable Mortemer winner of an Ascot Gold Cup and on the day of his victory adjudged by no less an authority than Admiral Rouse to be seven pounds the best horse then racing in Europe failed to sire one sbn by which this splendid line of Herod might be per ¬ petuated petuatedFEW FEW SUCCEED AS PROGENITORS PROGENITORSIn In more recent times the Derby winner St Rlaisc attained during the earlier days of his stud life to no inconsiderable silcccss as a sire but left no son behind to effectively carry on his Hermit line The line of the horse of the century Ormonde however happily is with us still through the success of Ormondale as a sire and then there is Olambala also of the Bend Or line which has made more than a good beginning as a stallion Meddler however good sire of winners as he ad ¬ mittedly was and whose daughters are of such ex ¬ ceeding merit as brood mares left no son to fit tiiigly represent him So it goes As yet breeders in this country as Mr Madden has told you have failed in greit measure to breed horses capable of tiansmitting their own sire excellence to their sons However here is a rift in the murk that would eu rlroud us for there is every reason to believe that the lint of Isonmy is safe for some time yet to come from the fact that though Star Shoot is dead Sir Barton las sou is to reign in his stead and iV moreover well fitted as judged both on per1 formanceand pedigree to attain to more than ordi ¬ nary success as a sire and to be instrumental in keeping alive in this country the great line of the cup horse Isonoiny For all this it is sad to think of the one hundred and eightyfour imported horses whose names find a place in Volume VI of the stud book that so few of them should have met with permanent success as progenitors progenitorsOf Of the more recent importations there is Rock SiMid Of course as the sire in this country of Tracery Trap Rock Rock Flint and best of all Friar Rock and of Rochester in England Rock Sand looks like going strong for some time to come comeAs As I write the news of Mini o Wars Withers victory is heard and Man o Wars prowess is but additional evidence of the fact that it pays to breed only from and to the best and here at last has been bred one horse in lo those many years which commands the respect and also would command an e iual price if offered for sale with any of those bred elsewhere and this permit me to say that for which the breeding of blood stock is carried on From this time forward the breeding of winners is to be a feat more difficult of attainment and it is only from those bred on the best approved lines that these winners will come The day of the quick twoyearold and sprinter is over and with it will sJso pass the mare whose origin is shrouded in ob murity and when this in fact does take place Mr Mudden along with his fellow breeders will find tliHt horses js bred in this country will be found capable of transmitting in great part their own ricing excellence to their progeny
