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YOUNG HORSES FOR ENDURANCE TEST The three-hundred-mile endurance contest which recently took place is still commented upon in racing circles. Tom Welch.- who was at Latonia after an absence of twenty-five years and who at one time trained the horses of the late Charles Fleischmann, was commenting on the raee. Welch, since he left Kentucky fields, has been training the thoroughbreds of Joseph E. Wideuer. Mr. Wid-ener for more than a score of years lias raced In France and has maintained a breeding farm there with Welch in charge. When the World War broke out iu 1914 Welch had under his care several two-year-olds and was awakened early one morning with the news that the Germans wero within a few miles of the training quarters. It meant hasty action if the thoroughbreds were to be saved from the ravages of the Huus, and Welch and other, trainers immediately put riders on the horses backs and told them to "beat" it in the opposite direction. These horses were two-year-olds and they traveled more than forty miles a day until they had arrived 1 at their destination, which was 245 miles from where they started. Welch declares that nearly every oue stood the journey in perfect condition ; and in- a number of cases the youngsters weighed more at the end of their destination than they did j when they started. It is Welchs opinion that younger horses which possess more, stamina aud I vigor than old, worn-out horses should be entered in these endurance tests, although he does not. necessarily mean that he believes- two-year-olds would stand the long journey better than horses a year or two older.
