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EVILS OF THE FIRING IRON Use of Drastic Treatment on Year ¬ lings Menace to Breeding Trainers Hasten Cures by Meth ¬ ods Which Permanently Weaken Thoroughbreds BY SALVATOR SALVATORTho Tho article entitled Too Much Juvenile Racing which appeared in Daily Racing Form for April 28 was a calm and judicial summing up of a situation which all serioua devotees of the turf concede to exist and one which they unite in deploring It dis ¬ cusses tho various aspects of the question In a dispassionate way and from a stand ¬ point which is to use the phrase made memorable by Romain Rollan au dessua la melee above the battle battleThe The evils of overtraining twoyearolda In tho attempt to make them stand up under tho rigors of tho campaigns now expected of them involve however some things that were not mentioned in this article and one of them seems to mo among the greatest evils that can exist one of tho chief menaces to the improvement of tho breed not only but the mere sustainment of its status quo quoFor For some time past the practice has been rapidly increasing in this country of using the firing iron on yearlinga in the effort to stay them up for what will be asked of them as twoyearolds The utility of it ia a subject of debate Many horsemen of experience and success denounce it But that as stated it continually grows more common is something not to be denied And abstractly or otherwise it ia one of the worst possible things either for the morale of racing or for the future welfare of the breed that can be either imagined or sug ¬ gested gestedPRACTICE PRACTICE OF ENGLISH ORIGIN ORIGINThe The practice of firing yearlinga like many other things of doubtful value is an impor ¬ tation from Newmarket It first came into vogue among English turfmen and its adop ¬ tion in this country has been by imitation Aa I pointed out in Daily Racing Form some time ago the thoroughgoing commercializa ¬ tion of racing through the prevalence of sprinting events also originated on the other side Along with this the overdoing of twoyearolds naturally came hand in hand And as the juveniles began to suc ¬ cumb in larger and everlarger numbers to the inordinate demanda of the commercial system every device waa resorted to in the attempt to squeeze aa much out of them aa possible in their brief careers careersVeterinary Veterinary science la by no means a unit In its indorsement of the firing iron Rad ¬ ically it is an entirely unnatural process of repairing physical damage or of attempt ting to head it off Many eminent veter ¬ inarians will not use the iron except in extreme cases Their position ia that if Nature is given sufficient time and assisted In milder ways she will repair the damage do it better and do it more permanently than the iron ever can canHowever However this doctrine is It scarce needa be said all out of line with the quick ac ¬ tion for your money system which now dominates racing No trainer or owner or to all intents and purposes none will re ¬ sign himself to waiting upon tune and mild natural remedies when he can hurry things along by a resort to severe ones of quick reaults Hence the prevalence rather the omniprevalence of the firing iron whose use has now grown from that of a cure to that of a preventive on account of which un ¬ tried yearlings have to submit to it and what aforetime was the last resort for the brokendown campaigner that had heard the saddling bell ring too often is now first aid for the callow colt and fragile filly that has yet to hear its clangor for the first time timeBREED BREED IS WEAKENED BY 3I13T1IOD 3I13T1IODLaying Laying aside all argument concerning the transmissibility or nontransmissibility of acquired physical characteristics that the breed is beins sapped and its warp and woof constantly weakened by the overdoing of twoyearolds nobody of experience or judgment can for a moment deny Prema ¬ ture demands upon immature organisms un ¬ remittingly kept up generation after genera ¬ tion can have only one result when these organisms are in turn put at the work of reproduction That result la deterioration degeneracy the propagation of the weakling and the unfit unfitAa Aa the article referred to pointed out while the overdoing of twoyearolds pro ¬ ceeded originally from the greed of owners and trainers it is now being promoted by that of breeders who many of them care little whether they turn out a Derby winner so long aa they can get fivefigure yearling prices at the Spa Every resort is utilized In the effort to do this and thereby is being evolved a true hothouse product which ia so physically inferior that in order to head oft possible unsoundness the firing iron is applied before the earliest racing age is reached reachedAnd And as long as the present system of rac ¬ ing obtains this will not only continue but will increase The sequel the inevitable out ¬ come Well after us the deluge
