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EXTERMINATOR AND 1 THE FIGURE SYSTEM BY SALVATOR. Regret was recently expressed in Daily Raeing Form that Exterminator is si gelding, on which account his rare qualities as a race horse cannot be transmitted to future generations of the American thoroughbred. Such sentiments are natural in view of his performances, though the thought must always obtrude: Had Exterminator not been gelded would he have been so grand a performer? This is an unanswerable enigma and must so remain. Many horses which, when entire, were anything but brilliant were transformed into "big winners" by the operation. Gelding has rendered many an unmanageable thoroughbred -a well-mannered "race horse, while it is well known that unsexed males are much less prone to unsoundness and display wearing qualities superior, as a rule, to those of stallions. Exterminator, however, we may safely assume, was not gelded for any of these reasons. The knife was employed upon him neither to improve his temper nor assure his campaigning capabilities. No; he was "added to the list" because he was not considered well enough bred to be worth while as a "breeding asset." We must remember that when he was begotten his sire, McGee, did not enjoy his present high estate as a progenitor. MoGEE A NON-STAYER. It is easy for many turfmen to recall the days when this horse was racing over western tracks in the colors of Edward Corri-gan, chiefly in minor events. He was a fast horse, but had no fondness for distances over a mile in fact, rather preferred those under that standard. He captured two or three stakes of an unpretentious sort, but when the company was formidable did not shine. In short he was merely a selling plater of something above ordinary class. The fact that his money-winnings amounted to only 7,S70, although he Avon twenty-four races, was second in thirteen and third in five indicates better than anything else the character of his career upon the turf. In the "high society" of the metropolitan district where alone true fame is supposed to be won by the habitues thereof he was unknown, and his beginnings as a sire, like the estate of Uriah Heep, were "werry umble." His sire, "White -Knight, not only never appeared upon the turf he begot no foal but McGee circumstances which do not generally allure breeders to the building up of families in the male line. Not when ultra-aristocrats whose quarterings are emblazoned with the insignia of reigning houses solicit him on every hand. As for the dam of McGee, while she was by the great Hermit, she had produced nothing more than ordinary. And neither had her dam, although that mare, Vex, was herself a winner of numerous races and a sister of Galopin. HIS STUD CAREER REMARKABLE. But McGee had not been many years modestly at the stud before he turned out a Kentucky Derby winner Donerail, 1913, and ever since his progeny have been "making history." Now several of his sons are in service, and one of them, Horron, is doing well without extensive opportunities, while Star McGee is also beginning to show. However, Exterminator, from the beginning was doomed ; as, from the propagandized "pur sang" point of view, he was not even "thoroughbred." He came or comes from one of the native, non-"figure" families whence, we have been so persistently taught, nothing good can be expected. That is. nothing fit to be a sire, if we except a few horses like Ben Brush, etc, etc., that really do not or should not count. So Exterminator, without, from a "thoroughbred" aspect, "pride of ancestry," was before ha was of an age to do any mischief in the world deprived also of "hope of posterity." All there -;as left for him to do was to go out and race. And, in the words of the prophet, he has "gone and done it." It would be useless and time-consuming to attempt to enumerate the many and various; true "thoroughbreds" that he has made look like hacks, and that subject need not b-farther pursued. Suffice it to say that he has won more money, in real honest-to-goodness horse races, than any other runner that America has produced. For while technically he is surpassed by Man o War, that colt owes his "pride of place" to a "hippodrome" performance in which Exterminator was invited to participate, but, to the everlasting credit of his owner and trainer, declined the honor ?. It was not a genuine "sporting event." Just a gigantic circus "stunt," commercial in all its angles and commercialized to the limit by everybody concerned. GELDING WINNERS OF 00,000. Some time ago I gave in Daily Racing Form what I called my own "private gallery" of great American geldings. These ranged over the past forty years and were listed in the order of their appearance upor. the turf. I will now offer an "abstract am: brief chronicle" from that table, which in eludes but four performers the only ones that, to date, have won 00,000 or over. Their condensed careers have been as fo lows : Foaled. Ilorse. Races. 1st. 2nd. 3rd. Amt. 1915 Exterminator .. S3 43 10 13 13,020 1887 Banquet ..116 C2 42 23 118,537. 1885 Raceland ..130 70 25 12 116,391 18SS Strathmeath 133 59 33 19 114,95? Now, the interesting thing about this entire quartet, to me, aside from what is shown by the table above, is the fact th-t they were all not "thoroughbred." Each and every one of them came from a native American, non-"figure" family. Exterminator belongs to that familiarly known nowadays as the "Maria West family," which stems from an unnamed daughter of imported Janus, that had no dam and flourished circa 1780. Both Banquet and Raceland go back to an unnamed and "damless" daughter of Meades Celer, a part-bred son of imported Janus, foaled in 1776. Strathmeaths maternal line ends with an unnamed and "damless" daughter of imported Fearnought, a horse foaled in 1755, imported in 1764 and dying in 1776. "ONE NEYER CAN TELL." ; Banquet, Raceland and Strathmeath were all bred in the period antedating the "figure" and "pur sang" propaganda. We may take it that all of them were gelded for strictly practical reasons. The said reasons having been that individually they were considered inferior types, not choice enough to develop into desirable stallions. Raceland, whoso sobriquet, familiar to all racegoers, was "Old Bones," was certainly anything but handsome Banquet was indeed most ordinary tu look upon. Strathmeath was of the same genre. Perhaps if they had been kept entire the turf had never rung with their exploits and three great geldings been spoiled to make three bad stallions. One can never tell just as one cannot about Exterminator. Owing to the relatively small value of the purses and stakes of the era adorned by Banquet, Raceland and Strathmeath, Exterminators winnings almost double theirs. Were such a horse, for instance, as Raca-land to flourish in these days he would probably surpass even the record of Exterminator. For, while "we cannot compars horses of different eras," it is yet altogether probable that he was as great, if not even a greater, racer. His "batting average" is a bit higher .538 as against .518 and he campaigned in a period when our stake horses were of a higher caliber than they are at present
