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Here and There on the Turf Stables Bid Farewell. On to New Orleans. Winter Racing Type. Chances at Havana. New Volume of Stud Book. The scattering of the stables that raced over New York tracks during the season which closed at Empire City last Wednesday has already begun. Many of the racing establishments have gone to Maryland to finish out the eastern season. Others have gone into winter quarters and still others have left cr will leave within a few days for one of the winter racing points. Winter racing is steadily increasing in importance. Not so long ago only the cheapest horses were kept in training during the winter the quality of the sport at the off-season and courses was decidedly mediocre. As purse values have increased and the financial end of winter racing has been stabilized q there has been a steady growth of interest in f this branch of the turf on the part of the large I stables. This growth promises to reach a m stage during the coming winter where the bast of the selling platers and a few stake horses of the second flight will be seen in action. The various reasons New Orleans still holds theeenter of the stage in winter racingit is more accessible, for one thing there is no sea voyage and no transcontinental tour necessary f to reach the Louisiana city. The purses are jiy larger than at other winter racing points. A number of the leading Kentucky racing I establishments and several of the important eastern stables will send divisions to New Orleans during the coming winter. These establishments will not send their best horses, of course these stars of the regular season will be enjoying a well-earned rest in their winter quarters but the so-called culls from these big stables will give the racing at Jeffer son Park and the Fair Grounds a quality that it would not otherwise possess. Among these culls are to be found many horses that are considerably above the selling i plater in rank. These same horses, pitted against the real stars of their respective divisions during the regular season, are unable to win consistently, but racing against their own class they can make excellent showings. Last year, it will be remembered, S. N. Hol-man I acquired the E. R. Bradley castoff Best Pal and sent him to New Orleans to race. Best Pal apparently had seen his best days he did not appear to have much of a racing future but he won so consistently and so impressively from the best handicap horses at New Orleans that he established himself an altogether new reputation. Facing the stars of the division again in the regular season racing after his return from the South the Holman veteran scored a few victories, but he was once , mere only a mod- -. r.-. A fe crate performer. He was too good to send to the post in" selling races and not quite good enough to hold his own with real stake horses. able field at a winter track. He is good enough to beat most of the winter horses, but not so good as to outclass his competitors completely. He wins consistently, becomes a hero to the regular patrons and adds a luster to the sport. Of course, the most important point of the whole affair from the standpoint of the owner is that such a horse during the winter can win enough to make him a profitable investment, even if he fails to win a race during the regular season. The winter stables for the most part are not wealthy establishments and each purse is a really important contribution to the upkeep. The experiment made by young Kenneth Carrick last year, when he took something more than a dozen of the W. R. Coe culls to Havana to race and to be sold, was so successful that several other stables are likely to try a similar plan this year. The Coe horses sent south, though hardly capable of successful racing on the major tracks, more than won their way in Cuba. All of them were sold at prices commensurate with their value. There must be some outlet for these thoroughbreds of the poorer grade and winter racing seems to be the most effective means of allowing them to win their way. There is no large breading or racing establishment that does not find from time to time an excess of cheap racing material. When these horses are scld at public auction after successive failures on the major tracks they bring litth or nothing, but if they are sent to the winter tracks, where they have a chance to win a few races, they immediately become mors valuable in the eyes of the prospective purchasers. Consequently the winter track gives these horses a chance to earn their keep and at the same time creates a market for a class of thoroughbred which would otherwise have practically no racing value. The appearance of a new volume of the American Stud Book is an event of real importance to the breeder and student of blood lines. Volume XIII. of the American Stud Book, bringing the record of registrations, importations, cxportations, deaths and other stud reports down to the end of the year 1921, is just off the press. Since the issuance of Volume XH. there have been a great number of important importations of stallions and mares, as well as many other reports of thor oughbred breeding industries of which a permanent copy is needed. The colossal work of compiling such a book makes frequent new volumes out of the question. Although there is much subsequent data contained in other sections of the volume the main body of the work is complete only through 1921, almost two years ago. The new volume of the Stud Book brings the permanent record of American breeding down to the p: where it covers the two-year-olds that h?ie raced this year, and it will be of great. vx- to all persons who are interested in the breeding angle of thoroughbred racing. The importance of the American Stud Book both to racing and breeding in this country cannot be overestimated. Without it American blood stock would lose most of its value, and the sport of racing could not be conducted with any degree of success or permanency.
