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. i Here and There ; on the Turf - i New York Commissions Re- t port i Advance of Breeding. 1 Value of Thoroughbred. Horses in War. Report of the New York State Racing Commission covering the year 1923 has just been issued. It is an official document which speaks well for the condition of the turf in , the Empire State. "No official complaints as to the manner in which racing in this state has been conducted have reached the Commission during the year," says the report. This reflects the confidence shown by the public in the sport under the jurisdiction of , the Jockey Club. Complaints against the conduct of racing, whether justified or not, are likely to be made from time to time by some disgruntled person. The fact that there were no such complaints during the entire year is a high compliment to the administration of racing in New York. The report of the commission reviews the international race and its effect upon the sport in the state of New York. The influence of this venture in cementing friendship between the United States and England is justly emphasized and the importance of the race, as a means of centering the attention of the nation on New York racing, is also mentioned. One of the most important branches of the sport, however, is the stimulation of thoroughbred production. Tha commission calls attention to the fact that breeding is advancing rapidly in New York. Four important stud farms arc now located in New York, says the report, and it has been demonstrated that the state can produce thoroughbreds capabh of competing successfully with the best produce of Kentucky, which is recognized as the center of the breeding industry in the United States. The importance of the breeding industry is further exemplified in the report by figures for the last Saratoga yearling sales, when 464 youngstere were sold for a total of ,114,050, an average of more than ,400 a head. The prediction is made that with the steady growth of the breeding industry in this country and the constant infusion of foreign blood, through importations, the United States will soon lead the world in yearling sales. This is particularly important to tha state of New York, because Saratoga is the center for yearling auctions in this country. The commission calls attention to the great influence exercised by racing upon the production of cavalry mounts and other lighter breeds of horses. The United .States army, the state constabulary and the farmers are all assisted greatly by the growth of the thoroughbred breeding industry. It has been demonstrated conclusively that the thoroughbred is the best sire for saddle horses and kindred breeds. The Jockey Club i ; i t i 1 , , Breeding Bureau has been instrumental in making the thoroughbred available to farmers for breeding purposes and the advance of the industry in the Genesee Valley is largely attributable to thowork of this body. The Breeding Bureau has also been instrumental, the report points out, in bringing about the donation of thoroughbred stallions to the government remount service. The services of the Breeding Bureau are in no way a direct contribution to the welfare and advancement cf racing. The horses produced as a result of the activities of the Bureau arc not race horses, but they arc decidedly valuable as replacement for scrub horses and mongrel breeds, which have been common on the farms of the state in previous years. The scrub horse is valueless for any purpose, but the half-breeds produced by crossing a thoroughbred sire with a coldblooded mare are the best all-purpose light horses that can be produced. The horses which are turned to this service under the auspices of the Breeding Bureau, or of the Remount Service, are not a quality, generally speaking, which would serve to inv prove the thoroughbred breed. It would be bad for thoroughbred production if any great part of the stallions were turned to the production of thoroughbreds, because they have not raced their way to great fame on the race course, and the qualities which they could transmit to their offspring would not be of the best. But these stallions are a decided improvement over those previously used by farmers for the production of light work horses. They have many of the best qualities of the thoroughbred, although they are not quite up to the standard of the improvement of the thoroughbred line. The farmers have come to realize the value of the thoroughbred as a sire of light horses, and the advance of the breeding industry in the Genesee Valley during the past few years through the work of the Jockey Club Breeding Bureau has been phenomenal. All of these features of the Commissions report are important. They show the value of racing as a sport and as an influence on utilitarian source production as well. Racing would have every reason for existing purely as a sport, but the important which it holds by reason of its influence on the breeding industry is even more vital to the general public. The horses will possibly never be; supplanted by machines for war purposes. The Great War was fought by machines so far as possible, but the horses and mules were of vital importance to the success of the army operations nevertheless. Anything which will result in increasing the production of the light horse which is adaptable to military needs is a decided contribution to national safety.
