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TWO GREAT FRENCH HORSES ♦ Some Interesting Data Concerning - Massine and Filibert de Savoie c ♦ ■ Visit to Haras St. Murtin du Chene Finds These Wonderful Racers at Head of Xew Stud. SRKC1AK CORRKSPON DUNCE. PARIS, France, March 15.--Normandy villages are M much alike as though they were turned out of a mold. The same double rows of brick and cement buildings with roofs of varying degrees of redness according to their age, built to the street line and joined together as though for protection, are to be found everywhere. Casements are thrown wide open during the day but fluttered so lightly at nightfall that not a ray of light escapes to betray the snug comforts within. KM stranger motoring through one of these villages after sundown sees no sign of life, save an occasional wayfarer, usually on foot, and whose sabots strike the hard paved road with a metallic ring as he passes. lOven the inns, and there is always one or more of these where food and drink may be had. must be assailed after dark with a knock before there is a bustle within and one is extended a welcome. There is always the thuroh. Peasant France is deeply religious. Churches, as well as the wayside shrines at frequent intervals, attest this. So do the niches above the doors of most of the houses in which a statue of the I.lessed Virgin or a patron saint is sheltered. Many of these shrines are very beautiful, with a figure of Christ on the cress in a sotting of cypress trees. Frequently flowers are banked about the foot of the emblem of Christianity — a token of devotion as eloquent as it is beautiful. Few jieople of the country pass these shrines without halting a moment to bare their heads and cross themselves with reverence. COURTESY THE W ATCHWOKH. None in Normandy is ever too busy to be helpful in directing the stranger. We were anxious to see the two great young long distance horses Massine and Filibert de Savoie. and as they had been sent to the newly acquired Haras St. Martin du Chene of Messrs. Robert Kazard, Rene Sibilat and Octavo Homborg in the vicinity of Kisieux. Mr. Hoty had to feel his way through a maze of highways threading the country in every direction. A blue-eyed, red-cheeked Norman was finally found who knew the location of the farm. He had met some friends at the local railway station and, bidding us follow his lead, piloted our car to a point where he dismissed us with a wave of his hand, which indicated our roard. and at the same time carried with it a salutation of farewell. A sharp climb of several hundred feet in a few miles brought into view some hillside pastures with brood mares and weanlings grazing, and soon a group of partly completed buildings indicated the Haras St. Martin du Chene. the object of our search. Massine was in his box, the youthful s.udgroom said, hut Filibert was at exercise. Massine looks the great stayer he is. He is a dark bay. almost brown in color, standing a trifle under sixteen hands. A strip in the face and a little white on two hind and one front leg gives hi in character. The horse looked as though he had just come out of training. Whether his hard condition was attributable to the fact that it was his first season in the stud or was due to the sharp work he gets daily under saddle could not be determined. A gorgeous shoulder and great length from point of hip to hock are Massines best points, though he is also long from the withers to /lis ears. His quarters arc lean and his hips a trifle ragged, but no one could fault the magnificent feet and legs of the Ascot Cold Cup winner, who also won the Prix de lArc de Triomphc, and other good races, and earned a total of 1,228,275 francs during his short career on the turf. HICKII IN THE PIKPI.K. By Consols, a son of St. Pris. which was by St. Simon, out of Nandine. by Wisdom, while his dam Maurie was by Ajax from the good mare La Camargo by Childwick, also a son of St. Simon, he doubles the blood of St. Simon and Bend Or. Console, by Kend Or, was the dam of Consols, while Flying Fox was by Orme. The great mare llaisan-terie comes into the pedigree through Childwick, so that Massine is as stoutly bred as the best. Scouts were out in all directions endeavoring to locate Filibert de Savoie, while we inspected Massine. The boxes were located near some woods, and it is in their shaded retreats on soft dirt paths that the stallions take their exorcise. It was nearly an hour before l.ouis. our chaffeur. who had served in the French cavalry, and is therefore fond of a good horse, espied the gray stallion through the trees. "Kn avent." he shouted, following with the exclamation: "Comme il est beau": and so be was beautiful, as he came down the pah through the wood with a man of at least 150 pounds on his back. The horses knees were covered with boots and he had a net on his tapering cars. Filibert was halted in the road and seemed to take as much pleasure in the occasion as we did. lie is a light gray horse and will some time be entirely white. He carries the usual herringbone marking? of his tribe in black r n the gaskins. He is close to 16. J hands high ami stands a trifle Higher on the leg than Massine. but is a more impressive horse than his stable companion While Filiberts shoulder would satisfy the most critical, it is back of the saddle that he delights the connoisseur. His loin is broad and well muscled and the coupling is so close that one can scarcely insert a finger between tin last ril and the hip. The quarters are beautifully packed with muscle well rounded, without being beefy while this writer has not seen a_s line a hind leg in many years. Pave that of Ordinance, which was pel feci In is conformation. Filiberts legs and feet are hard and flinty. He retired to the stud sound. It is said that every horse has his faults. And so with Filibert do Savoie, whose head, though noble, is not quite as masculine as some like in a sire. The horses disposition is perfect, as was shown by his permitting the wnmui of the party to fondle him. while U« played with the hand of his exercise hoy. during our inspection. Filibert is entitled to his gray coat color, . as he is a double of Ke Sancy, his sire . I sard II. being a grandson of that famous , son of Atlantic, while his dam Yolande, by Oardefeu, is a granddaughter of that horse. Isard II. is from Irish Idyll, a daughter of . Kilwarlin, which is best known to American breeders as the sire of Ogden. Chevreuse, great grandam of Filibert, is by Wclliiigtonia, sire of Ilaisanterie. Filibert v;.s a smash-mg horse on the race course, winning the Grand Prix de Paris, the Prix Itoyal Oak and other classics of France. Massine only-beat him by a short head in the Ascot Gobi fup. after one of the most hotly contested race* for that prize in a generation. The owners of these fine stallions hr.ve some povd mares of their own and most of the leading French breeders are sending some of their best dams. Among the American patrons is J. 10. Widerier, who will breed to both horses, and should get something eminently suited to the needs of the French turf, where speed must wait on bottom in most of the great races. Some of the mans owned l.y the syndicate controlling Massine and Filibert de Savoie, are Shady, by Baaatar- Sunflower, by Sans Souci II.; lied Wheat, by William Kufus — Cyranene, by Cyllene ; Innovation, by Ajax - -Myrtledine, by Barcaldine ; Btleae, by Sans Souci II. — Aaataaaa, by St. Simon; Lonely Iassie, by Flying Fox — Simon I aerie, by Simon Square ; Mary Gainsborough, by i Jaii.sborough — Mary Machree, by Desmond. ; and ltirette, by AjaA — Golden Key, by Ladaa From the above, something good may be confidently expected by the trio of progressive Frenchmen who are building in the .same substantial fashion as their fellows in other parts of Normandy, homes for thiir bloodstock that will be standing long after they themsi !ves have passed to the majority.
