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Racing Fillies hj x. s. vosBrnoH 1 I I i | • 1 i r ; . . j t ! c .. i s 1 •■ I It was .something more than a year ago that I was requested to draft conditions for ; ■ race for fillies two years old. I did so, . 1 lilt on prest nting them it was stated that j i the eluo gAing the race desired it to he over 1 1 riil- .ours.-. I h id .tiled for three-quar- , ter , tMrt it was stated that M the race w;is . to he mi late in the year the mile could , not be ohjee imable. | My observation leads me to consider the | ] racing of two-year-olds over a mile course j i hardly advisable even for colts, but fori, fillies it is simply dangerous. Few Until have done so have been any good after doing so. Indeed, aside from the question of racing. ] a full mile, it is common observation that , many of the "best of this year" fail when it , comes to racing the following year. They make quit" a list: Spinaway. Prudery. on-|; stancy. Bashti. Hlfin Queen. Sallie Met Mel-1] land. Honnie Mary. Mother loose, Missj .!• mima. Sweep Park. Hlue Hrl. Nancy l-. Xtl.ie Morse and twice as many more. ] OTED KNta.ISH F.XVMPLKS. I I I Knglish experience is quite similar to ours Here is a list of some of the most noted two-year-old fillies which failed to retain their form after that year: l.al OH. Mr. f. tlSTS. by Adenturer Canti- I : f ni-re. Started in nine ! races as a two-i, ! yar-old. winning eight. These included 1 , the July Stakes beating Iroquois, and : I, Rom Memorial, the Clearwell, Richmond : j and Dewhurst. As a three-year-old she , started in seven races, winning only one. I | Callr Herrin. ch. f. 1S84. by Charibert— ! | Ue-. cho. Started twelve times as a two-. year-old. winning six G races, including 1 Rous Memorial, the Criterion beating, 1 Revo dOr, Great Kingston. Fernhill. etc. ; 1 As a three-year-old she did not start. At ; four ran seven races without winning. Kren-b Partridge, b. f. 1M§ . bf ;allinu!e-1 utetia. Started six times as a two-year-old, winning two. the Criterion and Moul-toti. As a three-year-oM. ran nine races without winning. i rialume. br. f. 1MS , by Callinule -Message. Started eight times as a two-year-old. winning five, including Triennial at Ascot. , belting I-ally. Tioutbeck. Bridge of Canny. Oorgos. etc. As a three-year-old ran nine times, winning once, a handicap wWh ninety pounds. Montem. br. f. 1! 01. by l.adis Kermesse. As a two-year-old won the July and New Stakes. At three ran .seven times without winning. Motlier-in-I.aw. b. f. 1006, by Matchmaker — Be Canny.. Started nine times as a two-year-old. winninK five. At three ran eight r.iies without winnng. Sunset Jlow. ch. f. 1!14 . by Sunstar -I.in- | d.iyn. Started six tines as a two-year-old, winning one. At three was unable to win a race. Sterling Balm. b. f. MM, by Fri us Balsam YestcrlinK- At two won four out of five races, Indlldtag Champion Breeders Foal Stakes. Cimcrack and Coventry I | Stakes.* As a three-year-old won one ra v ; j out of seven starts. : llllirOM Melton, b. f. 1S0X. by Melton— Sclio lbook. As a two-year-old won seven out of nine races. At three could not win a race. Priestess, b. f. IMA, by Hermit dam by lord I,yon. As a two-year-old won four out of seven races. Did not win as a three-year-old. Stolen Kiss. ch. f. 1907. by Best Man--I .ranch. As a two-year-old started in fifteen races, winning eleven. At three won three out of thirteen races. Valve, br. f. 1900, by Velasquez -Gas. Won all her races as a two-year-old. At three ran seven races without winning. Jeans Folly 1901. by Ayrshire Black Cherry. As a two-year-old won five races. At three won once out of seven starts. INH.l KNCK ON MAJOR BKI.MONT. j The failure of great two-year-old per-! forming fillies to retain their form had a! I Kreat influence upon tin- late Major Belmont. He gradually became a believer in brood I : mates which had never raced. His success With them was such that he latterly advo-: ■cited them. His success as a breeder gav» , I any statement he made the stamp of author- ity : but it may be misleading. At the sale, I of his stock in May, 1925. out of sixty-six I brood mares offered, thirty-lour had never "six rted silk," or answered the lutglc "horses to.th- post." or pricked an ear to the roar of the if mhrtTrl. | If a brood mare is better from not having .! I been trained and raced. w« might better abandon racing and take up horse shows to determine merit. A few generations of such breeding would produce a queer lot of race horses. It might answer for a generation or1 I two. but not if continued. How are we to; know whether a hors • is sound or possesses, speed unless we try him? I cited this to Major Belmont and all he could answer was. "It will be all right if the right blood is; .there." But how else than by trying them Can we tell? Families run out. The Bevity family is an Instance. Froai 1MI to 111*] anything tracing to l..vily was the fashion. ; Now the descendants of Levity seem to have I lost caste completely. It is generally admitted that Bord l-al- mouth was the most successful breeder of noted winners within th last sixty years or since the Duke of Grafton. Lord Kal-I mouths score was three Derbies, four Oaks. tour Two Thousands, four One Thousands. and three St. I.egers. But he only bred from man s which had distinguished themselves as ur ,t winners winner- of great races: , ue -n Bertha, Sptaaway, Bal Gal, Lillian, I Cecilia, Lad] Coventry, Wheel of Fortune.] | Janaette, Gertrode, Silver Kins. Chevtsamne,] , Muriel, Cantiniere. Dutch Oven, Wh atear, j Bedwing. Leap Year, Fuiirse. Lady Oottght-! ly. Hurricane, Atlantis and M.iis All these I I mares were winners of K"eat races and be-j , I came the mothers of gnat racers. Lord I Falmouth would breed only from mares which had won great races all others he! I jsold. The mares named above- raced ex-! .leapt Billian only as two- and Ihum 1— I | olds; th.-n they went into the stud. M he held that a mare should prove bar class in competition, but she should never be overdone by oveitaeing or over distances beyond hc-r limit. I Mark what follows Tn 1SS4 Lord Falmouth retired and offered his stallions, brood : mares and all his harass in training. The competition for them was fierce; the highest j prices were given. Here were groat winners. :the dams of great winners, and the produce leaf groat winners a breed thai enabled the I B.-Mag-ij. Jacket" t" dominate the turf far ; 1 i , . , | ] j ] , , ] I I I : f ! 1 , : I, : j , I | ! | 1 1 ; 1 ; i , | I | ; j : j I I : , I I | .! I over twenty years. Yet not one of the mares after that sale ever produced a great race horse except Busybody then in training, which produced Meddler. This has been a matter of frequent comment in Bnglaad. Why did this career of ;.uee-ess for several generations so suddenly cease? Probably the blood had run out, as Levitys did here. It is an -answer to Mr. Behaontl belief in "the right blood," a qualification useful in selling horses, but not as safe as performance. We all were fond of Mr. Belmont -no man of his time did more for racing. He was an excellent jutlge of horses, but I have never considered him a profound student of breeding -those who did probably did so because they knew less than he did. He talked • a great deal of Herod and Kclipse — as if horses which lived one hundred and fifty years ago had any direct influene-e upon a horse of today. It reminds one of the boy arrested for stealing apples — he steaded that it was Inherited, as he was a descendant of Mother l-ve. who was found guilty of a similar offense in the garden of Kde-n. I.OMiKK IUSTANCK FOR TOI "XtJSTKRS. In recent years it would seem that our policy has been to increase the distances for two-year-olds and reduce the distances for the older horses. It ought to be just the reverse. Two-year-olds are "raced off their legs" already without increasing the dis-. lance of their races. Consider how many bril-l liant performers have failed to return to their two-year-old form — Dominant. Morvich, Onondaga. Campfire. Incle. Portland. Mes-! merist. Bine Girl. His Highness, War Pen-Inaata Pebbles, Donages, Sharpshooter, Peter Kins. etc. They were overdone at two. Some are strong enough to stand it. but they are few. It is the great strain upon the muscular and nervous forces that impairs them. Mr. Lasshton in his book quotes Matthew Dawson that: "Horses for years have had too great a strain put on them at two and three years old and every generation becomes less robust and less able to stand the work.* If the above applies to colts, it applies doubly to fillies. It is needless to say, fillies are more susceptible than colts to external intluene-es. They are inferior to colts there is not one filly of merit to 100 colts of merit. The fillies and mares that have raced with the colts anil beaten them can be counted on the Bcbgera. Fillies are more highly organized than colts — more nervous. OstBBS-quently they feel the effects of hard racing far more keenly than do colts. And now in regard to a mile race for two-year-oltl fillies. The- fleetest Of horses can rae-e at top speed only about three furlongs. Whe-n a horse, or any living thing, is raced beyond its limit, it reaches a degree of faPgue of nervous and muscular power that impairs its rnn-Bl I tilt ten Two-year-old fillies are raced at toi speed from the start over live- and six furlongs. Within the past twenty years they have lieen raced severely enough and if mile races are to be added to their labors we shall have tjllies su nervous from exhausted vitality as to be unfit to race, and as mans unable properly to nurse their foals. TOO F.XPF.NSIVK TO WAIT. In the realm of racing economy there- is no excuse for racing two-year-okls except that it is too expensive for owners to wait with them until they are three. Bacing two-year-olds does nothing for the- "improvement of the breed of horses" for which racing associations are chartere-d. Yet. racing could ■Caret ly get along without it. I believe a horse is better for having raced as a two-year-old. The late Mr. M. H. Sanford said his great horse-. Monarchist, would have been even greater hail he been raced at two. The earfy handling and racing of a two-year-old is the same as with a dancer, an athlete-, or an acrobat. It develops the muscle and helps tile- circulation and the respiration. Colts and fillies that are not bandied and raced at two grow coats-, loose-jointed and clumsy . Uut there is a difference- between racing the-m and overdoing them by too frequent racing or over too long distances. There is an evident effort on the part of racing associations to do whatever attracts the- public, and properly- so. but not at the cacrince of the i e-st interests of the horse. or of the sport. Bach year racing is rendered .mode dependent upon public money, and less upon owners subscriptions. There can bo no objection to that except when it lowers the standard of owne-rship. creating a type- of .owners who an- looking to get something for nothing a type whose identity with racing diminishes public confidence- in it. It is this •spirit that calls for increasing the distances in races for ivvo-y ear-olds in the belief that in popular opinion it makes a more- attractive contest — no consideration is given to its effe-ct upon the horse.
