view raw text
ENGLANDS EXPORT TRADE German Expert Analyzes Status of Market for Bloodstock Shows That Quality of English Thorough ¬ bred Is Dropping Because of Constant Drain Fr Becker the German breeding expert writing In The Thoroughbred Record has the following to say of Englands foreign trade in bloodstock and the effects of these exports upon the quality of the English thor ¬ oughbred I have always and thoroughly enjoyed Muskets notes in the Sydney Mail and only regret that since the war I get a taste of them only dropwise at more or less long Intervals They are a source of reliable in ¬ formation to anyone desirous of following developments up and down in the Australian breeding industry but now and then are not quite adroit in the style of criticising condi ¬ tions outside the Australasian domain domainIn In the September 30 issue of the Sydney Mail he proclaims proclaimsIn In view of Ihe oftrepeated assertion that American thoroughbreds are superior to the English the twentyfifth volume of the Gen ¬ eral Stud Book affords some interesting par ¬ ticulars which should enlighten those of our American cousins who claim their horses to be the best in the world It should be patent to all students of breeding that the country doing the largest export trade in bloodstock must have the goods or they would not nothave have the trade These figures should shouldconvince convince Sir Hedworth Meux who about twelve months ago was deploring the fact that French horses were superior as stayers to the English and others that the practical men of other countries look upon England aa still the matrix of the thoroughbred thoroughbredWILL WILL COME BACK FOR MORE MOREIf If France and America can produce high class horses from their importations more power to them May they continue to have their good luck with their purchases and the more luck they have the better it will be for the English market for they will then come back for more But in view of these extensive drains on the blood of the British Isles it is rather amusing to read that American and French horses are superior to the British What other country in the world could export onethird of its thoroughbred produce and yet keep up prestige That England can do it is a sufficient answer to all and sundry as to which country maintains the best type of thoroughbred Sic SicMay May I ask Musket whether he has ever worn a suit made of woolen material manu ¬ factured in Australia Australia is doing the largest export trade in wool and I daresay that at least for twothirds of the woolen goods manufactured in England and the con ¬ tinent Australian rawmaterial is used One really cannot argue on the lines preferred by Musket when one comes to perceive as on reflection also Musket ought to that foreign breeders have had to call upon the British to supply the raw material and this mainly for the reason because like Austra ¬ lia In the wool trade England is the largest producer of bloodstock in the world and keeps the largest stock to choose from fromQUANTITY QUANTITY AND QUALITY QUALITYNo No foreign country will ever be able to compete with her as regards the quantity but as to quality well I daresay Musket cannot dispute the fact that with onethird of her production exported and twothirds retained for home requirements England is cutting a rather poor figure whenever the finished article manufactured abroad from the onethird is meeting that of the two thirds retained at home on the latlers own grounds of exhibition I may advise Musket to compile a list of the Frenchbred horses which ran in England last season and if he should be able to prove that among a pro ¬ portionately greater number of natives there was such a high percentage of good winners as among the French to name but Tapin Eeclin Cloudband Forseti Masked Marvel I shall concede his arguments to be sound soundThe The statistics which he has compiled read quite differently in the light of the following supplementary supplementaryThoroughbreds Thoroughbreds exported from Great Brit ¬ ain according to the figures in Volumes XXII to XXV XXVXXII XXII XXIII XXIV XXV 190913 19131C 191720 192124 Brit North America 49 28 35 C8 C8South South America 1054 327 358 151 151United United States 31 C73 218 G2G G2GAustralasia Australasia 247 537 112 288 288Austria Austria and Hungary 111 14 2 55 55Belgium Belgium 422 102 102SIC 4G4 479 South Africa SIC 644 64414S CIS 412 412Denmark Denmark 14S 72 86 79 79France France 428 197 408 72G 72GGermany Germany 897 104 25 200 200Holland Holland 41 5 17 20 20India India 28 2 H 835 638 638Italy Italy 154 39 C7 137 137Japan Japan 50 24 7 G GRoumania Roumania 30 22 43 43Russia Russia 134 Cl ClSweden Sweden and Norway 28 28 42 14 14Switzerland Switzerland 2 1 Spain 51 171 77 77Miscellaneous Miscellaneous ctriea 23 65 310 519 4693 3256 3776 4538 The figures referring to the entries in Volume XXV are Muskets MusketsAs As the birth of most of the horses exported is registered In the preceding volume of the General Stud Book we may put up a statisic on the following lines linesNumber Number of foals born Vol XXII 1909 3099 1910 31C7 1911 3141 1912 305C 305C124C3 124C3 124C3Exported Exported as per figures in XXIII 3J55 equal to 2613 per cent centVol Vol XX11I 1913 3319 1914 3505 1915 3C87 1910 3GSO 14230 14230Exported Exported as per figures in XXIV C77C equal to 2053 per cent centVol Vol XXIV 1017 31C3 1918 3179 1919 3019 1920 3102 12703 12703Exported Exported as per figures in Vol XXV 453S equal to 3555 per cent I centI So as regards quantity Musket is right lin stating that about onethird of Great Britains production exported But what about the quality Let us fall back on the Newmarket De ¬ cember Sales of 1907 It is of course some ¬ what difficult to ascertain Ihe correct numbe of horses bought for export in view of the fact that quite a lot were purchased by English agents such as Tanner and Allison and it would require much research work for finding out whether for home or foreign ac ¬ count But taken into consideration the lots bought by foreign breeders and agents direct we find that France bought fortysix lots at the aggre ¬ gate price of 26515 guineas guineasGermany Germany bought seventeen lots at the ag gregale price of 10436 guineas guineasFor For nineteen brood mares more than 1000 guineas was paid and only two of them Chiavenna and Illustrious were purchased for home account The most expensive mare was the Americanbred Grave and Gay 1899 by Henry of Navarre Mount Vernon by Uhlan put up for sale by Sir John Thursby and purchased for 2600 guineas by the Ger ¬ man breeders Messrs von Wcinberg together with her bay colt by Zinfandel ZinfandelNext Next to Fiesta this proved to be the most lucrative acquisition ever made by the Wein bergs Count Lehndorff paid 2100 guineas for Pomegranate which bred the German St Leger winner Prunus to Dark Ronald and 1400 guineas for Scotch Mistake a ghastly failure Baron Oppenheim bought Desiree halfsister to Dark Ronald for 1000 guineas M Cheri Halbronn paid 1000 guineas for1 Diamond Crescent a failure 1450 guineas for Sweet Hilda a failure 1200 guineas for Perpetua successful 1100 guineas for Bi biani a failure 1600 guineas for Sandflake by Trenton successful M Edmond Blanc bought Lady Burgoyne dam of Lord Bur goyne by Persimmon winner of the Poule dEssai badly wanting in stamina for 2000 guineas Reckless dam of Sloughi for 1400 guineas Shcllduck dam of Shetland and In ¬ sensible for 1550 guineas all three being daughters of Gallinule Madame Lemnire do Villiers paid 1100 guineas for Crimps a fail ¬ ure and 1750 guineas for Salop a failure Trainer Butters bought for the Austrian breeder Baron Springer Chilmark who car ¬ ried Chilperic a winner of the German Derby for 1100 guineas Mr Potts pur ¬ chased for French account Presentation a moderate success for 2000 guineas ami Golden Key a moderate success for 1000 guineas guineasCLIMAX CLIMAX IN 1012 AND 1913 1913Matters Matters persevered on these lines and reached a climax in 1912 and 1913 when Mr Mantacheff made things hum for British breeders and traders However if Musket would cast a glance on the standard of goods which France has bought after the war ho should find that with few exceptions they have not spent anything like such sums on brood mares Nearly all lots in the catalogs that Jooked like quality were claimed by home or by American breeders the latter supplanting all and everything by the pur ¬ chase power of their exchange and by the weight of capital seeking investment investmentMore More important than the substantial in ¬ crease in the number of horses exported to France and the United States to me appears the fact that the figures for South America have sunk from 1034 to 151 those for Australasia from 537 partly during tho war to 288 for South Africa from SIC to 412 and of course those for Germany from 897 to 200 That in the period from 1921 to 1924 the export exceeded onethird of the production is mainly due to the strong de ¬ mand of bloodstock in India whereto only twentyeight horses were sent in the four years from 1909 to 1912 but 836 in the period from 1917 to 1920 and 638 in the period from 1921 to 1924 India is nothing more or less than a dustbin for British breeders and owners and is saving hundreds of horses annually from the butcher butcherNOT NOT A TESTIMONIAL TESTIMONIALNor Nor can Belgiums trade which eventually has returned to the prewar standard servo as a testimonial to the quality supplied Even if there would exist another and a moro efficient producer of bloodstock than Eng ¬ land Belgium and France hardly would patronize his market to any great extent England supplies the goods just across the water in less than a days time This is another contingency fostering her trade con ¬ nections with France and Belgium Person ¬ ally I much regret the fact that U S A and Australia are under present economic con ¬ ditions beyond the range of the continental producer for to me there is no doubt that he may get hold of another Carbine and succeed in breeding from American sires or brood mares a European Man o War WarExport Export statistics depend on two entirely different conditions of trade viz either on those determined by the quantity available at reasonable prices or on those determined by the quality The quality however must be so superior as to enable the country involved to retain a monopoly You never find the record quantity combined with tho record quality Another reason why Franco and the United States figure so prominently amongst importers of British bloodstock is given by the fact that their own production does not cope with the requirements of ho racing sport They practically have ceased to export exportAs As opposed by conditions in England where during the war only brood mares of little or no value and the lowest class of race horses were requisitioned by the remount depart ¬ ments Frances stables and studs were drained thoroughly and her breeding industry completely disorganized Where else but in England could they find a sufficient number of horses to replenish studs and stables 1C yet France with a breeding industry which four years ago was still crippled and con ¬ sumptive has succeeded in producing horses like Epinard Sir Gallahad Rose Prince Tapin Massine Filibert de Savoie Forseti Masked Marvel and so forth she must needs u mi n tvj iiou nuii sin need nut can any longer qualityIt on England to supply the quality It seems not likely that the demand of the United States will decrease for years to come but certain it is on the other hand that France forced by the catastrophal de ¬ preciation of her exchange will presently drop out entirely And as for Germanys return British breeders and traders will have to do without it because at last a resolution has been passed by the Association of Blood ¬ stock Breeders to move that the Union Klub should extend tho reprisals taken against tha English Jockey Club to the exclusion from registration all horses bred in England Ire ¬ land Franco and Belgium or owned by sub ¬ jects of these countries There is no doubt that the stewards will presently pass an act to tills effect as feeling has become too high for any attempt of compromising with publiq opinion
