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• — . * Here and There on the Turf On Dearth of Stayers. Reason Is Apparent. Mania for Speed to Blame. Building Up Tijuana. $ # While we on this side of the Atlantic bewail the fact, from time to time, that we have too few stayers, and that our horses are losing rather than gaining in speed and stamina, it would seem that England is in the same fix. The published comment of a close observer, after the running of the Epsom Derby, was: "The general consensus after the surprising result of the Derby is that the colts heretofore regarded as the pick of their age are non-stayers. Lord Derbys Fairway and Lord Dewars Sunny Trace, the principal public fancies, were hopeless failures. "It has always been contended in this country that the nature of the sport has much to do with this apparent deterioration in the thoroughbred horse. Primarily the two-year-olds are raced at too tender an age, and drilled too much before they have become sufficiently matured. That seems to admit of no argument. "Then there are too many of the races for sprinters. There are too few races at weight for age and over distances to thoroughly try all that is best in the horse. That has been the argument that has been used year after year, but the conditions of the programs have not been materially changed. Breeders may not oppose the early racing of the two-year-olds for the reason that early racing means a lively market. That is to say, there is a lively market for the cheaper grades of yearlings. Then altogether too early in the year there are alluring chances for the two-year-olds to which even the best of them may be attracted until it is possible to obtain so much from a two-year-old that it is of small moment if he only races the one year." That is from the side of the returns from the investment in both fame and dollars for two-year-olds. It is small wonder that horses break down before they have really attained an age when they should be at their best. That is why the scale of weights sometimes seems to be all wrong. That is why it often appears that a horse should have an allowance for still racing, when he becomes four or five years old, which would be a premium on conserving the thoroughbred. Then the races over the shorter distances are always popular with trainers. It takes less skill and time in the conditioning of a horse to have him ready to sprint than to stay, and such programs never test the horse or the skill of the trainer. The shorter distances are easily filled by the racing secretaries and altogether the improvement of the breed is sometimes well-nigh forgotten. To meet this demand for nothing but sprinting speed there has been much breeding to unsound sires, calculated to beget that Bpeed. There is so little opportunity for the stayer that sires of that sturdy reputation do not have any thing like the popular appeal there is in the sire that begets an abundance of speed, even though it may not be sustained speed. Thus there are many reasons for the apparent lack of staying ability in the thoroughbred, if it really exists, as compared with the days of the turf when four miles heats were considered the real crown of racing. It is unbelievable that the breed is going back. That all the families have weakened. Conditions have changed until the demand for the stayer no longer exists as it did in the days of the four miles heats. Breeding has changed to meet the changed conditions and it would seem that the restoration of the stayers is a matter of making the races for such of a value that will curb this speed demand that has wrought such alleged havoc in the thoroughbred industry. It can all be charged to the unseemly desire for quick returns. It is rare indeed that a turfman is willing to wait with his youngsters until they are thoroughly matured before he asks them for a supreme trial. Then there are so many great values that the turfman is prone to ask too much of his horses. The engagements, at times, closely follow one another and it means that the horse is kept in constant training from early spring until late fall, or until such time as he is forced to take a rest by reason of accident or a threatened breakdown. These are reasons for the charge that the thoroughbred is going back. No good argument has been advanced. All of this is known and has been admitted frequently. The remedy, of course, is the abandonment of early racing for two-year-olds and the increase of longer distance racing for older horses. The establishment of big races for four-year-olds and for four-year-olds and over, over long distances of ground at weight for age would alter this condition. This is known as thoroughly as it is known that the present system of racing has brought about an alleged deterioration in the breed, but there is small chance for the scheme of racing to be materially changed. No one association could bring this about and there is not enough unity of purpose among the various associations to make such a change possible. The association that attempted to bring about such a change in its racing would have a thankless task and could probably never attract owners enough to carry on a meeting. It is a condition that can bo corrected, but it can only be corrected by the cooperation of all. Oldtown, as the town of Tijuana proper is known, to distinguish it from the race course that is over the border from San Diego, promises to be Newtown when the meeting opens at the Mexican course next November. All of the garish open-faced resorts, that gave the town its Coney Island atmosphere, and then some, are being shunted out of the way for a real magnificence and a lasting solid building up of the resort. It is being done by American capital and for the next meeting the closing of the border at 6 oclock in the evening will mean nothing to the racing folks and other tourists that have always found a charm in southern California and that corner of Mexico. Baron Long, whose U. S. Grant Hotel has helped materially in making San Diego famous, has established a commo-diojs hotel in Tijuana and at this time work is going forward on an immense structure that is being constructed by Wirt G. Bowman. There are others who are attracted to Tijuana and it surely will no longer be "Oldtown" when all of the plans have been completed. All of this means much for the racing and W. A. Porter, eastern representative for James W. Coffroth, is authority for the promise that the 1928-29 racing at the Mexican course will be the greatest in its history. "Gene" Normile, who had assumed the management for Mr. Coffroth, began well when he engaged Jack Campbell as racing secretary and handicapper and that is along the line that the new meeting will be conducted. The racing had more to do, than any other one thing, in the attraction of American capital to Tijuana and the boom in hotel building, and that same boom should mean great things for the sport itself. Too often the closing of the border at 6 oclock worked a real hardship on the turfmen who had a desire to play around a bit after the end of a days racing, but under the new conditions the closing of the border will mean nothing. That in itself is a big thing. It is a big thing for Mexico, and a big thing for racing and the patrons of racing.
