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JUDGES STAND By Charles Hatton Col. Chinn Reviews the Stud Book When In Doubt, Breed to Domino Piatt Champions American Strains Whitney Farm Ideal Site for Alsab LEXINGTON, Ky.. April 5. One would think from the unusual number . of schools and colleges in this area, . such cultural subjects as literature, art and I music would be discussed . in the best circles. . There are more » frequent references to Herod, Eclipse and I Matchem than to Dickens, . Rembrandt and Wagner, however. The only book reviews are of the stud book. This 3 afternoon in the Lafayette . Hotel that old 1 literatus, Col. Phil T. Chinn. was reviewing the stud book before j an interested audience that included your r correspondent. We came in, late as usual, just as the Colonel was saying. When in doubt, breed to a Domino horse." He then 1 illustrated his point with a brief bit of f anecdotage, as follows: *T recall that some years ago the late e Joseph E. Widener had me out to Elmen-dorf to lunch with him. When we had finished he suggested we look at the horses. i In due course we came to the mare, Or-monda. . T have been wondering what horse e I shall breed her to, have you any suggestions? my host asked. I thought a while e and replied, Well, boss, when in doubt t breed to a Domino horse. One of our best stallions is Sweep, who has that Domino 0 and Ben Brush cross, you know.* So he bred Ormonda to Sweep and got Dustwhirl. 1 She became the dam of Whirlaway and Reaping Reward." Colonel Chinn is not always the hero of ■ f his stories, we hasten to add. and he told ■ this one modestly, as an aside. We found 3 it illuminating in more ways than one. For r it indicated that, even in this era of imported stallions and exotic breeds, breeders s are not disposed to abandon the American strains altogether. Arthur Hancock, at whose vast Claiborne Stud Sir Gallahad III. and Blenheim II. serve, owes much of his success as a breeder to those two distinguished emigres, but he is impartial on the controversial subject of native versus imported bloodstock " and estimates "those American strains never hurt any horse." A breeder who champions the American tribes is Tom Piatt, a confirmed fancier of the strains that gave the Keene and Whitney studs so many champions, his most noteworthy reward for this adherence is the distinction of having bred Alsab. It is indicative of the vagaries of "fashion" that Alsab fetched a mere 00 while last August Pericles, a son of Blenheim II., brought 6,000. We think it was Edmund Burke who 0 said: "Example is the school of mankind." Curiously, the example that inspired Tom a Piatt to breed Alsab was the same that impelled Sarge Swenke to acquire him for Al 1 Sabaths account. For Piatts admiration of f the American type" derives from the Whitney Studs success and Swenkes from ! the success he achieved with horses obtained from the late Jimmy Rowe, Sr.. who I was his friend and counsellor, Piatt received only 00 for Alsab, originally, but t still is selling him, in a sense. For as that t horses career has expanded, the produce of f Good Goods and Winds Chant became more valuable. Perhaps it is appropos to 3 note that the other day at Brookdale B Winds Chant foaled an attractive sister of f The Sab and is being bred to War Admiral. The product of this union will be inbred to 5 Domino. Ben Brush and Fair Play, the triumvirate - whose names are the motif of f Alsab s pedigree. With this in mind, Col. C. V. Whitneys stud would seem an ideal situation for Alsab when he is retired. His career has turned into a race, track analogy of Jasons quest of the Golden Fleece, for Whirlys earnings title is his goal. AH our really intellectual neighbors assure us. archly, he never will achieve that objective, but he has "done the impossible" so often we hesitate to say. This is not written to deprecate the imported - horse. Those who genuflect before e the asterisk may point with justifiable e pride to the successes of Bull Dog, Sir Gallahad - III. and Blenheim II. and the promise - of Mahmoud and Bahrain. Ones preference - in bloodlines is a good deal like e ones political leanings and there is much i to be said on both sides. It is just that we think it refreshing to find in this era of the Swynfords and Teddys ascendancy, the American breeder still cherishes the American horse and has not turned radical, as have many bloodstock pundits. Market ; Wise. Alsab, Platter and Pukka Gin are • not pur sang" in the Anglophiles estimate, but are not at all abashed by that ; ostracism and indeed the movement by which the Jersey Act may be nullified is even now in progress.
