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I mfg r* » JUDGES STAND By Charles Hatton A Bargain Horse No One Would Buy Bull Dogs Influence Grows Apace Coldstream Sires Idiosyncrasies Kenney Likes Heliopolis Foals LEXINGTON, Ky., April 7. It is perhaps just as well that no one ever succeeded in learning much about horses. There are these fairly mad poseurs who fancy themselves really expert in their knowledge of thoroughbred horseflesh. But on that day when it is reduced to an exact science and horses intrinsic worth may be accurately calculated the millenium will have been reached. Racing then will last only as long as it takes I the patron with the * s« money to buy the best horses. The element of chance which makes it possible to claim a Seabiscuit for ,500 or buy a Winds Chant for 0 is the sports great common denominator. Occasionally one of these bargains latent quality is so concealed that no one in the entire sphere of racing and breeding recognizes it. We saw such a thoroughbred today. We were visiting Charley Kenney at Coldstream Stud and he was showing us the broodmares and their foals. Nodding in the direction of * thick-set brown mare browsing on a sunny slope, Kenney said: "That is Lull. She is 10. She is by Bull Dog, from Luscinia, by Luke Mc-Luke. Her legs are full of splints and one thing and another. For a time we tried to sell her for 50, but no one would have her. We were stuck with her. Now she is our best broodmare." Remarkably unremarkable in training herself. Lulls foals seem gifted with speed almost without exception. This spring she has a prepossessing chestnut colt by the late lamented Sickle and is carrying a pledge to Eight Thirty. She is an amiable mother and nurtures her foals so that they have a good start in life. From somewhere — Bull Dog, perhaps — they inherit the instincts of a race horse. It would be the sheerest audacity io introduce Coldstream Stud to the modern racing: enthusiast, as it is famous as the home of that extraordinarily successful sire, Bull Dog. Another generation knew it quite as well, we daresay, as the McGrathiana Farm of Col. Milton Young. It then was the home for Hanover and some 300 broodmares. Even earlier it was famed as the estate of Price McGrath, owner of the first Kentucky Derby hero, Aristides. Bull Dog and his contemporaries at Coldstream this spring appear in excellent fettle. In addition to the dusky scion of Teddy — Plucky Liege, his rugged son of Coldstream sire of Riverland", Heliopolis, Reaping Reward Whirlaways half-brother » , and Andy K. are in service at the Newtown Pike haras. The sale of Bull Dogs yearlings annually creates a stir of interest among bloodstock buyers, and Kenney will have a half dozen or so sons of the Frenchman to offer in August, when the entire Coldstream crop goes under the hammer at Lexington. Bull Dog now is 17, still is a well preserved and vigorous stallion, but fewer of his services will be sold outside breeders than heretofore, to effect a reduction in the number of his mates. Bull Dog has a good deal of individuality. His temper is reputed to be mild enough, but he is somewhat of "an old maid" in his habits, and whenever his daily routine is disrupted or his environment changes he is upset about it for several days. Low-flying planes, a cavalcade of soldiers, or Army trucks on the road, unusual things like that, distract him. Many turfmen prefer intense horses of such alertness and imagination to the phlegmatic type. They are likely to have more spirit. The fame of The Caliph of Coldstream spreads with each succeeding season. For instance, consider the 1944 three-year-olds. Occupy is his son. Another son, Bull Lea, is responsible for Twilight Tear, Durazna and Harriet Sue. A daughter. Cash Book, is the dam of the current Arkansas traveler, Challenge Me. who projected himself into the Ken- , tucky Derby picture by menacing the. world record for a mile and a sixteenth at atmospheric Oaklawn , Park, then confirming that exhibi- i tion in the Arkansas Derby. Heliopolis did not enhance the prestige 1 he gained in English competition when l placed in training here. Kenney rather likes his foals, however. These are uni- 5 formly substantial individuals. "I am told J Heliopolis is a true Hyperion in conforma- tion, except about the head," Kenney said in showing this Blue Bookish Briton. Coldstream, a good race horse himself, does not sire many foals, but Riverland proved his capacity to transmit quality. Coldstream suggests tremendous strength rather than exciting impulses to art. We have a vivid 1 recollection of him in training. He was ever 1 a luckless animal. Only for bowing, we 1 feel sure he would be enrolled among the i Suburban Handicap winners. [
