Judges Stand: Breeders Aid Govt Food Drive Handicapped by Labor Shortage Mahmouds Progeny Show Promise Whitneyites Train at Kentucky Farm, Daily Racing Form, 1944-04-11

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in the Blue Grass w3HKf j. j JUDGES STAND By Charles Hatton Breeders Aid Govt Food Drive Handicapped by Labor Shortage Mahmouds Progeny Show Promise Whitneyites Train at Kentucky Farm LEXINGTON, Ky.. April 10. None of the various bloodstock periodicals and thoroughbred breeders clubs in the Blue Grass has nas essayed essayea a a grapn graph 01 of has nas essayed essayea a a grapn graph 01 of Fayette and Bourbon county farms* assistance to the government in its drive to increase the nations output of meat and vegetables. Nor can your itinerant correspondent vouchsafe a report that is at all complete and comprehensive, for that matter. But we should guess the total acreage that is being devoted to this patriotic cause, entirely without fanfare, is something extraordinary. Especially when one considers the high tax rate on Blue Grass property, and the temptation to grow some such profitable crop as tobacco on land not required for horses. Virtually all central Kentucky breeders at present are in the category of farmer-breeders. And, in some instances, at a sacrifice of paddocks and fields on farms already crowded. As an illustration there is George D. Wideners establishment on the Iron. Works Pike, obscure, shady backroad, which, incidentally, played a conspicuous role in helping win another war cannon for the battle of New Orleans were made there. The Widener Farm is rather a narrow confine between Dixiana and El-mendorf. Yet, 250 acres were given over to growing hemp during the last couple of years. The government has not asked farmers hereabout to raise hemp in 44, so some of this acreage will be converted into vegetable plots. Gardening poses a problem of labor so the quantity of farm produce grown this year is contingent, to a degree, on the help available. Col. C. V. Whitneys stud is another that is making an exemplary effort to assist in "winning the war." we discovered, roaming about this vast 940-acre tract with manager Ivor Balding, today. There is a fine herd of 400 black Aberdeen-Angus beef cattle and 200 calves of this breed at the Whitney Stud, not to mention a herd of 25 Guernseys, which are among the best milch cattle, and countless hogs and chickens. During our visit, a spacious paddock beside the office was plowed preparatory to victory gardening. Nearly all the farms here are under-staffed, but Colonel Whitneys does have the necessary farming implements — tools that were fortuitously purchased before the war. The Maryland Racing Commission has perhaps needlessly asked thoroughbred breeders in the Free State to make a concerted effort to increase the food supply. Bloodstock growers there have adopted a program of neighborly cooperation in the use of farming equipment and collaboration in crop harvesting. In these war-torn times the "country gentleman" is a slacker. We have not encountered any of the movie version of thoroughbred breeder, idling on their porches sipping mint juleps, in the course of our junket through the Blue Grass. Reference to the Whitney Stud reminds we saw Boojiana turned out in a roomy paddock there; her underpinning in better condition, apparently, than for her juvenile campaign, when she captured the matron. She has a straighter-legged, altogether admirable bay sister among Colonel Whitneys yearlings, all of which are to be retained, incidentally, for racing under his Eton blue banner. Many of them are from well-bred young mares who never raced, or have foaled nothing of racing age. Quite the best of Top Flights issue is in this collection of yearlings. He is a gray by Mahmoud and has his celebrated dams wide blaze. Another visitors fancy is a bay son of Mahmoud— Arbitrate. His second dam, Mother Goose, won a Belmont Futurity. He is more serviceable than showy in appearance. A racy chestnut by Carrier Pigeon is the ideal "sales type.* Mahmoud never appeared to better advantage. Now milk white himself, most of his foals are chestnut. "I believe he is the type to succeed at stud here," Balding says. I am told the going was hard, much like our own. when he won the Epsom Derby in time then constituting a race record*. As you see, he has more quality than bulk, and he is full of energy and good spirits." Some of the more captious critics abroad charged Mahmoud with failing to stay the St. Leger course, but speed at middle distances seems to have been his forte, and that is infinitely more Important than the capacity to stay marathon distances in America. Burg-el-Arab Is a name with which you may become familiar. Hi is a strapping, sable-coated son of Boojum and Aporoma that gives all the usual indications of being unusual. Burg-el-Arab is nominated for the various futurities this season and he will not be hurried, in deference to his growthiness and promise. Andy Schuttinger will train him. Ruffs mid-western division includes an outsize son of Firethorn — Night and Day called Fire Works, and Pukka Gins smooth little half-sister, Crawfish. There are also two smart Mahmoud fillies, one the chestnut Recce, out of Equipoises sister. Schwester, and the other a gray named Monsoon, out of Maud Mul-ler. These two-year-olds have been galloping steadily on the farm training track and enjoy the liberty »f the paddocks in good weather. Colonel Whitneys homebreds hava Improved visibly in recent seasons. Balding sending up sounder, more substantial and more successful colts and fillies.


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Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800