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BETWEEN RACES i «c« me HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., May 25. — Col. F. W. Koester, the retired Army Remount Service officer who is advisor to the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, reports that his tour of Golden State farms, inspecting and culling yearlings to be sold in July at the the annual annual vendue vendue of of the the West West Coast Coast the the annual annual vendue vendue of of the the West West Coast Coast breeders, indicated that real improvement has been made in the breed, a not surprising statement. Everywhere we have been this year, the yearling crop has been above average, and this goes for Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland, where the writer was fortunate in having the , opportunity to inspect some of Americas most noted * farms, and many not so noted. During the next few weeks, we intend to see as many California yearlings as we can, for a report on them in matter of national interest. The California sales is the first important vendue of the year, and its results are eagerly awaited by turfmen everywhere as providing an accurate index of things to come at Keeneland and Saratoga. It is, in other words, the first market test. That the California crop is so attractive is a tribute to the efforts of the large number of Golden Staters who are coming into their own as breeders. AAA Lou Doherty, who judged the annual yearling show of the Maryland Breeders, tells us, "There has been, I would say, a 100 per cent improvement in the Maryland youngsters over five years ago. The yearlings are of a better racing type, haye mor quality, and have shown better than ever before. I noticed that the use of a chiffney bit , was almost universal in ihe show, equipment which was California Yearlings Rated Vintage Crop Lou Doherty Praises Maryland Improvement Declares Balance Most Desirable Attribute Phenothiazine Fed Colts Are Doing Well not much in evidence five years ago. The chiffney, of course, permits a yearling to be shown to better advantage. In judging the show, I had to throw out only one horse, or rather pass up for consideration, because he was not properly groomed. Most judges do this because a show is, after all, a show, and individuals who are not properly conditioned have no right to consideration. Part of it cannot be explained in words, because there is quite a bit of it that might be termed intangible. First, I size the horse up as an individual, trying to get an over-all impression. I then like to see them walk io determine balance. I have seen a lot of good horses who had many technical defects, but who had balance. To the contrary Ive seen few, very few, good horses who did not have balance. I give much weight to soundness, or horses who look as if they would stand training. AAA "A good race in point to illustrate balance and how it can outweigh physical defects is a horse bred by myself and Abe Hewitt, The Pimpernel, who set a new world record for four and a half furiongs at Belmont Park last week. This colt, by Pavot — Chalara, was normal in every respect until early in his yearling year, when one foot seemed to stop growing. We put him in the sale, even though it was obvious that his front feet did not match, because we were convinced of two things; first, the colt had good balance, and second, he was sound in spite of what might be termed a deformity. I had cut into the foot with a knife and found his hoof to be hard and flinty, which led me to believe that he would be all right as a race horse. Most trainers passed him up at the sale, * but a few agreed with me that the failure of his feet to match would not hamper him in racing. He sold for ,700, a real good price in the circumstances. Had his front feet matched, Im sure he would have brought about 0,000, perhaps more." AAA Breeders are tabbing the crop performances of a few Kentucky farms who have raised their horses on a low level, continuous diet of phenothiazine, an effective control of strongyles, or blood worms. The Pimpernel is one of the first icrop to "graduate" on the diet and reach the race track. Of the crop sold as yearlings by Doherty, six have reached the races and five have won. Doherty is notj, the only breeder who is an advocate of the low level phenothiazine diet. Among others are Mereworth and John A. Bell. Battlefield is a "low level" product, too. It may take a few more years to prove the point, one way or the other, but so far results have been encouraging. The phenothiazine diet was -worked out by Dr. A. C. Todd, who only last week left the University of Kentucky to go to Wisconsin. He has published five papers on the subject. Whether comparatively strongyle-free horses v will outrace their rivals who did not take the course remains to be seen. There are other factors involved, but there still should be enough evidence available in another year or two to permit a fair analysis. AAA Although the results of the University of Kentucky tests seem rather conclusive, there is some doubt ex- Continued on Page Thirty-Seven BETWEEN RACES By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Page Forty-Eight pressed in certain quarters of the worth of the low level phenothiazine treatments.. As | one breeder remarked, "Well, we had Man to War, didnt we, before phenothiazine came along?" Doherty admits that this is true, but counters with an anecdote concerning Gus Ring. Seems that Ring and some friends were inspecting yearlings at j one of the major sales rings, and one ad-j visor, a bit* on the fussy side, finally told Ring, "This is not a vintage year, and Id 1 suggest you dont buy anything." To which Ring replied, "That may be so, but they only have* to race against one another, dont they? So lets go ahead and buy the best we can." Rings remark made sense. If thoroughbreds raised oh the phenothiazine diet consistently do only slightly better than the national average, or the averages of the farms before the advent of phenothiazine, the point would seem pretty well proved. The University of Kentucky carried out its experiments under the most scientific methods possible. Blue Grassers are somewhat unhappy that Dr. Todd should leave for Wisconsin. Seems Kentucky doesnt pay the salaries and the Wisconsin offer was so luring that in fairness to himself and family, Dr. Todd could not refuse it. If Kentucky is to keep outstanding scientists in the veterinary field, it seems its schools must pay adequate salaries.
