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SIRES AND DAMS *y NELS0N dunstan LEXINGTON, Ky., May 8.— One of the truest expressions heard around race tracks is that winners come in "all sizes, shapes and colors." Within the coming months visitors will be arriving in Lexington to pick out yearlings for the two-year-old racing of 1954. Selecting racing material is very much a matter of per sonal opinion. And this was brought home very forcibly to us at Saratogo years ago, when we heard the late Bob Smith, Henry McDaniel and some other noted trainers disagree on the promise of a striking youngster who had been led out from his stall for inspection. In our opinion Duval A. Headley, who bred such good ones as Aunt Jinny and Tom Fool at his Manchester Farm here, makes a lot of sense when he says, "I dont think you can be too critical about picking a yearling and I am assuming for the moment that we are picking the yearlings for racing purposes. You have to overlook some small defects such as a single hock, or feet that toe in or out slightly. For example, I sold Tom Fool to the Greentree Stable. Their trainer, John Gaver, has a very critical eye and so too has Clarkson Beard, manager at Greentree Farm. When Tom Fool walked he put his feet down in perfect alignment, but when he stopped he put his foot out like Charlie Chaplin. But that didnt interfere with his racing ability. If you are going to be too critical when you are buying horses you are going away from a mans farm or from the salesring without any horses." Everyone knows that there is considerable truth in Headleys remarks for often you will see a top racer who has one or another defect. AAA This year like every other will have its outstanding yearlings at high prices and also youngsters like Alsab, and more recently Golly, who were both taken from the ring for less than ,000. There has been a departure Yearlings-All Sizes, Shapes and Colors Duval Headley Gives Advice to Buyers Kentucky Breeders Strive to Improve Where Is This Blue Grass in Kentucky? from former years in that the committees for pedigree and also conformation have been delayed some three weeks from their work. Bill Evans, manager of the Breeders Sales Company, told this writer that many of the consignors have requested this delay and we believe it will prove to be best for the buyers in late July. They are not going to sacrifice quality for quantity and while there has been some big withdrawals in the past two years, the number of yearlings who will be accepted for the summer sales should number about 390 to 400. The veteran, Thomas Piatt, told us this morning that he had not even had his yearlings brushed down. Ira Drymon, who handles Polynesian, the sire of Native Dancer, said that he has just let them run in the fields and had not yet taken them up to learn how to stand when on inspection. While we had planned to stay here for the next week or two to look the yearlings over, we had decided to postpone our inspection for a matter of some three weeks. We can say that even in the rough there are babes down here who will comparse very favorably with those who brought high prices at Keeneland a season ago. That there has been a delay in inspections means little or nothing, for they will be in the hands of men who are endeavoring to bring them to their peak at the time they enter the salesring. AAA This is one part of the country where you seldom, if ever, hear the hackneyed expression, "The improvement of the breed," but in few places are they striving more for exactly that. As with the doctors who care for the physi cal health of humans, giant strides have been made by the Grayson Foundation, the University of Kentucky and various other institutions in turning out a healthier animal than was the case back in the years when nutrition and other points were not nearly so advanced as they are today. The veterinarians and scientists readily admit that they have a long way to go in the studies to which they are now giving attention. They all know how much feed a horse needs to maintain his weight. The breeders themselves are aiding in this work and the other morning we were invited to inspect the new laboratory that Mr. and Mrs. Howard Reineman have built at their Crown Crest Farm and which will soon have some of the foremost veterinarians of the day taking over for research and studies that may some day fit part and parcel in with the actual improvement of the thoroughbred. This laboratory is being equipped with the most modern apparatus known to veterinarians today. One room will be given over entirely to X-ray research and practice and these people are to be commended for spending their own money to aid in the studies about to be undertaken. AAA One of the most amusing reactions we find from people making their first trip to this horse region is the eventual question, "But where is the Blue Grass?" Year after year that question is heard and this writer for one is unable to answer it for in the spring of the year we have never seen a blade of grass that could actually be called blue. Down here they tell us that when the grass goes to seed and the winds blow, the blue coloring is very obvious to the eye. If that is so, this writer must be color blind, for it is the richest green and a delight to look at. Lexington and its environs are very different to the western states where wheat, corn and other products of the year can be seen for miles and miles, while passing through on a train. Continued on Page Forty -Four SIRES AND DAMS Bf NELSON DUNSTAN Continued from Page Forty-Eight Here in Kentucky these farms with their green paddocks and usual white fencing comprise some of the most valuable land in the world. Recently the Roseland Farm of Grant Dorland was auctioned with the John H. Clark Agency making the highest bid of 3,500, which is an average of ,345 for 47.2 acres. Legend has it that a lady from Tennessee brought the original seed into the Blue Grass region from her native state. It was supposedly only a handkerchief full and if that is the case she spread one of the richest cloths of gold over an area whose greatest asset is the grass that is the foundation of the bones and muscles of the thoroughbred. But with all that we are still waiting for someone to show us blue grass that is actually blue. AAA One of the changes that a visitor quickly senses is the syndication of stallions that has taken place in the last decade or so. While there were some syndications of stallions in England and this country in earlier years, it is surprising how many horses, including those imported by our own breeders, who are now the property of groups. While discussing this situation with Howard Reineman a few days back he told us he had shares in 18 prominent sires, the list including Alibhai, Royal Gem II., Heliopolis, Roman, Goya II., Big Dipper, who is making his first season at Henry H. Knights Almahurst Farm, and also Royal Charger, who will be at Spendthrift Farm along with Norseman some time around July 1. When we asked Reineman why he took shares in so many stallions he answered. "It is about the quickest and best way to obtain services. In this way I can get a wide assortment of sires and this is especially valuable as we plan to breed for the market." Syndication does present a problem to the small breeder, who is not a member of the syndicate, as only a few services are sold beyond the membership, and according to some of the breeders we have talked to here, the outside services are usually available only to those owning a top broodmare.
