view raw text
__ ■ c ► — Blue Grass i Report By HUGH J. McGUIRE Prejudice Against First Foals Unfair Survey Shows Them Quite an Asset Lookers Swarming to Spendthrift LEXINGTON, Ky., May 26.— By the very nature of the breeding industry it is a constant operation with periods of stress upon upon particular particular phases. phases. __ p j f j c c 1 t i s t t upon upon particular particular phases. phases. Just now the overlapping transition in peak interest is being made from the arrival of foals and the matings of their dams to the coming sale of yearlings. To the man who breeds thoroughbreds for the market, the sale of his products ends the cycle of operations ations although although his his in- t t i a i l i i i i 1 i i ] , ations although although his his in- interest is carried along to the performance on the tracks of the horses he has bred. As long as there are thoroughbreds there will be accolades and prejudices for and against certain breeding patterns and for many years three particular, erroneous whims persisted in the reluctance to accept grays, the stigma of four white stockings and first foals of their dams. Recent racing events have thoroughly dissipated the antipathy toward grays and no critical, expert buyers will refuse a yearling solely because he has four white feet. But there stil remains in some quarters an unwarranted hesitancy to purchase first foals although the evidence in their favor would appear to far outweigh the myth that has persisted against them. A few years ago, Virginia breeder Sandy Baldwin straightened out our thinking rather thoroughly on this subject in a letter in which he gave many examples of first foals who had achieved major success on the tracks. As recalled, the ratio of successes was even more pronounced in first colt foals than in fillies, which is understandable, but the overall picture was enlightening. Recently, in an article in the Thoroughbred of California, Kent Cochran, using the statistical edition of the Thoroughbred Record for his survey, concluded that being a first foal was more likely to be an asset than a detriment. Taking the total of 322 dams of stakes winners listed, Cochran found that "the count showed that 150 first foals were winners and an additional 66 were stakes winners, for a total of 216. Twenty-nine of the firstborn were unraced, 32 were non-winners, 14 died before attaining racing age, there were two sets of twins, and 24 of the dams were barren the first year they were bred." Eliminating the barren males, this is quite a record. There was some official reason for the prejudice against first foals in that for many years in England, such foals were given an allowance of three pounds in futurities and in the scale of weights. This allowance even extended to the first crop of stallions. First foals proved the allowances to be inequitable and they have long since been abandoned. In England, such famous horses as Tulyar, Mahmoud and Migoli were first foals. A partial list of first foals in recent American racing named by Cochran from his survey includes Post Card, Bryan G., Sickles Image, Better Self, By-meabond, Tahitian King, Three Rings, Blue Pair, Star Border, Seasons Best, Aunt Jinny, Radiant Glory, Bed o Roses, Grantor, Gustaf, Athenia, the International winner, Wilwyn, and many more. Bill Evans, general manager of the Breeders Sales Company, tells us that no discrimination is made against first or second foals when determining eligibles for the sale of selected yearlings by his company at Keeneland, and many such youngsters have gone through the ring there. Because their age precludes such yearlings from boasting of kinship to racing greats other than their forebears, prices for the first-born are generally lower than those secured for yearlings with more imposing family trees. In view of the exceptionally large number of stakes winners among first foals in Cochrans survey, it could well be that, as a class, first and second foals are on the counter for genuine bargains. Certainly the prejudice against them, where it still exists, has little basis in fact. Blades of Blue Grass: Leslie Combs II. reports more "lookers" at the sales yearlings at Spendthrift than ever before in the history of the farm. This is not too surprising as the estimable group includes a gray colt by Mahmoud — Gallawood, a bay by War Continued on Page Forty Blue Grass Report Continued from Page Two Admiral — Distaff, a bay filly by Mahmoud — Durazna and a brother to Solidarity who has the west coasters interested . . Col. Phil T. Chinn shipped the two-year-olds Carona, Gold Money, Faithful One, Wood Thrush and Why Hurry to Clarence Buxton at Jamaica. Carona was a very convincing winner at Keeneland where Chinn now has a dozen two- and three-year-olds in training in addition to 15 training over the sod . . . John T. Ward has been engaged to collaborate with Bob Frakes on the physical inspection of yearlings who aspire to make the grade at the Keeneland sale of selected yearlings. For many years, Wards specialty has been the handling of yearlings and his appointment has been well received.
