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Blue Grass Memos By HUGH J McGUIRE Acute Shortage of Farm Foremen Colleges Hold Partial Solution Beard Likes Foals at Greentree GreentreeLEXINGTON LEXINGTON Ky June 6 When An ¬ drew J Curd resigned his position as fore ¬ man of the Jonabell Stables to take over cne operation or 1 farm of an uncle at Wilmore Ky John A Bell HE found himself in the unhappy posi ¬ tion of looking for something that is in very short supply Ca ¬ pable experienced fore ¬ men for horse farms simply are not avail ¬ able Young men are going to the armed services or avoiding farm life and there are no recruits to learn the business Of the few older men who are available some Have been bandied from one farm to another or have become set in one method of operation which is not always acceptable at another farm In desperation Bell sought out Dr F E Hull head of the department of animal pathol ¬ ogy at the University of Kentucky to whom most breeders in this area at some time or another carry their woes woesDr Dr Hull referred Bell to Dr L J Hor lacher dean of the school of agriculture who suggested that Bell take a graduate from the school and teach him the busi ¬ ness From a number of replies to a notice on the universitys bulletin board Bell selected Carroll Tichenor a young man from a farm in western Kentucky who had majored in agriculture but was a raw recruit with thoroughbreds The association has worked out very satis ¬ factorily factorilyBell Bell learned later that Clarkson Beard manager at Greentree Farm some months previous had obtained Gail Hughes from the university under similar conditions Hughes now is assistant foreman with the horses Beard said We have just got to train men There is no other source of supply anymore The young men from the university appear to be the best prospects Beard suggested also that the practice could be used by racing stables to ease the problem of help and give the young men an opportunity to learn the training pro ¬ fession fessionIn In the absence of Dr Horlacher who is in Iran and Dr Hull who was out of town we spoke to Dr Dewey Steele asso ¬ ciate dean and geneticist Dr Steele gave us instances of other graduates who had gone to horse farms He said that the staff cooperated with both the student and the farm owner and pointed out that while the boys may not know much about thoroughbreds they have com ¬ pleted courses in animal breeding nutri ¬ tion crops accounting and management They dont expect to be hired only to do manual labor Teaching thoroughbred procedure to these young men could be at least a partial solution to a problem that faces many breeders breedersBlades Blades of Blue Grass Charles Nuchols tells us that Hal C Ramser of California is disposing of his thoroughbred holdings and that he and his brothers bought for their Hurstland Farm two mares and two yearlings from Ramser One matron is the Bull Lea mare Starlit who has a colt foal by I Will and who will be returned to Cosmic Bomb The other mare is Evapo ¬ rate by Precipitation She was barren and is being mated with I Will Evaporate is a halfsister of Hastra for whom Joe W Brown paid 30000 from the consignment of The Aga Khan at the Keeneland Sales last fall One of the yearlings is a colt by I Will Starlit and this youngster is in the summer sales along with 16 others from Hurstland The other yearling is a filly by I Will Lady Swift by Count Fleet Lady Swift is a halfsister to Dispose Ramser also is selling his interest in I Will who stands at Hurstland Nuckols was instrumental in selling shares in this stallion to E K Thomas Jack Denis and Warner L Jones JonesMiss Miss Mildred Woblwine of White Oaks Farm has decided to break and race in 1954 her now yearling fillies by Ardan War Flower and by Bernborough Fair day The War Flower filly is a halfsister to Ace Admiral and the Fairday filly is a halfsister to Inseparable and Triplicate After being tried on the tracks the fillies will be valuable additions to the brood ¬ mare band at White Oaks Farm man manContinued Continued on Page FortyFive Blue Grass Memos Continued from Page Two Twoager ager Howard Endicott stated that no one has been selected as yet to break or train the fillies Leslie Combs n of Spend ¬ thrift Farm is accompanied by Baron Fred DOsten on his current trip to Del ¬ aware and Belmont Parks County Delight who is making his first season this year already has a full book for 1954 John A Bell HI who stands him reports that 10 mares in his first book already have been pronounced in foal foalClarkson Clarkson Beard is quite taken with a number of the 14 colt and nine filly foals at Greentree Farm Among the colts he is particularly impressed with sons of Nirgal Shut Out Heliopolis and the two English stallions Abernant and Migoli The dams of the colts by the Englishmen were im ¬ ported to the farm The Shut colt is a brotherinblood to Hall Of Fame and is from Belle Of Troy a sister to Big Event Beard selects as very nice individuals i fillies by Mahmound Tangled Bimelech Expression and Shut Out Aching Back The current trip of Arthur B Hancock Jr to New York is scheduled to include discussion with Harry Guggenheim con ¬ cerning the future at stud of Dark Star
