Only Limited Racing for Regret: James Rowe Will Not Impair Stud Possibilities of Great Mare by Overwork, Daily Racing Form, 1917-09-06

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ONLY LIMITED RACING FOR REGRET James Rowe Will Not Impair Stud Possibilities of Great Mare By Overwork. New York, September 5. James Rowe, trainer of II. P. AVhitneys stable, says that Mr. Whitneys great mare Regret, while she was still in training and about ready to run, she had no engagements of much nccount to meet during the remainder of the present year. In this connection he said: "I have not followed the policy of sending Regret after every race which I thought she had a chance to win, for the reason that I do not wish to injure her constitution with overwork, as I might in the case of an old gelding, who cguld be of no value except for racing purposes. I consider that as good a race mare as Regret has proved herself to be should be a good prospect for a broodmare so long as she is not over worked during her racing career. "I am sure you need not be told of many of the failures great race mares have made after having been retired to the stud, but in most instances, or at least in the most notable of these instances, the mares, after having achieved great things on the turf, were raced too constantly for their own good. Firenze and Miss Woodford were wonderful campaigners and great race mares, but because they were good they were kept at it almost constantly. I believe- their constitutional vigor was sapped by over work while on the turf, and when they were sent to the stud, there was practically nothing left of them. Imp furnishes another case in point. Here was another great mare which was. raced until she had no constitution left with which to go into the stud. HAVE TAKEN GOOD CARE OF REGRET. "As for Regret, I think I have taken pretty good care of her in the hope that she will make a good broodmare after her racing days are over; but even. at that, I know that? I have raced her when she ought to have been in the barn. That is, I know it now, but, of course, I didnt know it when I was sending her to the post and she had no means of telling me. I do not believe that Regret has had racing enough to in any way undermine her constitution and that with her breeding conformation and performances, serve to give what I consider a reasonable hope of seeing her achieve success in the stud." In referring to the part of Elmendorf Farm which Mr. Whitney bought for breeding purposes, Mr. Rowe said: "Mr. Whitney and I looked over that property carefully before he purchased it and I think there is good reason to hope that it will be well adapted to the breeding of horses. There are good barns on the place, but they will need remodeling, for at the time when tho prospect of racing was dark in this country, Mr. Ilaggin converted this particular farm into a cow farm, where he reared his fancy cattle. Of course, these burns must now be converted into horse barns and, as for-the land, I think it will be all the better for having served as a cow farm for a dozen years or more. I may be wrong, but I think it is possible for a horse farm to become worn out for horse production and that a change to cattle production may prove of important service to it. It seems to me that the properties of the soil, which go to the building up of race horses, may differ materially from those required for cow production. In other words, I think a farm may become horse poor after a time and yet be valuable for cattle production. Of course, this is only a theory, but I have held it for some time."


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