HORSE RACING IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23318, 2 May 1941, Page 11

HORSE RACING IN BRITAIN

Sport Versus Food CONTROVERSY. IN NEWSPAPERS (F.0.0.C.) LONDON. March 24. With the approach of the flat race season in Britain, racehorses have naturally been in the news,, but Jhe news has not been merely the usual facts about form and the prospects. Several people with mathematical minds suddenly discovered that there are at the moment 2300 horses m training: And the calculations began from there. Here is the result of one. A total pi 2300 horses eat a daily ration of 151b of oats edch; but if there were no racehorses in training, poultry farmers could increase the number of hen- ana provide nearly 20,000,000 more eggs a year for the nation. Then began the controversy of Why racing?” Correspondence to the newspapers boomed. Letter writers hit the nail on the .head"-to their own satisfaction and from their own Bp 1 * 1 * of view. The queries spread to WW greyhounds?” and "Why foxhounds? Briefly, this is how the case was made out for and against racing. Those in favour stated that In her bloodstock Britain has a valuable Industry. Breeders brought £750,000 a year in cash to the country by the export of livestock in peace time, when the racing industry was said to be valued at £100,000,000 a year. Sine® the war they had brought in valuable dollars by the sale, for instance, of the Agar Khan’s three Derby winners— Blenheim, Bahrain, and Mahmoud—which were Sold to Americans. Other points were that to abandon all racing and do away with valuable race horses would be foolish ana short-sighted. Moreover, some form of relaxation is necessary in war time, arid hbrse racing fulfils a definite The arguments against racing took the’ line that valuable feeding stuffs could be put to better use than to keep race horses In the pink of condition for the benefit of racegoers and bookmakers. Race meetings used up petrol and strained transport. The mathematical mind showed that one day’s ration for a horse kept one hen for seven weeks, in which 24 eggs could be produced, and Was enough food to produce a 31b table chicken. Generally speaking, the 1 view was adopted that what has to be preserved during war time is not racing, but bloodstock, and that from this point of view it was certainly worth struggling to keep a limited number of classic races in being. It was felt that the number of race horses in training could be reduced to at least the figure of the last war—l2oo. As for the greyhounds and foxhounds, it was stated that there are 6000 and 4000 respectively In Britain. Figures were produced to chow that the food used to keep the greyhounds—--1.642,0001b. a year—would provide rations for'lßoo pigs and supply the nation with 180,OODlb of bacon, assuming they were all killed. The food eaten by 4000 foxhounds, it was estimated, would keep ISOO plgs. giving the best part of 1,500,0001b of bacon a year. ■