A WORD ABOUT CULLS

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 34, 9 August 1934, Page 10

A WORD ABOUT CULLS

Horses who are termed culls from the Old Country may be railed against, but the Stud Book shows that some horses who were dnbbed as such put up remarkable records, much to the discomfiture of their critics (writes "Phaeton"). The mighty Musket would not, perhaps, have been summed up as a cull, but it is a -historic fact that he was bought for export/to-New Zealand to.be used ostensibly as a sire to beget carriage horses, and the sum involved in his purchase was ouly-550 guineas. That is the little history attached to a. sire that travelled from the northern, to ■ the southern hemisphere and who-was destined to found a great line and to claim the parentage of one of the greatest racehorses who has graced the Then take the case of Soult. Certainty the son of St. Simon did not .impress when he came to New Zealand;.-indeed, not a few condemned him straight away. No one in the Dominion requires to bo told the position to which Soult advanced when he got a proper chance, which, it has to be stated, was not until several years after his importation from England. Soult was bought in the Old Country for a small sum, and" the records show that ;his progeny captured prize-money to- the amount of £MO,OOO. . Lucullus, who proved a marked stud success iv Auckland, wus bought in England for the paltry- sum of 25 guineas', and''his' progeny won over £100,000 in stakes. The culls may be, flouted, but, all the same, great prizes are at times to be found oven within their ranks.