ROYAL SPORTSMAN.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 3720, 4 January 1913, Page 4

ROYAL SPORTSMAN.

KING AND THE TUI! I-

“Vigilant,” writing in the London ‘(Sportsman” of October 27, says:

The announcement, on sure authority, that the King has no intention to retire from the turf or from blooa stock breeding lias been received with lively satisfaction by all who are interested in sport and in the welfare of the British thoroughbred, more especially as the future of our horse supply for army purposes depends so largely on the continuance of highclass racing. For some time past there have been circulated baseless rumors of various sorts about the royal stud and stable. Several times we have been assured that Lord Marcus Beresford is vacating his post in this connection, and there lias never been any scintilla of truth in the statements, or the slightest trace of a reason which might justify even the imagining of such a contingency. The card as to Lord Marcus having been effectually quashed, we have next been treated to this still grosser outrage on truth concerning His Majesty’s own intentions, and one can only assume that the publishers of this fabricated gossip are such vindictive foes to our national sport that they wish by any means, fair or foul, to detach from it His Majesty’s support. It is easy to demonstrate that the influence of His Majesty on the turf is of an incalculable benefit, for all concerned in the rmanagemont of racing do their uttermost to keep the turf worthy of His Majesty’s support, and thus a higher standard is obtained than would otherwise be reached. The stewards of the Jockey Club are unceasing in their efforts to raise the tone of racing all round, and in a large measure they succeed and are succeeding. Thus the British thoroughbred flourishes and will flourish, to the great advantage of our country;» whereas in the United States, where racing has practically gone under for lack of sufficient moral control, the horse-breeding industry is in a state of collapse, and a man like Mr. J. B. Haggin, who used to own over 700 brood mares, now does not own 50, while many of the other largest breeders have sold off altogether. The consequence is that American blood stock has been diminished by at least two-thirds, and will continue to diminish unless racing is again facilitated, as to which there seems. to he no likelihood at present. The inevitable result of this is that there will soon be a. shortage of army remount's in America, where, during the Boer "War, it was nossible to buy many surplusones for this country. There is no European nation of any importance that has not long ago realised the necessity of racing for the maintenance of‘the breed of light horses", and our King, in personallv identifying himself with the turf, does, a great national service, while at the same time assisting most ■powerfully to elevate and to refine its atmosphere.