SPORTING NOTES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCIII, Issue 10594, 1 March 1895, Page 2

SPORTING NOTES.

{Caterluury Times.) Nowhere is the science of horse-breed-ing more studied and more criticised—though we cannot yet say more practised—than amongst the beat class of sporting horae<-breeders of the United States. Thera is absent, however, that mature experience which is requisite to prevent mere fads being regarded in the light of principles, and the leading American sporting journal has issued a warning on this point which is quite applicable to other parts of the world. This observant critic, in a contribution to the Spirit of the Times, outlining a theory of breeding racehorses, says that too much attention is paid to blood-lines, and not enough to individuality. “ Even where individuality plays a part, it is, I fear, too often considered nob upon any well-digested plan as to what effects are desired to be brought about in the produce. One particular mare or horse is selected for feet or legs, another for stamina, another for speed, &o. This, to my way of thinking, ia a haphazard system that can never be depended upon to produce satisfactory results. That some plan of scientific breeding,in which the individual shall be the prominent feature, is now sadly needed I think no one will gainsay. Bloodlines have become so widely diversified, and the original families have become so crossed and intermingled through inbreeding, that it is almost impossible to trace exactly the sources from which excellence has bean derived. For instance, how difficult it would be to estimate the exact proportions of Eclipse, Matchem, and Herod blood that may be representsd in a high-class thoroughbred of the present day. And having ascertained this fact, tha further problem confronts one—How shall I breed so as to combine the same bloodlines in exactly the same proportions ? ” Is it not possible,** the critic asks, “ that better results might be obtained if our breeders were to utilise a principle, that, as ia well-known, governs the propagation of species in horticulture ? To express this idea more clearly,—lf a horticulturist desires to develop a new variety of strawberry whose distinguishing feature shall be extreme earliness, be selects to easiness. That is, in the propagation of the new species he carefully weeds out all plants that are not of the accepted type. In like manner if ho desires to develop a new variety of extraordinary size he selects to size. Why would it not be possible to follow out this principle in the breeding of the thoroughbred, and breed to a type within accepted bloodlines ? For instance, suppose that a breeder should select as hia ideal type of what a racehorse should be to combine both speed and stamina, an animal, say, not to exceed fifteen to sixteen hands in height, of good range, deep chested, standing low on tha leg, and with the generally accepted requirements as to quarters, shoulders, feet, legs, &c. The problem then confronting him would be to select representatives of tbis_ type and mate them. Of course, desirable results might not be accomplished in the first crossing, or even in the first two or three crossings, but through constant selection may it not be supposed that in course of time this particular typo of horse would become reasonably well fixed, and that the results of breeding could then be relied upon with a considerable degree of certainty ?” We have never been particularly en-

amoured of the idea of admitting the Press to meetings of stewards to consider questions of alleged fraudulent practices, and the result of the first application of the rule does not make the Dunedin Jockey Club’s new departure any more attractive. We are left as much in the dark as ever as to the reasons which guided the stewards in their decision, while the public respect for the judicial faculty with which stewa&a are supposed to be endowed, must inevitably have suffered. A ‘’want of dignity in conducting the inquiry has been made apparent, and in the public mind a suspicion of unfairness has been created —quite unnecessarily and groundlessly. Itris not to be supposed that any other decision would have been arrived at had the inquiry been conducted with closed doors, whilo much unpleasant feeling would have been avoided. The publication of reports of such meetings is nob privileged, and newspapers dare not publish evidence reflecting upoti any man who is in a position to seek; redress before the Law Courts, consequently the public under tpe new arrangement knows neither more nor less of what transpires than is usually heard when the Press is not admitted.