THE WAR HORSE

Marlborough Express, Volume LIII, Issue 167, 16 July 1919, Page 3

THE WAR HORSE

THOROUGHBRED THE BEST.

Tho following is an extract from the address delivered by Sir" George Clifford to the Racing Conference: — "It's" (the sport's) "importance fi-om a military point of view has L'oeji convincingly shown in France, in Palestine, and in Mesopotamia recently, as it was in the Boer war of an earlier date. An expert of experience in the remount department tells ns that, in spite of a previous prejudice, ho now knows that it would be p. military blunder of tho most serious sort to in any way interfere with the production of thoroughbreds. He adds that the life of the unwounded thoroughbred in Francs was from 22 to 2o days, of the threequarterbred about" 19 days, of the half bred 16 to 17 \days, of the trotting stock 12 to 14 days, and of what he calls the cold blood, o to 7 days; but that the trotter no more compared with the thoroughbred, the threequarterbrod and the halfbred as regards toughness of fibre and general serviceability than he does with a steam-engine. I need not enlarge further upon the importance of the pure blood, except to assert that _it results and will continue to be maintained from the searching tests of the racecourse, and the training track. New Zealand has clear advantages in breeding horses of the best stamp with the desired bone and • vascular development for army requirements, and we may point to the proportionate successes on the Australian turf over a long period of horses, either bred here or descended from stallions and mares exported hence, as proof of the adaptability of our soil and climate for tho improvement of the breed."