NOTES FROM ELLERSLIE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19221, 9 January 1926, Page 13

NOTES FROM ELLERSLIE.

GOSSIP OF THE TRACKS. BY ARCHER. Tactician failed at Ellerslie. but he will shino again when Jkho class is not so He camo through his racing well and is beinT kept going in view of coming meetings. It is more than likely that his next appearance will be at Rotorua. Tho four-year-old gelding by P ay Comet from Red Pine that is being trained by O. Hodder hnfl improved considerably m appearance in recent months. This iel ov? is not being hurried, but may be very useful later on. for he belongs to a family that has had somo good performers in recent years. One of the most improved horses round these parts is Transformer, who ran a couple of slashing races at Elleralie. poor showing on the final daj' may be attributed to the fact that ho was feeling the effects of hi" earlier efforts at tho When freshened up again Transfonner will be a forco to bo reckoned with in big handicaps. The two-year-old Nassock has grown and furnished a good deal since the spring. Nassock raced twice in November, but n the interim has been allowed to take matters rather easily, although-he ha 3 been working regularly. Early in tho season he showed some speed, arid he is bred the right way to come good, being by Nassau from Cassock. That v.seful performer Passionate is among the rsnular workers at Ellerslie and is coming on again nicely. The Bpell he had recently did him an immense amount of good, and he is carrying a very bright appearance. The Quin Abbey gelding that is being trained by A. Robertson at Ellerslie is making steady progress. For one that bad dono very little racing Mask ran vor.v creditably at Ellerslie, where he finished close behind tho placed horses in both tho Queen's Plate and in the Great Northern Derby. Mask has plenty of size and shaped like a stayer. Ho p.hould go on improving and may be worth keeping in mind for Trentham. where he is nicely placed in a class that should suit him. Most of Ladv Ridicule's recent racing has been done over seven furlongs or a mile. It is some time since we saw her in a sixfurlong: event, but sh'e is in with the sprinters in the Telegraph Handicap at Trentham. Lady Ridicule is beginning as well as ever, and, bging in her best form at present, she may be depended upon to race well if sho goes south. Tall Timber performed well at Ellerslie and should render a good account of himself at Foxton. where tho class will not bo too strong. It is in his favour that he ifl improving all tho while, and will probably bo a better horse for his recent racing. The two-yoar-old Odin (by Valkyrian— Koura) has ioined N. Cunningham's team. Odin hiia for somo lime been a member of J. Williamson's string. It is the intention of C. Brown to rido at the Wellington summer meeting, where he will probably steer Mr, C. Elgar's pair Lucky Days and Agitato. R. KTcTavish has been engaged to ride Miss Vera, Archeen, Manganiko and Flying Juliet at the Thames meeting. STUD NOTES. INTERESTING QUESTIONS. Dr. Stewart McKay, of the New South Wales University, is a man who has devoted much thought to the thoroughbred family. Ho recently set out on an inquiry as to the treatment and feeding of mares and as to the relative dualities of grasses. " G.rowth of the young horse is determined by two factors, One of them ia the "growth impulse.'' which is inborn, and represents the power to grow possessed by individuals of any particular species. The growth im* pulso is the internal the second factor is tho external factor, and is to be regarded as the summation of sill the external factors that influence growth, arrtontf which are food and' climate. It has been' stated that there is not sufficient nourishment in Australian native pastures to meet tho demands of horse-breeding. F6r instance, there is the known deficiency of ITlne in tho coastal regions of New South Wales, 4Dd tho grass is said to be deficient in phosphoric acid. If these facts be true, it ia impossible to raise horses unless they have extta feed, such as lucerne, oats, eto. " It has been suggested that the grass .in. New Zealand is better th&n the grass, here, hence the apparent superiority of tho New Zealand horse—at times. Would it be An advantage to send a mare to New Zealfchcl when pregnant and allow the foal to remain there, say. for 18 months? If the mate i» not sent. Would it be any advantage to send a foal. say. 12 months old, and allpw it to remain in New Zealand Until it wAfc two years' old? As I have stated above, this object of these questions is to try to throw some light on the influence of food on tho mare and the foal. If it is true that our New South Wales grasses are deficient in certain essentials then, no matter how well bred tho foal is. he will suffer during tho first two years of his life, for he may suffer while still being carried or suckled by his mother, or when weaned. Hence the importance of extra food. Just as a child, born of cood. strong parents, may groW up a weed if fed on condensed milk, so niay tho best-bred foal turn out to be a horßa deficient in bone and all the essentials that go to make up an animal of stamina. Tho importance of all this is that tho evolution of the modern hordd has given us an animal with wonderful pace, but deficient in stamina; hence the long-distance weight-for-age horse has almost ceased to exist, and only 3 to K per cent, of our horses are fit for remount purposes. It is possible that the wrong, the imperfect, feeding of our mares and foals is a very important factor in the decrease of stamina whidh is bo obvious in the racehorses of the present Dr. McKay concludes., his letter, to the Australasian thuß:—"Since drawing up these questions I have had the good fortune to discuss this subject with Mr. Leslie Macdona Id and R. J. Mason, and they were both emphatic on the point that natural grass is COLOUR IN HORSES. There has been an interesting discussion m the English press recently about the colour of racehorses. Ono correspondent pointed Out that amone the classic winners the bavs are increasing their avetage as against chestnuts and browns. Another correspondent. " Grev Momus," fallowed up that letter with another, in which he wrote: " Concerning browns, however, I an inclined to think that the description ' bay* is nowadays applied to almost any horse which dues not merge toward black, while many horses undoubtedly black are described as 'brown.' Tho jet black seen in some breeds does not appear among thorouphbredo —perhaps this is the reason. FormeHy the shade of the muzzle was taken to decide a doubtful case. This rule would fix Papyrus and Torelere as blacks (to name two instances which come to mind),. whilo examples of bayß which might with justice be classed as ' browns' are legion. _No doubt tho difficulty arises through the official description being given when tho animal is a foal, but there is no reason why a Correction should not bo allowed at two years old. With regard to greys, tho extraordinary thing really is that they have not been bred right out, Is it not the fact that all existing thoroughbred greys of note get their huo from either Le Sancy or Grey - Leg; and that these two derive it from a common ancestor? It would bo interesting if 'Jay Gee' or some other enthusiast would snow the ance'try of these horses from one groy ! to another back to source. As far as I know, neither has both a erev sire and dam in their pedigree to strengthen their prepotency. In this connection it will he interesting to see whether Filibert de Safoie -in-bred to Le Sancy and with both parents Kro y—vdll have a larger proportion of grey offspring than other grey.horses at stud." Grey hordes are appearing oil Australian courses aenin (remarks "Beacon" in the Melbourne Leader). Menin sired , a few. but tho groat majority of them are by the grey horse Sarchedon. -It is easy enough to traco the thin thread of grey running through his pedigree. His sire,. The Tetrarch. is a grey, and so is his grandsire, Roi Herode. Roi Herode was by the groy La Samaritain. whose sire.. Le Sancy was also a grey. Atlantic, the Sire of Le Sancy, was a chestnut son of' the chestnut Thormahbv. Le - Sancy got his grey coat from his dam. Gem of .a grey fflilfe bv Strathconan. The dam of Gem of Gems was a brown mare. It was through her sire that Gem of Gems got her colour, as she was by the grey .horHO Strathconilin, i son of the bav Newmmster. Strathconan was out of Souvenir, a grey daughter of the °-rey horse Chanticleer. . Chanticleer,was out of the grey mare Whim, by Drone. It was from Drone that Whim got her grey coat as her dam was a bay mare and Drone was a grey. Drone was by the gi-ey Master Robert, whose dam was a grey mare named Spinster, who was bv the bay Bhuttlo from a grey mate by Sir Peter TeaiK The dam of the Sir Peter mare was a grey mare Bab, whose dam was a grey daughter of EclipFO n4mfed Speranza. Speranza got her colour from tier dam. Virago, a srey daughter of Snap, from -a Regulus mare, from i nmro by th 6 grey Crab. • ~