THE OLD STOCK AND THE NEW.

Otago Witness, Issue 2430, 10 October 1900, Page 40

THE OLD STOCK AND THE NEW.

' "'Sceptic" thus writes to a Sydney exchange : Of late opinions have been expressed through the press, metropolitan and provincial, as to whether or not horse-racing as at present pursued is conducive to the improvement of the breeding of horses in this colony. Many men of the old school who have hod wide experience in horseflesh maintain tnat present-day racing is fast deteriorating the well-earned high reputation the "Waler ha* obtained in i-iiiiary circles, and generally as a hunter, carriage, or buggy horse, roadster or useful hack. Stoutness and stamina have been sacrificed for flash-in-the-pan speed, and in appearance small-boned, wasty weeds, overweighted over a distance with a "parcel post stamp" on their backs. Just about 50 years u.<*a the first champion race- in Australia •was contested at Fleming ton (Vie). TTie dis-tance-was three miles, weight for age, the time expended in comparing the journey being smin 57aec. In "62 Talleyrand, a horse the progeny of Reynolds's old Cossack, won the same race against a rield of 11 in 6aiin and a co-jple of seconds, carrying 9.12. The same Talleyrand was also ca.pable of carrying a 12.0 man, swag and saddle, a long journey along a, road. Little Dick Snell rode him his first race; that was at Maitland, on the old racecourse in Billy Nicholson's paddock. Isaac .Gorrick owned mm, and Mat Scott trained iim — all three gone to the unknown land. On that occasion Talleyrand, who was only just .broken in and quite green, was beaten by Electricity, owned by that good old sport, Dr 'We^t. Two yeais afterwards Johnny Keighran won' the event with just such a horse, Mormon, a son of Premier, that was for a long time the property of M'Knight, "Wright, and Irvine,,. in the Port Fairy district. Premier, judging by the grand stamp of hacks and stock horses he begat, left an indelible mark in that and the £.iirroun<.ii.iig district?. A Premier five-year-old gelding that could gallon quicker than the ordinary run of horses carried me through a big muster at the iail end of a mob of "fata" to G-eelong, and then back to the station on the Eumeralla in four days. After a few days' spell, I rode him 20 miles to the Grange — Hamilton — in the afternoon, and won the bigest prize at the annual race meeting. In '66 Tarragon and Volunteer dead-heated -for the "big event, the iormer carrying 9.13, and cutting out the distance in smin 4-7 see. Either of those 'horses were fit for hacks, chargers, stock hor.-,ei, or carriage horses up to any-TEasorable weight. Travelling over to Tasmania, from which little island Borne of the 'best thoroughbred horses and mares ever imported -into this colony have been drawn, we find in three successive yearj three-mile "weight-fer-age champion races won by such grand specimens of the thoroughbred horse as Strop, Fishhook, and Fireworks. Can any Hires equals for stamina and appearance be found in any of the colonies to-day? For horses of something of a similar stamp — very hard to find now — take the winners of the Queen's Plate from '66 to '78. If one cannot see them it does his heart good to talk about them. They were in every sense grand specimens of the thoroughbred liorse, useful for any purpose, even to pull, a dray "with ~ .on on it — Cossack (the good, grand horse, fall of quality), Fishhook (a model), Tim Whiffler (all steel), The Barb (able to carry a ton and race for a week, and buck for a month), Hamlet (a noble animal), Dag worth (the bast horse ever De Mestre owned), Lurline (such a mare - gone out of print), Robinson Crusoe, Robin Hood, and Chester (the best stallion — bar his ' father — the eolonv has ever held). Racing men of the old schol will remember that some of the a~bove figured as winners of the subsequent Cups. The Sydney Cup was won by Yattendon, the best of Sir Hercules' s many good sons. By-the-way, can anyone point to an imported stallion of recent years that will ever leave such a golden stamp on the breed of the horses in the colony as he has done? "When Yattendon won the Cup he carried 8.4, and did the journey in 3min 43see. A similar weight on three-fourths of the so-called racehorses tb-day would be termed cruelty to animals. Any horse of .merit must be crushed with weight to bring him down to the level of a brumby which, for useful purposes, is not worth the oats he eats. Just turn over the leaves of a stud book 'and reckon up the number of Goldsbroughs that have come to the front and are still coming. Yet it is said recent importations are improving the breed of our horses. Fudge; the" old strain is that which tells ; without that we only get weedy sprinters — gambling machines.