TALK OF THE DAY

Otago Witness, Issue 2675, 21 June 1905, Page 54

TALK OF THE DAY

TWO-YEAR-OLD RACING. If the preservation and development of ;he th sroughbred is, as is generally ciipposed. our turf legislators' supreme care, then the education of restricting the racing

ci two-year-olds, which is to come before the Racing Conference next month, should receive more than passing notice, and it is to be hoped that *hoee who are in favour of allowing no two-year-old racing prior to the Ist of October, will carry their point even if they do not go one better and get it fixed at a later date. There is no doubt that in recent years, owing to high feeding and tho fact that breeders have been devoting most of their attention to tho "'quick and -early" strains rather tLan to the good old-fashioned staying blood, exu* thoroughbreds now mature earlier than what was formerly the ea>=«. This liae been brought about by clubs placing valuable two-year-old races on tbair early spring programmes, consequently breeders followed suit by trying to produos youngsters which could' race at a time wlien if they were allowed to develop at something near thei rate which nature suggest 3 would still be on tha lounging rein. Old-time authorities have eaid that"to ensure high form in the racer and first-rate speed, mild training, but mild training only, cainnot be commenced tco soon." That d-res not mean that they are to be raced all over th-i country when their legs and frame are composed of gristle instead of bone. The whole crux of the question lies in this query: What has tho racing of two-year-olds done to improve the thoroughbred? Anyone who ha>3 studied tha*' question can only answer "Nothing." On the contrary, if the records are studied it will -be found that it has done a great deal of harm, and that the flyers of the turf who gained their honours under silk in tho spring of their i-wvo-year-oid season have invariably a meteoric career, and are but tco rarely found training on soundly into their three and four-year-old seasons ; whilst our ordinary handicappees are mostly composed of horses which were not raced as youngsters, or els© they are generally found to have appeared only at the back end oi their first ;=eaeon. Twc-year-old racing does not wreck or shorten th© careea- of ali our Lorses, but if our principal handicaps were contested by more of the Achilles and Wairiki stamp, something could be honestly said in favour of the quality of cur horses. Many crack two-year-olds finish their first season without showing any great signs of wear and tear, but it is evident that the seeds of trouble have been planted, or we should see more of our Meneohikoffs, Treadmills, Renowns, Royal Artillerys, Silkworms, and Nonette3 training on instead of being ssnt to the stud — not because breeders are very anxious to use them, but because th© galloping and racing they have been subjected to has terniinar-ed their ueefulness as racehorses.