COLONIAL BRED SIRES

Taranaki Daily News, 16 January 1931, Page 4

COLONIAL BRED SIRES

GIVE THEM THEIR CHANCE •' VALUABLE HORSES WASTED. CLAIMS SHOULD BE RECOGNISED. SUCCESSES' WARRANT ATTENTION. The dictates of fashion are as rigorously followed in the matter of breeding thoroughbred racehorses as in autumn costumings, and so the colonial-bred sires do not receive the recognition worthy of their stout breeding and splendid environment. The principle is largely wrong, and the sooner breeders awaken to the possibilities of colonial horses the better it will be for breeding in New Zealand. Australia and New Zealahd are indebted ■to England for the standard of -thoroughbred that has been reached through years: of careful selection and •breeding, which combined with particularly suitable country and grass for the breeding industry, has produced a splendid, sound-constitutioned type. But surely it is now time breeders began to recognise the fact that colonial-bred sires were nearly, if not quite equal to the importations, and, arriving at this conclusion, to give the colonial -ibred stock better chances to prove their value. 1 .

Colonial-bred sires have proved their worth on the-. race Track, shown themselves generally to be well-mannered, and have been: retired to the stud sound in litn’b and wind. -Service fees are’reasdnably low, but, no, owners of good mares give them the go-by and prefer to pay high, service: fees for imported sires, though they may have been lightly considered in their own land. The colonial-bred sire then gets the rubbish —over-raced and mongrel-bred mares—and shines in spite of all. The attitude adopted by New Zealand breeders for the most part is entirely wrong, and the repeated successes of Australasian-bred stock in. the face of limited opportunities warrants their immediate attention. To a certain degree imported sires will continue -to improve the standard attained, but : to entirely neglect the colonial stock, is -tantamount ■to an admission of defeat by . colonial' 'breeders, who x are plainly leaving the impression- that- they cannot breed racehorses equal to English ■ stock. ‘ The recent ■ holiday-■ carnivals have forcibly ■ shown that colonial-bred sires are 1 being -wasted: ■ Karapoti won the King’s Plate anff Great Northern Derby from the best weight-for-age -performers in the Dominion. . Acre was the most successful colonial-bred sire and was .represented by nine of 12 races. They wete Bayacre, Consent, King Acre (3),' Grand Acre (2),- Easterly, Lady Rene,-Cadland, Ruthen and Green Patch. Other successful sires- were- Thespian (Habit.- -twice,- • Arigus); • -Winning Hit ’(Bail Dress Thomond '(Lord- Thbmdnd twice), Raceful (Tradesman twice), Illumination (Easter Time twice), Anomaly (Master Anomaly, Compensation), Gasbag (Auctioneer twice); Siitala • (Cough, Raineses), Autumnus. (Footfall), Autumn (Whakaari), Hymestra (Shortly), Warplane (Avro), Boniform' (Fe)ohy), Nigger Minstrel (Tar Bfiby), 'Surveyor (Rotation), "Songbird (Meadow Lark), Humbug (Crunchen)), Rangitero (Evening Hero), and a. large number-of minor placings. The. fact that the colonial-bred . . horses are able to sire the champion three-year-old of the season and good performers, of. the class of Bay- . acre, Consent, Meadow Lark, Compensation, Habit,, Easter Time and Lord Thomond among these winners emphasises the fact that these stallions are not leaving third-rate stock. . Furthermore, they are consistently leaving winners in spite of their big handicap. In the past decade the records of classics and big handicaps showed that the colonial-bred sires could hold their own. Boniform left winners of the Auckland Cup (Malaga and Scion), New Zealand Cup (Scion), Great Northern Oaks ('Bonny Doreen), Winter Cup ('Bon Spec); Autilmnuk has given the . Turf winners of the Great Northern Derby (Royal Stag, Winning Hit), New Zealand Derby (Winning Hit), New Zealand Oaks (Enthusiasm), Stead Cup (Winning Hit); Wellington Cup' (Enthusiasm); General Latour sired the dual Auckland Cup winner Te Kara, who also took the Cup and the champion three-year-old Karapoti; Campfire sired Muraahi (Auckland, Egmont and Wanganui Cups and an earlier winner of the Auckland Cup in Dcpredatioii), Yoma (Taranaki twice and Egmont Cups). And these are but a few of the successes that have come their way. Acre has been a prolific sire in the past six seasons and few of his progeny have failed to win races. Stakes amounting to £41,618 (exclusive or Australian and this season’s winners) have _ been credited to him, and it is doubtful if half a dozen well-bred mares have been his consorts. Yet he is represented by Consent (a classic and handicap winner), First Acre (a winner over all distances to twelve furlongs), Bayacre and other good, quality performers. Bisogne (now dead) left few bad ones during his short career; Warplane sired the Great Northern Derby-.winner Red Heckle and other good sorts; Gasbag, Autumn, Sutala,' Songbird, Royal Stag, All Red, Potoa, Antagonist, Kilboy, Elysian, Hymestra, Lord Multifid, Maniapoto, Advance, Manchineel, St. Amans, Fofmby, King Lupin, Husbandman, Danube, Achilles, Beragoon, Strowan, ‘San Fran, . Seaton Delaval and others have all given New Zealand and Australia horses for every requirement—great sprinters and stayers, sires, brood mares, hurdlers and steeplechasers. But it is certain that they would have won wider renown had their claims been recognised in time.' The cause of coloiiial-bred eiree cau -be pleaded to further, length but why spend thousands of pounds aiinuajly on .iniporfatjons when the fight type of sire can be bred in the Dominion? It will suffice' to say—-give -them their chancel.