THOROUGHBRED VERSUS TROTTER.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume II, Issue 54, 6 August 1891, Page 4

THOROUGHBRED VERSUS TROTTER.

The value of the trotting bred horse has been constantly on the increase until now. The breeding business is a vast interest to which unlimited capital is devoted. That the trotter should be in America a more valued breed than his brother aristocrat, the thoroughbred, is natural. If the thoroughbred racehorse fails to develope the speed, stamina, and disposition necessary to success on the turf, he is almost worthless. He is a good racing machine or he is nothing. But on the other hand, the trotter, even if he lacks the capacities to success on the turf, is still, if bred wisely, valuable'. For the family carriage, or the park, his versatile gifts make him profitable, even though he fails on the turf. Very seldom has a better test of the relative value of trotting and running (or throughbred) horses been offered than in October, 1886, when two great breeding studs, one of the thoroughbred and the other of trotting horses, were dispersed under the hammer. At Louisville. Kentucky, the late J. C. McFerran had founded and established the Greenview Stud, which rose to the front* rank as a nursery for trotters. At Johnstown, New Jersey, Mr. P. Lorillard’s Rancocas Stud of thoroughbreds, the choicest in the land, is situated. Dispersal sales were held of these famous collections within a few days of each other, and the following averages were realised : — Rancocas Thoroughbreds. Average for stallions .. .. .. .. §6,390.00 Average for brood mares .. . • .. 1,422.27 Grand average for stallions and brood mares Glenview Trotters. Average for stallions .. .. .. .. §12,780.00 Average for brood mares .. .. .. 1,678.00 Grand average for stallions and brood mares §2,238.75 This was a fair test in 1886, but it does not represent the monetary supremacy of the trotter now, for it is an absolutely safe assertion to make that the value of choice trotting blood has increased 25 per cent, in the past three years. A trotting stallion, Axtoll, was sold for 103,000 dol., Bell Boy sold at auction - for 51,000 dol., and Stamboul at private sale for 50,000 dol. These prices for trotting stallions represent the highest values ever reached by horses of any type in America.— Communicated.