Sporting and Dramatic Review and LICENSED VICTUALLERS’ Gazette WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD Thursday, September 20, 1900

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XI, Issue 529, 20 September 1900, Page 10

Sporting and Dramatic Review and LICENSED VICTUALLERS’ Gazette WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE WEEKLY STANDARD Thursday, September 20, 1900

A wjbiteb in an English contem STAYING p° rftr y askß the q u ®<» tion how QUESTION, have Australian breeders preserved the secret of producing sound, enduring, and improving horses, while we, in a large measure, have lost it ? He then goes on to say It may be said that we have been burning the ; candle at both ends, by early forcing of our stock, rich stakes for two-year-olds, and a plethora of short-distance scrambles, but this hardly accounts for the phenomenon. Both Merman and Maluma ran as two-year-olds in Australia j the latter made her fame there as a sprinter pure and simple, while the former never took part in a race of a greater distance than 1J miles, and one of his last victories before leaving for England was over s£ M furlongs. No doubt the starting*) machine has proved a great boon to Australasian bloodstock, for under the old flag system an immense amount of damage is done both to lega and tempers ; ’ but there : must be some. more definite cause than any of those suggested for the abnormal soundness of the “ Walers.” It is not

, because, as some think, they are left to rough it in their young days. On the contrary, very many •re got up for sale as yearlings, and among sale yearlings I call to mind Carbine, Newhaven, and Ji? Merman himself, while Mr Thomas Morrin in New Zealand sells every year an extraordinary proportion of future high-class winners. There can hardly be a doubt that the climate and soil are alike favourable to horse breeding, and in particular good legs and extraordinary good feet are developed there, while wind infirmity is almost unknown. Much, however, of the merit of the present-day ** Walers ” must be due to thp policy of those breeders who imported such ever* - lasting stayers and bardy horses as Fisherman, Tim Whiffler, The Marquis, Musket and others. Earlier, Cap-a-pie, by The Colonel, Whisker’s beet son, and Rous’ Emigrant had set up an indomitable stock, which Patron and Merman splendidly represent in thia country now, and all the while up to the present day, interest in longdistance racing has been fully maintained in Australia. It is only within the last few year® that they have begun to introduce more flashy blood, which may, of course, be usefnl as a blend if not used too much. As things stand, they have, through a policy of breeding from stayers, •nd extra sound ones at that, produced a branch of the British thoroughbred which is the soundest •nd most enduring in the world, and must clearly . be of almost inestimable value for fortifying our home stock. Continental breeders are fully alive to this truth, and mares were sent from Russia, Germany, and Austria this season to all the Australian sires now in England. An instance of normal development in an Australian thoroughbred may be given in the case of La Carabine (by Carbine). She is six years old by this time, but until the last Australian season never won but one race, and that of no account. She is now» however, the admittedly best mare in Australia, and has beaten the best weight for age form there.