THE BRITISH THOROUGHBRED.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XV, Issue 861, 6 September 1906, Page 9

THE BRITISH THOROUGHBRED.

In an interesting article on this subject, the “Sydney Mail” remarks that there is no gainsaying the fact that the British thoroughbred will flourish in any clime, except perhaps, the inhospitable Arctic regions where he has not yet been tried. The Esquimaux is evidently satisfied with a reindeer as a means, of transit, and exhibits no desire for a change. As the British thoroughbred has beaten i+s k’nd at everything except drawing heavy loads —and he can pull more for his weight than a Clydesdale—it is probable that it would beat the reindeer if transplanted to the land of ice. It is a peculiar fact, however, that the thoroughbred horse, though not indigenous to British soil, does better in that country than elsewhere. As the generations go on the descendants of imported stock deteriorate in speed, though in Australia we find the progeny of an English blood horse become sounder in wind and limb, but In a few generations lose many of its characteristics of shape that marked their English ancestors. Such experienced breeders asthe late Hons. E. K. Cox and James White were convinced that the best means of im-

proving their studs was to use an Australian stallion on English mares, or vice versa, holding that the Bri-tish-bred animal was . more highly vitalised than the Australian, and the latter very much sounder in the bone, bellows, and setting of the joints than the British; therefore, the crossing of a thick-blooded individual from the cold climate of England with a sound, hardy animal bred under more genial conditions in Australia, produced a more useful animal than the average English racer. While it is true that the thoroughbred flourishes everywhere, it is more than passing strange that certain lines have done better in Australia and America than they have in England or on the Continent, and, in many cases, have proved better in these countries than strains of blood' that flourish exceedingly in the Old Country. Take, for instance, the lines of Whisker and Whalebone. Here we have two brothers, both magnificent individuals, but Whisker was the better shaped horse and the superior racehorse. Both were great stalions, but Whisker is better known in England by his mares, several of whom founded families, while Whalebone has been made famous by his sons Camel and Sir Hercules, to whom trace more .than 50 per cent, of the successful sires at present reigning in England. Whisker, in England, is practically dead in the male line. In Australia, however, he had one represetative, Yattendon, who gave his line a great fillip, and, coincidently, for many seasons Yattendon’s sons sons fought for supremacy with the sons of Musket, whose sire (Toxophilite) was also dead in the male line.