THE LAST OF THE LOCHIELS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 947, 30 April 1908, Page 5

THE LAST OF THE LOCHIELS.

What an old warrior Tartan must be! (writes “Onlooker” in the “Town and Country Journal.”) After a half-and-half preparation, being on the verge of lameness, he an aged horse, takes down all the youngsters at weight-for-age in a mile and a_half. He is about the last of the Lochiels, and no gamer representative of a game-breed ever faced a starter. A leading trainer said the other day, “ What are we going to do for horses when the Lochiels are all done? They always kept on improving with age, they were good feeders, they would stand riding out with a whip, they were demons at a finish, and sick or well, they would struggle on and do their best. Half of the horses I get to train now either can’t be trained, or are not worth training. If any one would send me ten or a dozen Lochiels out of good mares, I would turn all this lot out into the road to make room for them.” Tartan certainly is a tough old warrior, and the way he came through the mud on April 18 was an eye-opener. Mr. Macken will ■look a long while before he gets a fitting successor to the old horse. The best thing he can do is to try to breed one from Tartan, and as the latter is more compact than most of the Lochiels, he ought to make a firstclass sire.