146 



NATURE 



[June 28, 1917 



HORSE-BREEDING AND HORSE-RACING. 



THE history of the English racehorse is a 

 chequered one. During the Wars of the 

 Roses many studs were dispersed, but owing- to 

 the re-importation of horses from the Continent 

 during the reign of Henry VHI. the thoroughbred 

 breed was re-established. Later, owing to the im- 

 portation of numerous Oriental and other alien 

 stallions and mares, the English breed of race- 

 horses was for years in the melting-pot. In 1649 the 

 Royal Tutbury Stud was handed over to Parlia- 

 ment, but a few^ years later Cromwell, though him- 

 self an owner of racehorses, found it necessary 

 " for political reasons " to stop racing. History has 

 been repeating itself. A valuable stud has 

 recently been handed over to the Government, and 

 racing has once again been virtually suspended. 

 Further, some people not unduly biased by the 

 objectionable features of race-meetings are asking, 

 "Is racing necessary to maintain the pre-eminence 

 of the English racehorse? " while others, including 

 Sir H. H. Johnston, want to know "whether the 

 type of horse that is evolved from horse-racing 

 is of any use nowadays? " 



It is well to bear in mind that the racehorse 

 industry is a large and important one, and that the 

 large sums received for horses exported help tQ 

 pay for the raw material required for our cotton 

 and other factories. But there is a more cogent 

 reason than the economic one for preserving the 

 racehorse. Unless we intend to retire once more 

 to the fool's paradise we found so comfortable up 

 to August, 1914, it is essential that we not only 

 preserve the thoroughbred, but also, by more 

 scientific breeding, add greatly to its value for 

 military and other purposes. Light as well as 

 heavy horses have played an important "part ih the 

 present war, and, notwithstanding mechanical 

 traction, they may play a still more important part 

 in future wars. Horses for military purposes should 

 have the vigour, staying power, and tenacity of 

 mules combined with the cross-country instincts of 

 hunters. Such horses can be obtained only by 

 cross-breeding. \t would be difficult to create and 

 maintain a breed of hunters, and still more diffi- 

 cult to create breeds of the old pack-horse type suit- 

 able for military purposes. This being the case, 

 it will continue to be impossible to provide Army 

 horses without the help of the thoroughbred. The 

 modern English racehorse is said to be " more 

 remarkable for speed than stamina " ; nevertheless, 

 crosses having a large infusion of thoroughbred 

 blood have often as much' staying power, intel- 

 ligence, and courage as Arabs. 



Hitherto, while Continental Powers have been 

 spending annually large sums in bt ceding, or pro- 

 viding facilities for breeding, military horses, our 

 Army Remount Department has looked to 

 thoroughbred and other breeders to provide them j 

 with all the different types of service horses 

 required, has, in fact, trusted to meet the demands 

 of the Armv by misfits obtained at a price which 

 scaicely paid for their upbringing. 



Many who realise the national importance of 

 maintaining the English and Irish racehorses have 

 NO. 2487, VOL. qql 



some difficulty in realising that racehorse breeding 

 implies racing. They admit that it is impossible 

 to create and maintain herds of " looo-gallon 

 cows " without keeping milk records, and that 

 unless records are kept it is impossible to have 

 strains of "200-egg hens," but they fail to appre- 

 ciate the importance of having continuous records 

 giving the performance of racehorses. It is im- 

 possible by looking at or handling a cow to say 

 whether or not her offspring will prove as good 

 milkers as her pedigree suggests, for everything 

 dep>ends on the contents of the germ-cells, and the 

 only way to obtain information about the com- 

 position of the germ-cells is to test the milking 

 powers of the offspring. When a thoroughbred 

 stallion has a distinguished racing record there is 

 a probability that he will prove a successful sire, 

 but the only sure test is the performance of his 

 offspring. As thoroughbreds are an nonstable 

 blend of several distinct types they rarely breed 

 true, hence breeders in selecting staUions should 

 be guided mainly by the racing records of their off- 

 spring. Sometimes indifferent performers acquire 

 great distinction at the stud. " Stockwell " 

 is said to have achieved at the stud "the most 

 brilliant success of qny sire of all time," and he is 

 often referred to as the Emperor of Stallions. 

 The sire of "Stockwell " ("The Baron ") was the 

 son of the very unattractive, fiddle-headed mare 

 " Echidna," who was never saddled ; " Stockwell's " 

 dam ("Pocahontas") was a bad roarer and an 

 indifferent performer on the Turf and deficient in 

 quality, yet "Pocahontas," through "Stockwell," 

 "Rataplan," "King Tom," and others who in- 

 herited her immense vjtaiity, did much to increase 

 the stamina of the modern English racehorse. But 

 for the racing test the value of the " Pocahontas " 

 and "Echidna" blood would never have been 

 realised. 



The necessity of testing the speed, endurance, 

 etc., of possible sires was first realised about the j 

 beginning of the seventeenth century, but the im- 

 portance of directing more attention to the per- 1 

 formance of the offspring than to that of either sire j 

 or dam is not yet sufficiently recognised. During a 1 

 considerable part of last century the practice of ' 

 considering almost exclusively the records of the | 

 sire did little harm, because (as Osborne points out 

 in his " Horse-breeders' Handbook ") in former 

 times one out of every three horses bred could win 

 a race, but since the 'eighties it is doubtful if more 

 than one in twenty of the horses bred has won a 

 race. That a change has taken place since it became 

 the fashion to have large sales of yearlings is sup- 

 ported by Sir Walter Gilbey, who, in 1898, pointed 

 out that twenty-two yearlings, sold in 1895 for 

 46,200 guineas, only won three races in 1897 worth 

 1080Z., and that twenty-two, sold for 34,850 guineas 

 as yearlings in 1894, had failed, when their racing 

 career was nearly over, to earn one-half of what 

 they originally cost. Obviously, if onlv about 5 per 

 cent, of the racehorses bred have the speed and 

 endurance required to win a race, it is Important 

 that facilities should be provided for systematically 

 testing young horses as soon as their training is 

 sufficiently advanced. Breeding racehorses with- 



