200 BREEDING HORSES FOR PROFIT 



a name by a combination of good luck, good 

 management, and a quick eye to observe the 

 best points of a cheap brood mare. 



He needs a lot of grit who contemplates breed- 

 ing horses, for it is quite a mistake to imagine 

 that it is impossible to breed a first-rate horse for 

 comparatively little money. The point is, can 

 you reasonably expect to purchase a mare for 

 very little money which, on being put to a good 

 horse, will throw winners of classical races } The 

 betting is a thousand to one against it. Yet I 

 have known several instances of men who have 

 accomplished a great deal in the direction of 

 breeding good horses at small cost. They have 

 made handsome profits on their original capital, 

 even though they have not won a Derby or 

 Leger. 



A brilliant exception to prove the rule is one 

 cheaply bought Derby winner. Under what 

 circumstances can a breeder of racehorses on 

 the cheap expect to make a handsome profit? 

 Surely if a mare who will throw a winner of a 

 thousand pounds race be sold for twenty or thirty 

 pounds, there must be a great number of bidders 

 after her. Of course there would be, provided 

 they felt sure that she could breed " good 'uns." 

 What actually happens when a good mare is sold 

 for next to nothing is very palpable. She is a 

 little soft perhaps, and, in other words, a cur ; or 

 she is not sound, and, therefore, it would not be 

 worth a rich man's while to keep her for stud 

 purposes ; or she may be undersized — or, in 

 plain language, a well-bred weed. And these 



