THE POSITION OF THE TURF 11 



It is a curious reflection that at the shows held under the 

 auspices of the " Hunters Improvement Society " no horse 

 or mare is entitled to a prize until he or she has passed a 

 veterinary examination, and yet there is no obstacle whatever 

 to breeders of thoroughbreds using either an unsound sire 

 or dam, or both in their attempt to raise a galloping 

 machine. 



A page or two back I stated that I was much inclined 

 to welcome the advent of the imported horses, and my chief 

 reason for this opinion is that these American and Colonial 

 horses have greatly helped to point out the weaknesses of 

 our present system. No matter what class they belong 

 to, it seems to be the general rule that the Colonials and, 

 in a less degree, the Americans are hardier and more free 

 from unsoundness than the English horses. And in this 

 connection I am referring especially to the importations 

 which were ready-made racehorses in the land of their birth 

 before they were sent to England, and not to American 

 yearlings sent over to be sold. Dealing then with the 

 importations that have been through a racing season or 

 two in their own country before they ran in England, it is 

 quite the exception to find one of them at all unsound, 

 either in wind or limb. I have known of an Australian 

 horse becoming a roarer some time after he had been in 

 England, but the disease was in all probability the result 

 of illness which seized him shortly after his arrival in this 

 country. Certainly he showed no signs of it when he 

 arrived. 



Good clean limbs, with bigger bone than English horses 

 have, and clear wind ; these are the special attributes of a 

 large majority of the Colonial horses which have been sent 

 to England in the last six or eight years, and though no 

 Colonial-bred horse of the very first class as compared with 

 our best class has been sent here as yet, the rank and file 

 are nevertheless hardy, useful customers, most of whom can 

 hold their own in ordinary company. 



As fair specimens of the Australian ready-made racehorse 

 who have run with success in England I may cite Merman 

 and Newhaven II. The first-named, though apparently a 



