THE NEW ZEALAND THOROUGHBRED.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 554, 8 July 1909, Page 7

THE NEW ZEALAND THOROUGHBRED.

. AND THE BONUS TO BREEDERS. ; Racing men generally will agree that the. resolution recently'adopted by the Wellington Racing Club toappprtion a sum of money to the breeders of the winners of certain races is a move in the right direction, but they will, scarcely agree with' the statements made in the columns of a contemporary that the New Zealand racehorse of td>-day ia a "weedy sguib," unfit to carry weight or to compete in anything other than' a sprint race. It would be rather much to expect that New Zealand should, each year, pro-;' duoe a horse of Carbine's calibre, but a glance at the actual state of affairs will show that the horses "of the past few years have performances comparable with those of their, predecessors. To, begin with, Australasia's greatest distance handicap, the Melbourne Cup, was last season won by a New Zealandbred horse, Apologue, who ran the race in record time, and vanquished (among others) Poseidon and Mooltan. ' Australasia's greatest sprint racs, tho Newmarket Handicap, was this season won by Soiiltline, a New Zealand-bred horse, who carried top weight, and beat a large field. And, when it is remembered that a good lot of thoroughbreds like Elevation, Boiiiform, Gold Crest,' All Red, BobrikofF, Signer, Downfall, Maranui, and California all bred in the DoI minion the same year, it is difficult to see where the "decay past praying for" comes in. Also -when the recent performances of Advance, 'Machine, Gun, Zimmerman, All Red, Boniform, Signor, Elevation, Gold Crest, and others are reviewed, it is difficult to discern the' "steady decline of the weight-carrying type" of thoroughbred. New Zealand jumpers are still of a high standard, md even tlio New Zealand ponies during recent years have more than held their own with'the best. Away back in tho seventies Tompleton'was bred in New Zealand, in the eighties Carbine,'Manton, and Nelson were produced, in tho.nineties Multiform, Euroclydon, Advance, Seahorse, and many other good ones. In the present decade Cruciform, Nocfcuifonn, Elevation, Solution, and Zimmerman are among the best, but it is doubtful if ever there was a finer horse bred in New Zealand than the champion colt of the present season—Provocation. The anomaly of the present position is that the breeder of the high-class thoroughbred does not always get the return which he deserves, because the . demand is for tried permonners rather than for well-bred yearlings. The action of the Wellington Racing CWb is likely to be taken up by other dubs through--out tho Dominion, and should givo~a stimulus to tho horse-breeding It now remains for tho Racing Conference to tnako a rnlo that each club securing a totalieator permit must include, on each day's programme, at least one. race not less than a mile and a quarter, and not more than one race loss than six furlongs. :. It has been urged that increased speed.in the thoroughbred must tend towards .deterioration, in stamina, hut' tho fact ■ that pror nounced ' stayers are p-s plentiful' as' : ever somewhat discounts this. Were there more distance races, however, it is probable that the breed of stayors would bo eßll further improved, and it will be generally admitted that, from a purely sporting point of view, the race over a mile and a half or two miles is much to bo preferred to tho short scramble over five furlongs.