ROYAL HORSE SHOW.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1518, 14 August 1912, Page 10

ROYAL HORSE SHOW.

COMMENT ON. N.Z. STOCK. . SUCCESS AND PROSPECTS. . The comments :of the leading Sydneypapers on the recent -Melbourne and Koytil Horse Show provide food • for thought for' Now Zealand breeders. • The following...notes; are taken from' the detailed reports on the show.awl sales. The competition at the show-between the, rtipiHly-inorirasiiuj'Shires and the oldestablished Clydesdales was,marked, but the latter hold the advantage in weight of numbers, anil i.i> the parade of prizewinners (or'the premium ribbon there were three Clydesdales, two ShireA, and one Suffolk Punch; - And the three Clydesdales; it is interesting to note, "were the N'ew. Zealaud-brod Plucky Willie, the hero' of the last four.Eoyal championships, and two'*qf his progeny,' the three-year-old Royal Willie, the property of Mr. If a U'.kins, and Gallant Willie, bred by Mr. Charles G.reentr.ce,. tho owner of PluckyWillie. This last-named colt was. foaled iir ..December, 1910,' but is already, an immense animal.. He won easily in. the two-year-old class from ortr. oO competitors. , He--was :descl-jbed by severAl people as being the.finest 'draught colt they had ever seen-in' the .riii;,'. Plucky Willie's only.serious -competitor in tlie aged' ClydeKlalo class—although .the class was a very largo .one, and included'a lot of liew blood— was Mr.' M. Waters's'Daniley Again,'and it was'-not until after much, liieditation that the judge, alter, noting the mtich-impruved appcaraace'of the lat-" ter hohCji repeated; the award of the Baste? Show ring,- and' again placed Dai-xi-ley .'Ayfiin \fecoiul.

- rh-e Clydesdale mares were, also numer-' ous'in'.'their ; . respective classes, 'rind the' tartari " ribboil for four years and oyer was' awarded- to the New Zealaiul-bred seven-years old bar .ware Milton Lass, owfied by Sir. A'. 'ilastie.- "Second place. . was takeii by : Mr: S.-Wilson's Pride, rising four 'years,- .another New Zealandeiv 'In. ,' the thrco. years old-class Mr. AV-Hastie's Miss' Tvlurray, also Kew' Zealand-bred,; ,gained;- first place' the white ribbon for' .Rfcbiiil bojiig awarded to Mr. J: A. May's locally-hred Queen of the Isles. Six out of the nine entrants in the"two years old class were Plucky Willie's.daughters, and one of these, Plucky Lily, a bay filly,' was placed first,. Shy of Non-Certificated Stock. lleferring to the sales, the following comments are'of interest:—"Even with' Clydesdale stallions, a' distinctly, lower market had lo be. faced' in comparison, with' that experienced twelve-months ago.. Even; then sales dragged, and only an occasional horse, evoked anything like competition. Eor the' majority, the. auction.eers had to-literally drag bids''from buyerS. ' It is ti-ue-that .tjicre, was "a' considerable proportion- of very mediocre specimens,-'and' (horo 'were'no' really' fi'rst-class-horses of; suitable ago for a heavy, season's.work, ,I'he majority of the claijsy ' horses w-era-youiig coltsrrising two years, from thcMlawkeshury district,' by siich.' ,sires.:.as ,Plucky Willie, Darnley Again, and Crown I!6yal.- Very promising youngsters went at as .low; as 50 guinea's, and in the first ..portion .of the-catalogue t'he high.est .pricb reached was 180 guinea); for Coronation, Willie, a., handsome . son- of' Plucky Willie, of-great size,, -and only21'months."old'.' Mr! M. Waters "had a couple, of grand:.colts by Darnley Again,: but lie:,would;.-not look. at-, the. figures 'of-' fpred.' AFh.Pn' Mr, C> Greenti-ee's I'lucky .Willie eolt.s.'caiiie'Out; hiddihg .was ratherriiore spirited, and Considering the market he made a good sale with Gallant Willie, tho wirnitr of tli6 two-year-old class on the Saturday.' He was taken at, 2-10 guineas. Others of Pliickv Willie's pro-geny-'sold at 120 and 100 guineas. For another,'Pltickj- I,!\d, 2} years old, Mr. E. H. Salter refused an offer of 245 guineas. 'Tliis""colt';g : aiiied first', prize 'at'the last Eoyal 'SlioV. -Only, a Couple of non-certi-jicitted horses' were oit'ered, and buyers fougli-t-. shy of them. - 'l'lify were sold at '35 and 52J-'guineas,'but had they had the guarantee of soundness they-would readily, navoi realised-, twice that money, if not more. **.

A good proportion of first-class horses, and also a lot of rubbish, passed through '•tli'e ring at a continuation of the stud sales,* and the offering of Clydesdale stallions. dragged almost drearily. Prices in many instances were 50- to 100 per cent, lower than those obtained at the last parade sales. The owners of many of the •;l«tter;'closs, horses, and including several -of. the'pick, were not disposed to meet the market.

~ The, sales, .progressed through the foreno'on' . Avithout ' spirit,' njaiiy horse's beingtaken out of the ring without eliciting an offer, and out of 38 submitted only. 18 were quitted. The early sales included ' ( ii; couple .'of good class three-year-olds at 125 and IGO guineas, respectively, the lat.tor/, being-,, for Brittoh, a New, Zealiindbre'd colt, which was first prize-winner at Barry and Nowra this year. A splendid black Hawkesbury colt, a son of Plucky' ,Willie, the judge's third choice in the two-year-old classes, at the show, went at 195 guineas. Another, 21 months old, son of the .champion, went at 140 guineas. Poor Stock;from New Zealand. A grand buy three-year-old- colt from New Zealand was bought privately by Mr. George Bowra, at 250gns. . A drait (if eight VerricKible horses, with size, from New Zealand, were offered, on account of Messrs. Mitcliell and O'Brien. The best was passed, in at 220 guineas, while the others ranged to 200 guineas,.at which Mr. Victor, foy purchaed a big upstanding three-year-old bright bay. . Later 0:1 a very slow period followed while the'auctioueer battled with a lot of poor stuff—poor in condition-and poorer in qilality—most of them hailing from New Zealand. Several of these had-been refused Government certificates on tho ground that they were not up to an approved standard., These horses all sold at less than gelding prices, running as low as 20'givs. "j Referring to tho falling away in the slau'tiiird of 'New Zealand-bred draughts another writer says the quality has fallen so much that at the recent July sales in Melbourne, when some SCO_ draught stallions, colts, mares, and fillies were oft'ercd, the majority of .which were New Zea-land-ljred, manjv entires came into the ring which should have been gelded, and then very probably, made but second or third-rate geldings. Probably a g-ood -lesson has. been learned at this year's sales bj; the dealers and exporters who largely filled this year's catalogue. Many exporters bought colts in ,tho Dominion practically regardless of quality, and the prices they have been forced to accept in Australia must mean a. financial loss in many cases on tho original purchase money, without the shipping and selling" charges' added. This will surely maks them more careful regarding quality when buying next year, and breeders who own only medium quality colts will probably find it mote profitable to tnrn them into geldings. One thing is certain, and that is that farmers must realise that every well-come and well-fed youngster is not necessarily a champion, and when 110 finds it is only a commoner he must not be afraid to treat it as such. !