GREYS IN ENGLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 29, 4 February 1932, Page 8

GREYS IN ENGLAND

MARK OF ROI HERODE

' .For generations, there, has 'existed* in England a tradition, amounting-almost to a' superstition, that a grey horse, and more particularly a grey niare; is a lucky animal to ;<>Wn, and in the', early,' Says, of racing there were a goodly number of grey racehorses, states a .correspondent in a. letter to the "Sporting Life.'? -As years went ■by "the number of greys.-gradually de^ creased, : owing ■probably to a. prejudice that existed against,,them^ on the ground that tliey-were"soft." , •. ■ ," ' This seems to be borne out by the fact that: the {English-' classic races have 'seldom, been w O n; by greys:- The Derby, which, has been'in existence for 'nearly. ISO years, has only: twice been' won. by a grey, by Qustav^us in 1821 and by Tagalie in 1912, but .racegoers of the present generation can' remember Caligula winning the St. Leger <n 1920,>Tetratema;the':Two Thousand Gaiueas !in:'l92o,;f6Ho\Ted;by his son, to. Jinj&,i,m : the'same.race ip..-i929, and the French-bred -/TajMah ; winning the One Thousand Guineas in 1929. ;■'■.. FEW GREYS OF CLASS.: • Thirty years- ago, there were; few grey horses running in| races: in ;England, and, barring the Duke' of Westminster's Grey .'Leg, there was ' hot la< /grey of' any. class jvv^tever.:Duringi:«ie;laEt; fifteen years, increase both in-. tEe/quantity;' and; quality ;of the greys' .arid'this is entirely due to the importation from .France of the grey Uorse Roi r Hevode, who has stamped, his mark on the British thoroughbred more impressively than anyhpree that has been at the Stud since St; Bimon,' " ""' '■ ; . Starting oft wjtk : the. "spotted' wonder," :lhe Tetrarch, said to be one of the fastest ihorses; ever seen on the' Turf, Kbi Herode has; prpducedVaviinmber of high-class greys of,bothsex6s,V""H^'■••■'-■.: ■ ■": The TetrarcKviaifho"ug¥"farTfrbm- being a proimc sire,-ihas- produced; some grey sons ? no-.«.'. seeni m«fc<s. out. for successful .J{F es'^^.a• aU of:^tpm. seem; v tp::pass, on the^ey; colour tp^theirprogeny.' - i '.' As'^^a grey horse v;can'- be produced''only ."P?l^ grey .parent, this - characteristic of 'i*oy ,'Herode- and ihis son's 'nlust -have an important Bearing" on the ''position which grey racehorses will occupy on the Turf in England in the near future. • :y :: ;; Already this; is.;becbming;.appareni,: iqi hardly an important race starts in England nowadays without there being at least .one grey horse in the field. During'the past racing:seaßon a large number of bign-clasß.two-year-olds of this colour were seen out, and now the 'chasing season has begun there are greys in many of the big fencing races, some' of them already having been successful. GREYS' PREDOMINANCE. The annual summary for 1930 shows that in that year 9080 horses of aircolours ran m races in England and Ireland. Of this number 1410 were winners of one or moie races, which works out that one out of every 6 4 horses that ran was' a winner. Of these 9080 horses/ 196 were greys, which means that one out of v every 45 horses in training was a grey. O£ these 196 grey horses that ran. 70 -earned winning brackets, or, in other words, one out of every 2 8 grey horses that ran dunug last year was returned a winner. - Deduct the 190 grey-runners and 70 greywinners from the grand total of-. 9080 mentioned above, and we have 8881 horses other than grey running, of ••which 1340 proved to be winners, which' works out at one winner in every 6.6 starters. For purposes of compariso'ri, the figures are: Greys, 196 horses, 70 \vinners (one in every 2.8); other cPlours, 8884 horses, 1340 winners (one in 1 every 6.6). Translated into plain English, this means" that ■grey '$P!? S ! Q 1930 WQn.in -proportion nearly trfree-times as often as .horses "of1 other colours. Does this mean that -greys, are "elathely belter than other colours?