ANTONIO AND "ROARING."

NZ Truth, Issue 122, 19 October 1907, Page 2

ANTONIO AND "ROARING."

"Spreader"' writes :— The imported horse Antonio who, last week, after a brilliant display m the Epsom Handicap, annexed the Squatters' Handicap at the A.J.C. Spring meeting, has been dubbed by the Sydney press as one of the finest performers that have been imported so far from England, and it is quite on the cards that, provided he can stand training, he will reach the top of the tree m Australia.

His best performance so far was, undoubtedly, his catching the judge's eye first m the Newmarket Handicap, m England, m 1900, when as a five-year-old he carried 9.0, and accounted for Queen of the Lillies, 7.4, and the White Knight, 7.9, over 1\ miles. Now, if Antonio were to be put to the stud this season m Australia, though not a very fashionable strain at Home, his sire, Prisoner not being considered extra high-class, his past deeds alone (not to say the "imp." included) would enable him to command a good fee at the stud. So far as we can ascertain Antonio himself has not shown any signs of being a roarer up to date, not so his brother, Paddington, a winner this year m England, who the sporting scribes describe as showing wind troubles, commonly called "roaring." Now, to get on to roaring ;in horses. The most common cause of roaring emanates from' chronic laryngitis ; this can be relieved by an operation called trachaeotomy, i.e., m the insertion of a silver tube m the thorax to help respiration. Another primary cause of the same affectation m many cases has its origin m diseased molar teeth. Veterinary science can also combat with this form of roaring. The third cause from which roaring has shown itself to exist is, notwithstanding many opinions to the contrary, not within the ken of vet. science, i.e., a horse may show symptoms of roaring and be practically sound m. wind and limb, and if so, its a thousand to one chance that he has inherited the affection.

Roaring is hereditary. The complaint is transmitted through 'either the sire or dam, and may come out m any generation. This, may be open to argument ; undoubtedly, it is, but one can't get away from facts, and there are hundreds of instances from which to draw illustrations. Is roaring m anyway detrimental to a strain of blood ? Does it m any way affect stamina or pace ? Yes ; it must do so, for the simple reason it is unnatural, though m searching the history of roarers the best horses of all time have, some of them, shown affectations of the wind ; yet one must claim that the neucleus of the complaint must, m the first place, have sprung from a bad source.

Now, Antonio being tainted with the complaint (m his blood) is just an instance of how a horse with "roaring" antecedents can. m himself, be a champion, and not even show any signs of the -complaint. There is not an atom of doubt that by loading the roaring . strains when breeding, the<\wisdom of such a course of action would show itself, if not m this generation, m some future time.