Turf Monthly Roarers in History

ENGLISH ROARERS IN AUSTRALIA

Sport (Adelaide, SA : 1911 - 1948), Friday 18 November 1927, page 8

ENGLISH "ROARERS'' IN AUSTRALIA

(By ‘Savant')

The English thoroughbred has in Australia proved his superiority over all distances, even over hurdles. Many of the best performers changed hands because of some ailment or another. Lilyveil, a Sydney Cup winner, was sold in England for 55 gns, Son of the Marsh for 155 gns Sir Foot 300 gns, a Futurity, Newmarket, and Doncaster winner, and one or two weight for ages sandwiched in between, and I could name a few more. In many cases they were supposed to be affected in the wind. Having had practical experience in one or two cases of the kind, I became more and more convinced that the English bred horse is entirely different in construction, as far as the internal organs are concerned, and have no hesitation in saying that the lungs in particular are much more powerful than horses bred in Australia, and, therefore, can be trusted to see out a greater distance on a much lighter preparation than our own horses. The air in England is much heavier, and the atmosphere thicker, and the act of inspiration and expiration is a much greater strain. Many horses after a severe preparation in England make a noise and are called "broken winded” but there is nothing broken, the whole breathing apparatus strained, and the diaphragm becomes involved, which soon weakens the voice, and if the thing is aggravated the lungs become involved till the pleura gives way and fluid comes away. The horse is then termed a "bleeder." But there are very few cases of this kind in England. The horse makes the noise, but hardly ever bleeds. Many of this class have found their way out to Australia arid India, and as soon as they are put into work here they hardly ever make the noise, and if not overtaxed they soon come to hand and pay their way. The reason is simple enough, and after a close study of these cases I came to the conclusion that the air in Australia is much lighter and the action of aspiration and expiration is much easier and no strain on the parts. They soon regain their normal condition, and the subject becomes sound. A brilliant stayer bred in England, would, I think, run out twelve furlongs or even sixteen furlongs on a very light preparation – a much lighter one that most people would believe. The reason of this is plain. On the light work he becomes stronger, and his lungs, being much more powerful, he can go full speed without overtaxing the lungs or breathing apparatus. Not many years ago a very smart horse a very smart horse in England developed a wind trouble and was passed out. A buyer from Australia came along and bought him fairly cheap. But sometime after he was informed the horse was useless, and a confirmed roarer. The horse duly arrived in Sydney. and was sold at a profit to a well-known racing man but something leaked out about the horse having some ailment, and the trainer who had the horse was a dubious of going on with him and was extra careful in case he should go wrong. But the horse went along satisfactorily, and the owner suggested he should run him. The trainer bit dubious

of going on with him, and one or two sprints only. He certainly showed a good bit of pace. At the races the owner asked the trainer if the horse was worth putting a few pounds on at long odds offering. The trainer replied he would be satisfied if the horse finished in the first ten; but he was first out and first home. This particular horse, on no work at all won the Newmarket Handicap with 9.0 or more. This is not an isolated case by any means, as was one or two just the same. Sir Foote hardly ever galloped, and won the Futurity, Newmarket, and Doncaster on little or no work. In conclusion I think you can attribute it all to the one thing—powerful lungs.

ROARERS A NZ PERSPECTIVE

ROARERS IN NZ

Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW : 1870 - 1919), Saturday 19 May 1900, page 47

Kohrers.

In a recent issue of, the- "New Zealand Referee" appeared a statement that there was just now in training in Riccarton an unusually large number of roarers. We are sorry to hear this, and also what makes it more certain, the statements from that well-informed writer "Spectator," who says, when writing on the business done at Riccarton: There are not many horses in work altogether at headquarters just now, but I should say that one out of every seven or eight in commission is more or less affected in the wind. Many authorities on breeding and racing the thoroughbred have pronounced roaring to be hereditary, and it may be true that it is, but, all the same, opinions differ on the subject, and there are arguments against as well as for the assumption. It is such a rare thing to find the every-day utility horse -accustomed to do work only requiring ordinary exertion, and no great trials of speed - suffering from affections of the wind, that there are good grounds for supposing that it is the artificial life to which thoroughbreds are subjected, the exertions and changes more or less, forcible, which the air passages are called upon to undergo, that bring on the trouble. The inspirations and expirations on a foggy morning of cold damp air, or on a windy, warm, and dusty day, are prone to prevent free respiration, and the larynx of the horse becomes diseased through these and other causes. Some horses may be predisposed to the disease, like some families to throat and lung troubles, but cases have been shown where horses have become roarers, and bad ones, though a careful perusal of their pedigrees has failed to establish the hereditary theory. My own opinion is that high feeding and forcing young horses, and working them fast and severely in all sorts of weather, causes them to go wrong in their respiratory organs. We are told that the descendants of Apremont horses and Apremont mares, and the descendants of Musket mares and Musket horses, have been responsible for more roaring than any other breed of horses, as proof that it is hereditary. The reason why white sheep eat more grass than black ones is because there are more of them, and I suppose we can trace more roarers to the families referred to than to other families because we have more of them in work and racing than of other breeds. I am referring more particularly to the South Island now, and right here, as our Transatlantic friends have it, I make bold to say that for every roarer discovered in the North Island, there are half a dozen in the South, and it is in Canterbury where the disease appears to develop. Influenza visits horses in every part of the colony, but in some parts of the South Island more severely than anywhere else, and, I have noted, and many no doubt besides myself, that in some seasons we have had more cases than in others of horses becoming affected in their wind. Last year an unusually large percentage of 2-year-olds that were very bad with influenza went wrong, and this year there are a few of the same age giving evidence of the same

complaint. In nearly every instance the horses are young ones that are troubled, and South Island bred and trained at that. During my long residence in the North Island, I met with very few cases of the kind, and during my periodical visits thereto in recent years the number of horses I have come across or heard of that are roarers or really bad winded, would form an insignificant proportion of the whole in-training. There are plenty of descendants of Musket horses and mares in the North as well as In the South, but yet we do not hear of their stock being musical. No doubt the climate is more trying to young horses in the South Island than in the North, where the stock get greater freedom and richer natural pasturage as a rule, and are not forced on artificial food. In Auckland, Hawke's Bay, Wanganui, New Plymouth, and the Walrapapa, in the North Island, it is very seldom that roarers are discovered; and in conversation with Southern trainers they have told me that it is rare to have any horses troubled down Dunedin way. It has been suggested that some trainers give their horses too much hay, and there may be something in this. The whole subject is one that has been gone into over and over again, but if some of those who are ever putting roarers down to hereditary causes alone were to attend the Riccarton training tracks and see horses being worked hard in foggy mornings, they might possibly alter their opinions somewhat. No wonder horses cough, and get influenza, and become bad in the wind, when trained under unfavorable conditions, as they sometimes are.