Jersey Act - Effects

Effects

The new rule was not applied retroactively, therefore all American-bred horses registered before 1913 remained on the register, and their descendants were also eligible for registration. Of the 7,756 mares in Volume 27 of the General Stud Book, published in 1933, 930 would have been ineligible under the new rule. The Jersey Act did have an immediate impact however, as the winner of the 1914 Epsom Derby, Durbar II, was ineligible for registration, as his dam, Armenia, was bred in the United States and was not herself eligible for the General Stud Book.

The main problem for American breeders was the presence of the blood of Lexington in their breeding programs. Lexington's pedigree on his dam's side was suspect in the eyes of British racing authorities, and as he had been the leading sire of racehorses in the United States for 16 years, his descendants were numerous. Most American-bred Thoroughbreds traced to Lexington at least once, and he was not the only horse with suspect bloodlines registered in the American Stud Book.

Most British breeders thought the regulation necessary and welcomed it, whereas most American breeders found it insulting, and believed that it was intended merely to protect the British racehorse market. The rule did adversely affect many British breeders as well though, including even one senior member of the Jockey Club, Lord Coventry, whose successful line of racehorses was ineligible for registration. Initially there was little foreign complaint or organized opposition, probably owing to the effect of the gambling bans in the United States on the domestic horse market. The American Jockey Club did not even remark on the Jersey Act in its official publication, the General Stud Book, and no mention of it appears in the Jockey Club's meeting minutes for 1913. Contributing to the lack of outcry was a legal ruling in New York allowing oral betting at racetracks, which led to the growth of racing in the United States; by 1920 the American breeding market had rebounded and was booming.

The Jersey Act did not prevent the racing of horses containing the banned bloodlines, as horses with the suspect breeding raced and won in England, but they were considered to be "half-bred". A number of American-bred horses carrying the lines of Lexington had already been imported into England, including Americus, Rhoda B, and Sibola, and because they were grandfathered in, they and their descendants were allowed to be registered in the General Stud Book. Neither did it prevent the racing of horses that were not registered in the General Stud Book; it just prevented registration in the General Stud Book. American bloodlines, whether registered in the General Stud Book or not, dominated English racing in the 1920s and '30s. Horses that were ineligibile for General Stud Book registration, but were allowed to race, were identified with a Maltese cross in programs and auction listings.

A number of American breeders, including the then-chairman of the American Jockey Club, William Woodward, Sr., lobbied hard throughout the 1930s to have the regulation removed. Woodward, and other defenders of the American bloodlines, argued that the racing performance of the horses proved their purity, even if they could not produce papers that did so. Woodward declared in 1935 that "If we do not get together, we will grow apart." Those arguing for keeping the Jersey Act in effect pointed out that the General Stud Book is a record of bloodlines, not a work recording racing ability.

The Jersey Act's major effect was the opposite of what was intended. In the years before the Second World War British and Irish breeders had relied on imported Thoroughbreds from France to enrich their breeding lines, a source that was unavailable during the war, and concerns were beginning to be expressed that the situation might lead to excessive inbreeding. Additionally, by the end of the war American-bred lines were some of the most successful racing lines in the world, effectively making the British and Irish breeding programmes that did not use them second-rate, and harming the rebuilding of English racing. There were even calls for the creation of an international stud book to record all Thoroughbred pedigrees, thus eliminating any perceived slight on the bloodlines that were excluded from the General Stud Book.