JOEL'S DERBY JOKE.

Joel, the owner of Sunstar, winner of the English Derby, should be quite happy now. In addition to having won the blue riband of the Eiiglish turf, he also managed to poke himself very much to the front. ;To do this it was necessary for him to moke himself look ludicrous wit*, a prevention of anxiety concerning the safety o f Sunstar. Joel pretended to believe that the bookmakers q£ Great Britain intended to hobble or maim Sunstar, so that he' could not win the Derby. No one will for one moment dream that there are not members of the English betting ring who would not cheerfully strangle Sunstar, or even Joel, if it suited their book to do so. The average owner having a suspicion that some crooked work was m progress against his horse would take all necessary precautions to protect it and meet the secret conspirators with Mke secrecy and care. Not so the posing Joel of the turf ; it presented too excellent an opportunity for self-advertisement and aggrandisement to be missed, and Joel worked it for all it was worth. The thinness of this Joel joke was that he based it principally on the fact that the bookmakers were laying a longer price against Sunstar than Joel considered they ought. The ordinary owner, particularly if he be a big bettor like Joel, is only too pleased ? to see bis horse at a fair • backing price, so that he or his friends shall not have to buy their bets. It may be that Joel, having got m early, got a price that ho anticipated he would have been able to "crush" at a profit, and thus stood on velvet. The fact of the ring not shortening the price of Sunstar to any material extent would have prevented Joel's investments being gilt-edged, hence his crocodile tears, and possibly his desire to boom Sunstar to a shorter price. As Sunstar romped home the winner m the Derby, and Joel had the coveted honor of leading the horse before the Royal party, he ought now to be content. Some of his erstwhile bosom friends of the betting ring are sure to h«.ve a. Say concerning Joel that should make interesting reading later on.