Mr Labouchere's Adventures at Epsom.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 181, 2 August 1890, Page 3 (Supplement)

Mr Labouchere's Adventures at Epsom.

Mr Labo.chere visited Epsom on the Derby Day, and before the great race, in company with his lady commissioner, made a perambulation of the Downs. Giving his experiences in ' Truth,' Mr Labouchere writes :—' Nob one human being did we see either the worse or the better for liquor. There was no quarrelling, no pushing. The betting men made a good deal of noise shouting tho odds, and I confess that some of them did not inspire me with that amount of confidence which would have led me to entrust to them untold gold. They, however, seemed to be doing but libtle business. Bating was the ordor of the day, and the eating was certainly on a grand, scale. Those who were, nob eating were throwing sticks at cocoanuts, or taking rides on the round-abouts. The cocoanubthrowing looked so easy that I tried ib,but I» somehow never hit a cocoanut. There waa a huge round-about worked with steam, the seats of which nob only went round, bub up and down like a vessel in a storm. Feeling that we ought to investigate everything, we took places on thi3 machine. Ido nob recommend ib after lunch, except to those who have had much experience in seafaring. A beast called Surefoot, I was told was certaiu to win. The race, in facb, was practically over, and ib was a positive duty bhab everybody owed to himself and his family to back this steed. "He will romp in," said one. "He will cub down the field," said. another.. This sorb of thing is contagious. I had lunched, and 1 had become generally, put through by my Australian friend. I had investigated the peudemonium business. What a triumph, I thought, -it.would be to win £50. I felt horsey all over. Just then a friend was going to the ring to make a lifetle investment on his own account. I begged him to back this Surefoot to win mo £50. He soon returned and said that the odds were 90 to 40 on the'beast, so thab he had booked a bet of £90 to £40 on him for mo. This Surefoot may have been sure, but others were swifter. He ( had lost; I had lost. Instead of that £40, which I already considered in my pocket, I found that I should have to pay some intelligent gentlemen in the ring £90. But here comes the mosb remarkable part of my story. All the gentlemen of the party declared that they had known that Surefoot could not win, whilst all the ladies insisted that they had dreamt that Sainfoin, the animal that did win, came in first. Another detail amused me. Before the race, Surefoob was a modern Bucephalus ; his jockey was tbe best of jockeys and his owner a man of exceptional nobility of character. Buce-, phalus having failed to win, he became a fraudulent steed, hie- jockey did not'know how to ride, and it was darkly hinted thab tho owner was a man in comparison with whom a convict is a respectable citizen. Sic transit. I felt quite sorry for Surefoot and his jockey,'