ASCOT GOLD CUP TRAGEDY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 178, 28 July 1913, Page 7

ASCOT GOLD CUP TRAGEDY.

JOCKEY'S LUCKY ESCAPE. Particulars are to band concerning the race for Ascot GoiJ Cup, which was ■ made ever memorable by the outrage 'which brought Tracey to earth. Following ;o closely on the tragedy at ! Epsom, when the King's horse, Anmer, i was upset by v woman, in the suffragist ■ nitre, the Ascot Cup incident created intense excitement. According to '"HotSpur." in the '"Daily Telegraph?" '"Traeey, : while leading and going well a little lover half a mile from home, was brought down by a man whose seeming object j was to draw attention to the suffragist .cause. The hcrfie fell after knocking | the man down, but rose and galloped i riderless alter the o:i>er bor,o-. Tbe j jockey had been riling heavily on the i bone-hard ground, and for a time h= lay ias r-tiil as the Kings jockey did at Epsom. But he was not seriously hurt. .How he escaped a* he did must be a i myistery. "The man, whether lunatic or suffrairisf. with a care and cunning which point to the "malice aforethought' of his I diabolical scheme, chose that point ot [the rare which was bound to be the most critical for the favourite-. If yon know the Ascot Cold < iip course."" s*ayc= "Robspur," "you will readily understand | that s.he outcome of tbe ion? *tmg"le ! must be foreshadowed by what happens I half a mile or five furlong- from home. i This i,- about half a furlong before the turn into the straight for home is | reached. The favourite—any horse that its good enough—must set about taking ia place thereabouts, so that he shall no" be at a disadvantage corning round the bend, and be able to go on and win the I race if possible. j "Strategical movements of the kind on ' I the part of the jockeys were taking place lat the moment this awful thing happened Already Tracery had moved up on the outside nf Jackdaw and Predicate,!r. and ! 1 think he was slightly in front when 'he man rushed out. The horse "was goimj | magnificently, and it was probably be- [ cause he was so full or" running' that ' i WhaUey allowed him #o stride into the ' j lead. Behind thpse three came Prince | Palatine, also going well. This was the i thrilling moment of the race. Would j Tracery hold on at the strung gallop he ; was setting? If -n. he must w j n . Would •' Prince Palatine be able to show sufficient j -peed to challenge ;,i= rival on making ; the turn in'o the straight? "'Those were the thoughts rushing into ■the mind- of onlooker.-. Then suddenly something happened. The brown and . red jacket indicating trnvery -wiftlv disappeared from view. The others swept ' j past the spot, and a -harp cry of Tra- ' eery's down!' was sent up. Xow for ' what happened, as told to mc by Whalley. "jVVhalley must have seen the man before his horse .-truck him. but ho was poweri less to avoid the collision, or, of course. 'j he would have done so. These horses, it ' ' must be remembered, were travelling at : about forty miles an hour, and the least 1 impact will brini' a horse travelling at ' -,i.h a speed to grief."' "■There is a plantation on the left ol ithe course, and the man came out ol " [ that on to tbe tra.ck and moved swift It. |in front of Tracery, not necessarily be I cause he hapnened to be Tracery, but be ' I cause he was the leading horse. In hi.' " i left hand he Imld the suffragist colours : In tie other he grasped a. revolver. The ' rev Ivor was a. formidable vpitwm. some • thins after tho =tyie of the old-fashioner hor=c-pi?tol. with a long barrel and f .... odor, tzrin. "Whalley says that hist before th< . y,r--~c- hit him the man shouted. "Ptrrp. oi i i'H fire:" or words very much like them _] In makins a crab at the horse's hriillo hi 71 was -trti-k down, while the jockey wa* I n -'.r-z <loar." ! I Pince then Traoerv won the riel j p.clipsc Stakes, at Saudovm Park, so thai e| he suffered but little from his fall nf /! As " ot -