Excited Crowd At War Derby

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 145, 21 June 1941, Page 4 (Supplement)

Excited Crowd At War Derby

LONDON, Wednesday. DACECOURSE officials were unable to cope with the crowds streaming to Newmarket to-day to see the second wartime Derby run. The rush to get into the course was so great that one entrance gate collapsed. At least 100 people streamed through the wrecked barrier. Those who got into the course saw the 25 to 1 chance Owen Tudor win by a length and a half from MoroToro Cll to 2) and Firozedin (100 to 1). The time was 2.32. Most popular outsider was Fairy Prince at 20 to 1, whose owner, Lieutenant F. T. Williams, is a prisoner of war in Germany. Lieutenant Williams did not know his horse was running. Fred Lane, Fairy Prince's rider, was a prisoner in the last war. Rnn at Epsom The attendance to-day was greater than last year, although, it is believed, only one-tenth of the prewar average attendance of 500.000. Transport difficulties, active service and civil defence duties limited to-day's crowd. The authorities did not make any special transport or accommodation arrangements. Hundreds of people, including women, slept last night outside the course to gain early admittance. Cars jammed every parking space near the course. This is the tirst time since the last war that the Derby has not been run at Epsom Downs. Favourites Unplaced Writing the day before the race a London correspondent said:— Despite the war, this is still the biggest week of the racing year, with the Derby on Wednesday and the Oaks on Thursday, both races at Newmarket.

The events have not gripped public imagination as thev would have done m peace-time. There is not the same gigantic wagering, but the standard of the colts and the fillies and their performances promise to compare favourably with those of previous years. There are 21 Derby probables, of whom at least a dozen have good &T t :i, Th^ is Lambert Simnel the Thousand Guineas winP® r \ w "° not ra ced since then. He has not been tried in public over the Derby distance, over which onlv two of the field have won, namely the second favourite. Sun Castle' and the fourth favourite, Chateau La rose. I saw Chateau Larose win the Newbury Trial Stakes, one mile and a naif, on June 7, coming like a bulldog from last at the two furlongs to head the field, which included several of Wednesday's most prominent horses. I think he may v- in. Fairy Prince and Camperdown are both winners over one mile and a quarter and are also gr TV-, C i C i°J ts \u yto show stamina. tWi J others are: Single Court Royal Academy, Cuerdley, Mazarin Sta^vnvJ 1, Se U' n nassan, Valdavian', htaiwoit, Firozedin, Annatom r-!vo° g0 A 0 ;, owen Tud °r. ThoroughIsland ° X ' Ptolemy - Sunny, Sunny Island and Lambert Simnel aie owned by the Duke of Westminster. Morogoro is owned bv the Afaho ra "\ Kolhapur, widow of the and who ° led last November, p-11-c , was a natron of J. E Pike s Sydney stable.