MR LABOUCHERE'S ADVENTURES AT EPSOM.

Press, Volume XLVII, Issue 7611, 23 July 1890, Page 6

MR LABOUCHERE'S ADVENTURES AT EPSOM.

c '»_tr Labouchere visited Epsom on the i©«rbyDay,andbefore thegreatrace, in company with his lady commissioner, made a of the Downs. Giving his experience in Truth, Mr Labouchere •__dtes:—Not one human being did wa see 'either the worse or the better for liquor. .-here was no quarreling, no pushing. __ he betting men made a good deal of noise ahouting the odds, and I confess that some of them did not inspire mc with that amount of confidence which wouid have led mc to entrust to them untold gold. They, however, seemed to be doing but Utile business. Bating was the order of the day, and the eating was certainly on a grand scale. Those who were not eating were throwing Sticks, at cocoanuts, or taking rides on the round about_ The cocoa-nut throwing looked so easy that I tried it, I but I somehow never hit a cocoanut. There was a huge round-about worked with steam, the seats of which not only j went round, but up and down like a vessel in a storm. Feeling that we ought to investigate everything, we took places on ; ibis machine. I do not recommend it j after lunch, except to those who have had much experience in seafaring. A beast .ailed Surefoot; I was told, was certain \ Co win. The race, in fact, was practically j over, and it was a positive duty that • everybody owed to himself and his family to back this steed. "He will romp in," said one. *' He wiU cut down the field," said another. This sort of thing i. contagious. I had lunched, and I had been generally put through by my Anstraiiau friend. I had investigated the pandemonium business. What a triumph, i thought. It would be to win £50. I felt horsetail over. Just then a friend waa goiug to the ring to make a little investment ou his own account. I begged him to back this Surefoot to win mc £50. He soon returned and said that the odds were •80 to 40 on the beast, so that he had booked a bet of £90 to ___»on him for mc. This Surefoot may have been sure, but others were swifter. Hehadlost; Ihadlost. Instead of that£_o, which I had already conaideredin my pocket, I found that I should havejiopaysomeinteUigentgentlemen in the ring £80. But here comes the most remarkable part of my story. All the gentlemen of the Darty declared that they , ad known that Surefoot amid not win, whilst all the ladies insisted that they had dreamt that Sainfoin, the animal that did win, came in first. Another detaU | amused mc. Before the race, Surefoot B was a modern Bucephalus; his jockey was w jfee 0 £ jockeys, and his owner a man

of exceptional nobility of character. Bucephalus having failed to win, he became a fraudulent steed, his jockey did not know how- to ride, and it was darkly hinted that its owner waa a man in comparison with whom a convict is a respectable citizen. Sic transit. I felt quite sorry for Surefoot and hia jockey.