ECLIPSE SURPRISE

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 44, 20 August 1937, Page 13

ECLIPSE SURPRISE

BOSWELL'S SUCCESS

"FIRST-CLASS SENSATION"

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, July 17.

Probably one of the biggest surprises in the racing world was registered yesterday, when an outsider, Mr. W. Woodward's Boswell, carried oil the valuable Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park. This event* is worth £9233 to the owner of the winner. Before the race everyone tnought that it was going automatically to become the property of Viscount Astor through the medium of his fine colt Rhodes Scholar. This horse won the Eclipse last year by six lengths from His Grace, and he met that horse again on 41b more favourable terms.

There were only six runners, and they finished:—Boswell 1, ridden by P. Beasley, trained by Captain C. BoydEochfort; Daytona 2, owner Sir G. Bullough/ jockey E. Smith; Monument 3, owner the Duke of Marlborough, jockey R. A. Jones; His Grace 4, owner Mr. J. V. Rank; Rhodes Scholar 5, and Revirsco (Duke of Norfolk) 6. The unexpected result provided "a firstclass sensation," as one authority describes it, and "one of the tragedies of ] racing" in the words of another. Sandown looked its best. The conditions of the race from the spectators' point of view were excellent, but the going was hard in spite of watering, and therefore it was against Rhodes Scholar, who had recently been down on both knees, both of which were puffy. "The Times" racing correspondent commented: — RACE DESCRIBED. "Why, after so many pointed remarks as it were by riders, the executive still continue to water the course I canm Imagine. No trainer or rider seems to want it done. Soon after reaching the straight Rhodes Scholar moved up from last but one, and Boswell and Monument closed with His Grace. That was the end of His Grace, and soon after it was also the end' of Rhodes Scholar. Richards took his whip and used it, but the colt could do no more; it may be that he was feeling the hard ground and his knees pained him. Whatever the reason, he was beaten, and it was left, to Boswell and Daytona to race home. For a moment it seemed that Daytona, running under the stands' side rails, was winning, but 100 yards from the winning post it was seen that Boswell had the race in safe keeping, and he, won by a length and a half from Daytona. ..Monument, in the same stable as Boswell, was third. "Boswell is a four-year-old colt by Bosworth out of Flying Gal 11. He had not won a race this season, but at the end of last year he won the St.

Leger, and Rhodes Scholar and His Grace were then a long way behind him. Excuses were then made for Rhodes Scholar, while it. was argued that His Grace was now a much better colt than he was then. After all, then, it can be argued that the St. Leger form has been vindicated. The time for the race was 2min 14 2-ssec, which is slow. Rhodes Scholar won the race a year ago in three seconds faster time." OWNER ABSENT. So little did the president of the American Jockey Club expect to win that he was not present to see the race. Mrs. Woodward led the winner into the unsaddling enclosure to the accompaniment of a cordial round of applause. Scarcely anybody had backed Boswell, and the good spirit shown by the crowd will be a pleasant remembrance* Captain Boyd-Rochfort stated that he had had no real faith in the ability of either of the colts he saddled to beat the Manton colt, though he expected that they would finish second ami third. Records show this to be the fourth occasion on ' which Captain Boyd-Rochfort has- been associated with the winner of the Eclipse Stakes. He was the manager of Sir Ernest Cassel's horses when Hapsburg was successful in 1914. Fifteen years later he trained Royal Minstrel when that colt defeated Fairway in the colours of Mr. J. H. Whitney.. Four seasons ago he was successful with Loaningdale, who had been inherited by Colonel Guy Wilson from the Dowager Lady Nunburnholme. COMFORTABLE RIDE. P. Beasley said of the winner: "He gave me the same comfortable ride as he did in the St. Leger:" The colt's trainer stated that it had been intended to give Boswell another season in training, but after yesterday's success this plan may be departed from.' Now that he has won the Eclipse as well as the Doncaster classic the stud value of this son of Bosworth is considerably enhanced. Bred and reared at Captain Arthur Boyd-Rochfort's Middleton Stud in Westmeath, he has no American blood in his veins, so is eligible for the British Stud Book. When Lord Astor saw Rhodes Scholar in his box at Sandown for the first time since the accident he was rather shocked to see such vivid evidence of the colt's injury. His trainer continued to hope until the last that all would be wey; but spectators did not see the real Rhodes Scholar. It is a curious coincidence that In the two races in which Rhodes Scholar has failed to perform up to expectations, the St. Leger and the Eclipse Stakes, the winner has been Boswell.. Among distinguished people who at tended the meeting were Queen Mary and the Princess Royal. The Earl of Harewood is. one of the stewards at I Sandown Park. Lord Derby; who was present, had the satisfaction of noting that the three placed horses were by his sires, Bosworth, Fairway, and Sansovino.