A FAMOUS RACE

Evening Star, Issue 19142, 8 January 1926, Page 2

A FAMOUS RACE

THE STORY OF THE DERBY The Derby, for nil its possibility of romance, lias not inspired writers 1.0 any notable effort (says .Edgar Wallace, in ‘ o’ London’s Weekly';. Dickons, lor example, seems to nave been Inna ware mat “me Ep.mm Races” drew hundreds of tfiousanus to the Downs; Disraeli gave iho event a passing reference, and was left to lesser writers to spread themselves over the glories and wonders of the great race. Poor Ouidal She invested the event with her own brand of toffeeglamor,. but she is only remembered in this association by her charming errors—did she not make one horse win the Derby two years in succession? When it was pointed out to her that the race is for three-year-old colts and fillies, she answered: “It is an absurd restriction. 1 hope rny book will alter all that I”

The Derby, that “paramount and Olympic prize,” is the one English horse race which has its replica in every civilised country of the world. There are Derbys in every capital of Europe; Derbys in Australia, South Africa, and Canada; a Kentucky Derby, a South American Derby, an Argentine Derby, and even a Derby on a little racecourse in Centra! Africa.

I once asked the present Earl of Derby how the race came to be initiated, and ho replied with great frank ness:—

“ in the old days matches were made over the port.” ho said; “and 1 do not doubt that when my ancestor conceived both the Oaks Stakes the Derby stakes, for three-year-old fillies and colts respectively, it came about in this way.”

The Derby is unique _ for many reasons, not least of which is ’that' it has been run in successive years since 1780 over practically the same course as it is run to-day. That course is unlike any other track_ in the world. The horses have to climb, in the first five furlongs, a height equivalent in half the height of the Crystal Palace Tower. There is a long, more or less level run before the field dips down to Tottenham Corner, and this last fall of the ground is perhaps the most trying test of a. horse’s character that has ever been devised. There are scores of good horses who cannot survive the climb, and then that helter-skelter down hill, and who “prop,” by which 1 mean check their pace unconsciously, so that, when the level is readied again and the slight hill of the finish looms up before them, they nre wholly incapable of making up the ground they have lost. Although the fourteenth Earl of Derby inaugurated this race, he did not win it until seven years after its inception, when Sir Peter Teazle, ridden by one of the remarkable Arnnll family, won from seven runners—the smallest field, by the way. being a field of six, in the year 1788, when Sal tram won. In more recent times Rock Sand won from seven runners, St. Amant from eight, pnd Cicero mid Orhy from nine. There were thirtytwo runners in 1847, when Cossack won, but the record field faced the starter in 18(12, when Caractaeus headed a field of thirty-four. Derby favorites have suffered very little, remembering the extraordinary importance of the race, from the hand of the nobbier. Orme was undoubtedly got at, and in more recent times The Panther, n red-hot favorite, is believed to have been poisoned with an apple in which powdered glass was concealed, though ns to this slory we have only the evidence of one who alleges that he was employed to carry out this dastardly act. In the year 18,84 there was enacted a tragedy in connection with the Derby of which we have a daily reminder. A solicitor in the City of London had defrauded his clients of a considerable sum of money, and had had a very strong tip for St. Cation, which ho backed not only to recoup his losses hut to bring him a fortune besides. To arrange this lief, it was necessary that ho should make further inroads upon his clients’ money, and this ho did, knowing that if St. Gallon failed there was nothing left for in life. Tie was one of a group that surrounded a tape machine, then in its infancy, that was bringing the nows of the Derby result. Presently the “off” was .signalled, and then the machine buzzed—the result was coming through. Ho watched the tape, fascinate#, and presently it spelt a word—Harvester; the horse ho had been warned might win the race'. Without another word he left the lobby where the machine was, went into a room, and shot himself. Had ho waited another second he would have seen that Harvester and St. Ontien had run a dead-hcat, which would have meant that all the money ho required to clear himself, and more, would have been his on settling day. In consequence of this tragedy renders who watch tape machines in operation will notice that, when a dead-beat is run the words “dead-heat” precede the names of the two horses. There have been some wonderful Royal victories in the Derby. Persimmon gave King Edward, then the Prince of Wales, his first triumph, and Diamond Jubilee his second. .Diamond Jubilee was a very difficult horse to ride, and ho conceived a violent antipathy to the stable jockey, Mornington Gannon. “ Moray ” could do nothing with him at exercise, and the friends of the Royal sportsman wore in despair until Marsh mentioned the fact that there was a stable boy named Jones in whoso hands the horse was tractable and went kindly. Little Jones was hauled out of his obscurity, and the Prince looked at him for a long time before he made hi.s decision.

“If yon are good enough for Diamond Jubilee you are good enough for me, my hoy,” lie said; and Jones had tho rule, and won, amidst scenes of extraordinary enthusiasm, which were repeated to'an even greater extent when tho Prince, afterwards King Edward, won his third Derby with Minoru —a very moderate horso and a leased one at that.

It is a remarkable fact that from 1787 to 1924 no Earl of Derby bad succeeded in carrying off this prize, and possibly even the scenes which accompanied’ the victory of Minoru wore eclipsed in that frantic moment of enthusiasm when tho Earl of Derby went nut last year to lead in his winner, Sansovino.

Of tho hundred-to-ono winners there have boon several. Sir Hugo was one, Jeddah was another, Signorinetta 2(a filly bred and trained hyan old-fashioned Italian nobleman) was_ yet another; whilst the Derby sensation of 1910 was tho disqualification of Oagnnonr (unfairly, ns I think) and the awarding of tho race to Ahoycnr, who started at forlorn odds and ’was probably the worst Derby winner we have seen since the race was organised. ‘ French-trained horses have won it on several occasions. Durbar If. was (lie victor in the year of the war, Gladiatonr in 1865, whilst an American horse, Iroquois, ridden by Fred Archer, carried oj tho spoils in ’Bl. Archer won on Silvio in ’77, on Rond Or in 1880, on Melton in 1885, on Ormonde in 1886. Of the modern jockeys, Stephen Donoglmo has won the race three times and two substitute races run at Newmarket.