ENGLISH SPORTING LETTER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVIII, Issue 11319, 13 July 1897, Page 7

ENGLISH SPORTING LETTER.

[Correspondent' “ Canterbury Times.”'! LONDON, Mat 21. -

Although it was only instituted in 1887, I question whether to-day the Calendar contains a handicap race which more keenly interests the Metropolitan sportsman than the “ Jubilee” Stakes run for over a mile course at the Kempton Park Spring Meeting. The race was decided for the eleventh time on Saturday last before a record crowd, and happily under favourable atmospheric conditions. It was won by the first favourite, but, for probably the first time on record, the victory of the favourite was received with groans, catcalls, and other manifestations of disapproval. Though the entry for the Jubilee was a very big one, the field on the fateful day mustered only fourteen strong. But what was lacking in quantity was atoned for in quality, for amongst the starters were half a dozen of the best handicap horses in training. First and foremost was. the dual'Jdbilee winner, Mr "Wortou’s grand old chestnut Victor Wild. To this eqiline god of ..the multitude the.handicapper allotted 9st9lb, a.couple of pounds more than he carried to ■victory last year and 191 b in excess of, the burden he carried first past " the post' in 1895. Next in the list of weights was Kilcock, upon whose five-year-old back 9st was placed, as against the feather of fist 121 b which he carried into second place last year. Upon theßst7lb mark were Dinna Forget syrs and Balsamo 4yrs, and to Labrador 4yrs the weight given was Bst 61b. The weights apportioned to the remainder were as follows: —Red Heart syrs, ;Bst lib; Melange 4yrs, Bst; La Sagesse syrs, 7st 91b; Mack Briggs, 7st 8lb; The Lombard syrs. 7st 61b; Clwyd fiyrs, 7st 51b; Hebron fiyrs, 7st 31b; Rampipn 4yrs,' fist 101 b and Ardvourlie, fist 2lb. The betting at the start was 3 to 1 Clwyd, 4 to 1 Kilcock, 6 to 1 Melange, 8 to 1 Labrador, 100 to 8 the Lombard, 100 to 7 Rampion and 100 to 6 Red Heart, these being all heavily supported. Against Balsamo and Tin. Sagesse the bookmakers gave twenties freely, and Victor Wild had plenty of friends at five points longer odds. Ardvourlie and Hebron went oht at 33 to 1, and against Mack Briggs odds of 50 to 1 were shouted in vain. The start was delayed a little by The Lombard overpowering his rider and tumbling over the rails. Apparently this little escapade injured neither horse nor man. The field got off at the first attempt, Hebron and Clwyd getting slightly the best of the start. The pace was warm from the outset, Hebron being forced along as fast as he could put feet to ground. The favourite kept well at his heels, and when fairly round the bend for home closed with the leader, Kilcock at the same time drawing up into third place, closely attended by Victor Wild. A quarter of a mile from home Clwyd headed Hebron, and as the latter fell away Kilcock and Victor Wild challenged the leader, and a desperate race home between the trio ensued. For a few stiides it seemed that Victor Wild would pull off the race for the third time, but the weight told and the issue was then confined to Clwyd and Kilcock. On the latter Watts made a final effort, but little Nat Robinson was equal to the occasion, and so was Clwyd, and the judge’s verdict was a neck in favour of Mr Calvert’s horse, Victor Wild being beaten a bare length by the winner. The time of the race was Imin 40sec, the fastest ever accomplished in the Jubilee, the previous record being held by Orvieto, which won in 1893 in Imin The hoisting of Clywd’s number was the signal for a cheer by his backers, but their triumphant notes were quickly drowned by less pleasant sounds, and it is evident that the great body of sportsmen will not soon forgive Mr Calvert for scratching the Queen’s prize-winner Bridegroom. The unsavory scandal in connection with Mr Albert Calvert’s horses in the Jubilee Stakes culminated after gallant victory, when the Westralian Midas was greeted with prolonged hoots and groans by the huge crowd at Kempton. .Mr Calvert loudly declares he is being grossly misused and misunderstood. Perhaps so, but appearances are against him. His horse Bridegroom won the Queen’s Prize at Kempton in a trot, and in consequence became a tremendous favourite for the Jubilee Stakes. A large number of doubleevent bets are booked on the City and Suburban and Jubilee Stakes, and this year the popular selection was Balsamo and Bridegroom. Balsamo won the City which left the Ring upwards of £25,000 to the bad should Bridegroom secure the Jubilee. With this amount of money to cover, Mr Calvert’s horse ought, of course, to have become an even money chance. But instead he went as badly as possible io, the. market, the stable apparently declaring for the second string, Clwyd. I will now let the Sporting Times continue the story. Mr Corlett says:—“Mr Calvert, in a letter to the Sportsman, denying that he has laid any money against Bridegroom, whom, indeed, he says he backed at the very astonishing odds of 25 to 1, adds that he had no bet about Clwyd until May 3. He does not, however, say what the bet was. We will, therefore, give him a chance of repairing this omission by asking him whether the bet in question was not the very extraordinary one of 10,000 to 500. The date, it will he observed, was May 3, which was soon after the settling day for the City and Suburban. We understand that the number of double event bets of Balsamo for the City and Suburban and Bridegroom for the Jubilee taken by the public was extraordinary, and even at the odds quoted, it would have cost the bookmakers £15,000 at the very least to hedge. What would he the price of Bridegroom if all were above board and there was £15,000 to go on him. It would bring him to even money or odds on, and thus the losses of bookmakers would be enormous. It was in this dilemma that they clubbed up a bet of twenty monkeys, and it may be more, to induce Mr Calvert to run Clwyd, but what the conditions with regard to Bridegroom were we will leave our readers to conjecture. With regard to last Sunday’s ‘trial,’ one behind the scenes tells us that he was offered 100 to 1 agst Bridegroom before the trial took place, the layer saying that he might have the bet, no matter what the result of the trial was. Verb sap, especially as Allen rode Bridegroom has been scratched, and his owner has prostituted sport to betting considerations. Mr Calvert says that he never laid a shilling against Bridegroom. There are other ways of killing a dog than by choking him with butter.”