OWNER OF PAPYRUS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18577, 8 December 1923, Page 2 (Supplement)

OWNER OF PAPYRUS.

LUCK OF BEN IRISH. j ■ - ; •• . —— ■ vmggm GOLD CUP WINNER FOR €30^Vl|,| ■ -—— • ■ • ROMANCE OF THE'TURJ. There are many romantic stories of tjjg turf, but none is more appealing. tfi 3n ;'j that which surrounds Mr. Ben Irish,,-. the rowner of Papyrus and the man who w*®-®1 the Derby -at his first attempt. • Jfc ' Irish, indeed, became an owner more by accident than design, says an English U sporting writer. He has always had jj§P|j sympathetic interest in racing, but I be. 1 lieve he only bought a horse or Wo to swell the string of Basil Jar vis, between' i whom and Mr. Irish a great friendship has ;: always existed. Anyway, Mr. Irish never dreamt that ' when, on the advice of Jarvis, he bought" i Periosteum for the modest outlay |. £200 he was on the threshold of fame. ' In two seasons the horse, whose price ; was no more than that which would have *" purchased a mere selling plater, tacked / two more figures on to his value. From " a £100 race Periosteum moved up into' handicap '.jmpany, became the best staver of his uay and actually won the Ascot V; Gold Cup. " ■: But for Periosteum there would have been no Papyrus- at least, not for Mr, •. Irish. Stimulated by the deeds of Perio*. ; steum —and also by the cash this horse had won for himhe began to hope for ; a Derby 'winner, and his uncanny luck was never more emphatically illustrated' ? than two years ago. Then at the Lancaster sales Sir John Robinson, the famous breeder, sent up " : Papyrus, Duncan Gray and Roger de - Busii. The latter pair did not reach their 1 reserve, and Sir John has since regretted he had not made a higher estimate of Papyrus. It was here the Jarvis-IrisjV" - alliance again had Dame Fortune at thsi*' elbows. In Papyrus, Jarvis saw the' ' makings of a Derby winner, and Mr. Irish ' ■ ; backed up his trainer's opinion with a cheque to Messrs. Tattersall for 3500 guineas. There have been cheaper classic - Horses, but to-day Papyrus i 8 worth I twenty times that sum. Typical British Farmer. j A Gold Cup and a Derby in three years ' have not, however, changed tins "onehorse owner," as he. has beer appropriately termed. After the Derby he - told me he had no intention o: setting : ' up a racing stable, but'would spend soma -> of the Papyrus winnings on the pur. —> chase of two or three good Yearling T ~ have not followed Mr. Irish's doinra : ' at the sales this autumn, but it would be only in accordance with the Irish i 4 luck iur next season to disclose that he - had another potential classic wince#, at ;Va cost cf lew hundred pounds 1 -pK - lam sorry Mr. Irish, on his doctor', " advice, was not able to go to America and see Papyrus race in the all-impor- ' tant match. The Americans would hsva taken to their hearts this man, who is so V. typical of what he is, a successful fir. * • mer of the yeoman type. When yon ; look at Mr. Irish yr>u think of fat cattle . and broad-backed sheep, and a more lit- > ting background to his sturdy figure aud-weather-beaten complexion than the race- ' show wou be any ' country agricultural ;^ Mr. Irish has been credited with being Mz a farmer for amusement. Nothing of the M sort. He does not now farm to such ( r t extent as he used to, but he has had to ' do it for a living, and but for years of • hard work there would have been no . Papyrus. It was characteristic of him to S say jokingly, as he did after Periosteum's # Ascot triumph, "I was an ordinary\far- H met yesterday, but now that I've won the Gold Cup, please understand I'm a gen. > tleman farmer,'' 6 Dinner with His Majesty. , ; ? Mr. Irish—"Ben" to all his friends-- '-S lives at Sawtry, in Huntingdonshire, and c when he comes to . London to win '*1 Derbys he stays at the Hotel Russell,, in ,- f r .preference > to:: the . more luxurious tlitz and Savoy; even on Derby night; th». hotel dinner -was good enough for lomielE and his friends, but this is not to fay . i there ' was no. champagne. t , ■' : Most owners of Derby winners would, I think, say the Wednesday of the Epsom Summer . Meeting was'the great- - est day of their life. Mr. Irish is not, . I however, one of them. "Mine," he says, 4 I "was the following day, when my wife "" 1 and myself had the honour of lunching - '* with the King, and I told His Majesty 4' so," King Georgia has done nothing ■,% which has more appealed to public ima- " gination than that signal honour he conerred' on Mr. and Mrs. Irish. • ITie W owner ■of Papyrus is, like most farmers, • 'W a Conservative, hence his . lucky colours, Jg violet and primrose, a combination, ot, ■'$ course, of the party favours. - In what directions Mr. Irish has dii* v'U tributed some of his turf winnings, I do . Vi. not know. . Being a most generous man his benefactions are probably numerous, 1 and few trainers and jockeys have been -.y. so handsomely treated by their patrons % as Jarvis and Donoghue. After " the Derby ; Donoghue was given a cheque ■§ which it would have taken even Fred IfArcher a long time to earn. ...