SENSATIONAL DRAMAS OF THE TURF.

Otago Witness, Issue 2372, 17 August 1899, Page 36

SENSATIONAL DRAMAS OF THE TURF.

Many strange dramas have been enacted in the world of the turf, but the grimmest of them all, says an exchange, was one in which Crockford, the proprietor of the famous or infamous gambling saloon of half a century ago, was the hero. Crockford was the owner of the favourite for the Derby of 1844, which was poisoned on the very eve of the race. The annoyance and disappointment caused by this disaster so affected him that he was seized with an apoplectic fit, which was fatal within two days. In addition to tho Derby favourite, Crockford was also owner of the favourite for the Oaks, on which his, friends had staked very large amounts. Their anxiety at his dangerous seizure was great, because in the event of his dying before the race his filly would be disqualified and their expected harvest would |bo lost. As they feared, the man actually died on the very morning of the race, and his friends were in despair. They were determined, however, not to lose their money, in the event of the filly's success, and to achieve this object they placed the corpse in a chair at an open window so that the crowds returning from the racecourse could see him. Mr Crockford 's filly came in first, and the returning crowds, seeing her owner at the window, shouted out the news and their congratulations to him, little dreaming that the congratulations fell on deaf ears/ The ruse was successful, the bets were paid, and it was many years later that the world knew that it had congratulated a dead man. When Caractacus won the Derby in 1862, he was the centre of a whole series of situations which were dramatic in their suspense apd excitement. To all but a privileged few his merits were quite an unknown quantity, but those who were admitted to the secret laid their last farthing on him, even to the extent of pawning their clothes and furniture. At the last moment Jim Goater refused to ride Caractacus, and he was left to the piloting of a stable lad. When Caractacus ran away from the field and came in a winner his backers were jubilant, as may well be imagined, since he started at odds of 40 to 1, anu every sovereign laid on him was to yield eight crisp £5 notes. Their joy was short-lived, however, for when Parsons, the stable boy, weighed in, he failed to turn the scale. The addition of the bridle, however, brought him \ip to the requisite weight, and this obstacle was safely surmounted. But the time for crowning was not yet; for just at this moment Lord Stamford lodged a serious, and apparently fatal, objection. Caractacus, he said, had started some distance in front of the starting-post, and had not covered the full distance. For a time it seemed that this objection put an end to Caractacue's chance, when to the intense relief of his backers it was discovered that the objection was invalid, as it had been made two minutes beyond the stipulated interval of a quarter of an hour from the conclusion of the race. Thus after many dramatic vicissitudes the dark horse was proclaimed winner of the blue ribbon, and his backers were promoted to the seventh heaven of jubilation.