GRAND PARADE’S DERBY.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 16506, 6 August 1919, Page 8

GRAND PARADE’S DERBY.

A 33 TO 1 WINNER. THE KING’S VICTORY IN THE STEWARDS’. (Times Correspondent.} EPSOM, June 4. Lord Glanely’s (bir William iatem) Grand Parade won tlio Victory jaerby to-uay Oy hau a length; Major V\ . As>tor's Uuebau was second and Sir V . Gilbeys Paper Money third. The Panther, the lavourue at 6 do o, spout Ins chances at tlio start, ’j ho winner started at 33 to 1. Earlier this aitornoou Viceroy earned the King’s colours to victory m tho Stewards' Handicap, and tlio King, who was present with the Queen, the Prmeo or Wales, Prince Albert, and Princess Mary, was given a magnificent reception. A policeman, ushering the crowd at Tottenham Corner station, either made or borrowed the apt comment on Epsom to-day. “It's not often,” ho said, “we get a Peace Derby.” With peculiar English irony this sentence expresses a multitude of things. Something like 1 a hundred special trains had poured in their loads. People who had spent the night on the Downs were beginning to lenl sleepy. The Panther, that disappointing animal, was in everybody's mouth. The il>nos.s of his owner, whose condition remains about tho same, grew, in rumour at least, more serious. But the Derby race was as yet far off, and tlio King appeared to be in everybody's head. Tils Majesty and the Queen had just arrived amid tho loud cheers in those near at hand, hut tho rest, lacking knowledge of the event and earnestly desiring to be assured, renewed lhe excursion to the neighbourhood of tho Royal Stand which they had been making at intervals all tho morning. Later the success of the King’s horse, Viceroy, in tho Stewards’ Handicap proved another welcome opportunity of saluting Us owner

That tons of thousands should have been asking, "Where's tho King?” in sheer ignorance of his arrival, may be accepted as some, slight indication of tho multitude assembled in the vast theatre of the Downs. Some professed disappointment with the scone; it was not so packed, they said, as they had expected. Hut these must have pitched their expectations beyond reasonable height, or failed to bo. assured of tho mass of humanity by rubbing shoulders with it. Certainly there wore enough people to satisfy any ordinary lover of his kind. The green fate of nature was in imminent danger of being blotted out by them. Not only did they swarm near the course itself, but big bundles clustered on the. slopes, where tho view of the races must have been so very indistinct ns to leave a visual doubt whether horses wore running or liny pieces of mechanism. A WIRT AFTERNOON. Over all was a sad, grey sky, its monotony broken only by tho heavier grey of rain clouds. The downpour came in good time for tho first race, and the whole afternoon was damp, drizzling, or ponetratingly wet. The atmosphere was close, so that for several moments the Union Flag and Royal Standards on the two groat stands would cling dankly to the flapstnffs, hotel u a. puff of wind came to blow them out again. It was perfect weather to ho melancholy in, or to catch rhouunttum. Possibly the spirits of tho crowd were subtly affected, hut really there was no sign of any such concession to conditions. Ttie wet appeared to influence tho feelings of the holiday maker no more than it affected (lie voices of the bookmakers, who are notoriously insusceptible. The old Derby tone roigned over the revival of the people’s holiday-.though tho people had not brought umbrellas or overcoats. No. they had defied augury. Forgone man nt woman properly equipped against the weather twenty men and women had taken no precautions whatever. Prosperous and poor alike, most had apparently decided that umbrellas and overcoats would bo out of place. They stood and they walked, talked, and made merry, with the rain pouring on them ami off them,-with a placid disregard of the worst harm it could wreak, till a fatalist from the East would have decided that hero at last was a nation acting in accordance with the philosophy that thinking makes it so. The weather was hardly mentioned. hut was ignored, like a child put to the corner in disgrace.

The heads of prudent youths might start from beneath motor-cars, where they were seeking shelter from the worst showers. But those wore exceptions proving the rule. And while they wore cowering, the negro minstrel, in his absurdly small hat, was playing melodiously on the banjo and singing a sentimental serenade to tiro stolid British matron on the car’s front seat. With a few tons of thousands' of younger women, she. had resolved that the sun_ was shining. Those of the crowd wno were not in motors or otherwise elevated above the earth bought oranges and ‘Thirst quenchers” with the same laudable pretence. Or perhaps they wore hungry, reduced to the condition in which something is at least bettor than nothing. Indeed, the forefathers of all of us who go to the Derby would have found this Derby singularly unsubstantial. Deport or" slander said that huge provision of liquor, if not of meats, had been made privately and personally, and that strictness of licensing regulation would avail nothing. So far as one’s own observation went, the wonder was how people “lasted” through a strenuous day. Comparatively few* wore to bo detected in eating or drinking; while, as for the motors that had piled up provisions they hid themselves rather cleverly. ’ A COSMOPOLITAN CROWD. In most respects, judgment of the Peace Derby should follow the lines of the policeman’s ironical_ understatement. A definite question, however, may he risked on a single feature of the gathering—its larger cosmopolitanism. Never can so many men of so many nations have been together at Epsom. Especially well represented were the English-speaking countries. All branches of the family sent soldiers, who could not bo missed in the scene, small as their aggregate may have been in relation to the civilians. Of this total, it was pleasant to note, American soldiers formed a respectable proportion. But the strangers to the Derby were not to he ganged by uniform. Some of them, indistinguishable by dross, came from long years of wandering and exile in many parts of the globe. Their questions on the way down betrayed them, and the betrayal

led to confidences. “Yes, rav first Derby,” said one, “but, then, 1 haven’t been in England for JO years. Yesterday I saw the Trooping of the Colour, and to-morrow J’m going down to Devonshire, where I was born.”

A less direct hint of the preponderance of strangers, unless one misintcr- I prots, came from tho abnormal curiosity in the preparations for tho races. Tiie policemen clearing the course of people, the boys clearing it of paper, the starting and finishing points, and other details, seemed to cause more interest and call for greater explanation than in the old days. j EXPECTANCY AT THE START. j But the old days—tho traditional j Derby—returned with full force when j the time came for tho great race itscll. I The remembered hush fell on tho vast crowd, so that ten minutes before tho start the sileneo was eerie. Bookmakers calling the odds, a girl’s laugh now and then, only accentuated the stillness—that queer pf suspense rather than peace which none can forget until they have forgotten tlie Derby Then the sudden roar and tlie shout of ‘‘They’re off!” and again ; tiie stillness till tho horses reached , Tattenham Corner. j A man asked to choose a single mo- ; inent at which the national character, i in its qualities and its oddities, shows I itself the same year after year, might ! do worse than select tho. thrilled, re-J served expectancy of the Derby crowd , before the horses take the swerve. | Other races Imre their excitement, but j these few seconds of storage of on- ! thusiasm are peculiarly characteristic j of the Derby, and no more to be do- j scribed than the wind or a human ' voice. To-day the onlookers gave j tongue as creditably as tho millions j who have preceded them. Tho true j Derby note, was heard again, pursuing i tho horses till they had ended their ■ rare and the winner had been acclaim- j ed in the way favoured of many genera- j lions of mortal sportsmen and pleasure- J seekers. GOOD HUMOUR IN DISAPPOINTMENT. There is always another good opportunity afterwards—of seeing how Epsom accepts disappointment. The beating of tlie favourite was a great disappointment to a small army of martyrs. But favourites have been beaten since racing began, and tho conscious grin on tho faces of the vanquished said only that sucli is the way of the world in general and racecourses in particular. Probably the Englishman gets as near to shrugging his shoulders after a Derby surprise as ever ho does. Nor does he ever appreciate more sincerely the little amiable absurdities of bis womankind, which provide him with an excuse for laughing on tho right side of his mouth when ho most needs the exercise. There was, at least, one woman on the course today who fancied that Tho Panther’s defeat would result in her getting back tho money she had betted on him; and a small circle of her friends was necessary to teaeh her mournful wisdom • while their efforts and her protestations delighted a bigger ring of auditors. RUSH FOR LONDON.

The company of people who made haste to London directly the Derby was over- was larger than usual. The rain may have been responsible for their early departure, but the fear of delay bringing trouble (and no seat in the train) is the more likely reason. The crowd was so great, indeed, that the wonder grow as one gazed how it ever came and how it was over to depart. Nothing but excellent organisation mingled with good will and the discipline bom of experience could have accomplished the twin feats of assembly and dispersal. Weather apart, the Peace Derby encouraged the hope that there wi'll bo more of a similar kind. At the same time, the people were so numerous, and so many of London’s taxi-cabs and omnibuses had been commissioned on their behalf, that sympathy was not entirely wasted on the very few folk and vehicles that (as the scone suggested) had not come to the Derby. IN THE PADDOCK. Paddock inspection is an uncomfortable business in wet weather, and all but the enthusiasts waited in such

shelter as was available to criticise the Derby field in tho parade ; though by this time the rain had changed to drizzle. All tho 13 coloured on the card came out. lot by The Panther, who happened to be No. 1. The colt's good looks arc acknowledged. In tho matter of make and shaps ho was unsurpassed by any of the rest, though when they turned to canter his jockey restrained him, so that the exhibition was not particularly attractive. Perhaps. if opinions had been gathered as to which of tho 13 moved best, the decision would have boon for Lord Glanoly’s Dominion and Sir Waller Gilboy’s Paper Money. FAVOURITE'S BAD START. When the post was reached Tho Panther began at once to give trouble. Again and again, when his jockey was endeavouring to make him take his place in the lino, he swung round and declined to approach the barrier. Captain Lionel Montagu's White Heat was disposed to be awkward, but it was by Sir A. Black’s colt that the delay was occasioned. When at length he was coaxed into position the Hag fell, and 12 of tho 13 sped away, the 13th, Sir Oeorgo Murray’s Coriolamis, failing to jump off with his horses and destroying Ids chance, if he had ever possessed any. which is widely improbable. The bearer of the chocolate and yellow stripes, scarlet cap, Paper .Money, at onto wont to the front ; evidently no sort of doubt was entertained that he would stay. Tho Panther did not got otf at all well, but he by no means lost anything like sufficient ground very seriously to alfect his prospects, and by degrees tho light pink, light blue bolt —colours difficult to make out in tho distance—was borne nearer to the leaders. Heavy mist which enveloped the course made tho identification of tho runners still harder; it could be made out, however, that Paper Money was still to the. fore as Tattcnham Corner was rounded. Grand Parade, Buchan, and Sir Douglas in attendance, Tho Panther having by this time dropped hack. HOW GRAND PARADE WON. A furlong from home, there or thereabouts, either Paper Money flagged or Grand Parade and Buchan made special efforts, for those two came on, Brennan, in Major Aster’s light blue, pink sash—The Panther’s colours reversed—seeking to pass Grand Parado where there was not room for him to do so; and Lord Glanely’s colt, carrying on, passed the post half a length to tho good, Paper Money third, beaten a couple of lengths from the second, with Sir Douglas not far off. Tho jockey of the second horse is usually criticised when ho has lost by a narrow margin, and it was protested that if Brennan had conio up on tho outside ho would quite probably just have won. How this might have been cannot bo positively asserted; at any rate, he would hardly have been beaten as much as tho half-length that was given against him. It cannot, of course, bo pretended that tho victory was popular. Grand Parade as noted, carried tho second colours, or, at least, a distinguishing cap, to intimate that Ho was less fancied than Iris owner's other _ representative, the regular stable jockey rodo the loser, and tirand Parade started at 33 to 1, Dominion at 100 to 9. As for tho defeat of The Panther, it seems to me that there is no cause for astonishment. In expressing a mild impression that he would win—with Buchan and Paper Money next host I had more flian onco emphasised the fact that I entertained no exalted opinion of tho son of Tracory, merely taking him to be probably the best of an indifferent lot of three-year-olds.