LARGE WINNINGS AND LOSSES ON THE TURF.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XI, Issue 31, 5 August 1893, Page 54

LARGE WINNINGS AND LOSSES ON THE TURF.

The various ways in which men bear their losses is extraordinary. The worst loser is generally the professional betting man, but dukes give way to their disappointment sometimes in a way equally undignified. Perhaps the most marvellous instance of iron nerve was when Hermit came to weigh-in after the Derby of 1867. Lord Hastings, whom his victory had irretrievably ruined, descended from the Stewards’ Stand, and without the slightest tinge of bravado, patted the horse on the neck. On his death bed, referring to the circumstance, he observed, ‘ I said nothing, but people did not know how I felt.’ Over Macaroni’s Derby in 1863, and Hermit’s in 1867, the largest stakes were won that were ever gained by one individual. So far as figures go the largest stake ever landed by any one man was by Mr Chaplin over Hermit. His account showed a balance of something like £150,000, but, as he remarked, a considerable part of it was on paper,’ and it is owing to this day. ’ The man who won the most money, and got it was Mr Naylor, who had over £lOO,OOO paid in to his bankers after Macaroni had won the Derby. Mr Merry is popularly supposed to have won upwards of £lOO,OOO over Tbormanby, but those in a position to form a proper judgment believe the sum did not exceed £70,000, which is about what Sir Joseph Hawley won on Teddington. Next to Mr Naylor’s winnings, probably comes the Marquis of Hastings’ coup over Lecturer’s Cesarewitch. °

During the extravagant eia of the Regency, wagering, as it was called, reached an enormous height, and though carried on by fewer persons, comprised larger transactions than at present. Of the school of which Sir Charles Bunbury and Captain Mellish were typical representatives, perhaps the last survivor remained to our own day in the person of the late Mr George Payne, who lost three fortunes on the Turf. But the genus plunger is by no means extinct, and the names of Sir Beaumont Dixie, Sir John Willoughby, and Mr Benzon will be familiar to students of racing as men who not very long ago backed their opinion with boldness and freedom, and we know with what result; while an eminent West End money lender enjoys the distinction of having paid the largest Ascot settling on record, the sum of twenty-seven thousand pounds representing the extent of his * bad week.’

At Ascot, in 1876, the late Lord Derby lost some £2O 000 including a bet of £12,000 to £2,000 on Petrarch when Coltness beat him. An owner of racehorses, on hearing of the disastrous speculation, remarked, ‘ I wish it had been £100,000.’