THE ENGLISH DERBY OF 1844.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VII, Issue 313, 23 July 1896, Page 7

THE ENGLISH DERBY OF 1844.

Won by a four-year-old. Running Rein’s Victory How many, I wonder, who read the little bit of Turf history here set down, will remember the sensational English Derby of 1844, when, but for the intervention of Lord George Bentinck, the stakes would certainly have been awarded to Mr Goodman Levy and Mr Wood, the owners of Running Rein. Mainly through the instrumentality of Harry Hill, who was Lord George Bentinck’s Turf agent, the suspicion was aroused in his lordship’s mind that Running Rein was none other than the Maccabeus colt, then four years old, and had been substituted for the brown colt by Saddler out of Mab. Consequently, an objection, on the grounds that Running Rein was a four-year-old, was lodged by Colonel Peel, the owner of Orlando, who came in second. Although there were good grounds for these suspicions, it is open to doubt whether the objection could have been sustained without the valuable assistance rendered by Tom Ferguson, Chas. Coghlan, and Francis Ignatius Coyle, three of the shrewdest men then on the Turf. Charles Coghlan at that time was on the most intimate terms with Tom Ferguson, of Rossmore Lodge, Curragh, a very prominent patron of the Turf in the forties, loved and respected by everybody, and it was through Fer uson that the informat'on was supplied to Lord George Bentinck, which enabled him to prove the fraud beyond the possibility of a doubt. But, owing to the cunning and treachery of Harry Hill, neither Charlie Coghlan nor Francis Ignatius—as he was generally called—ever received any acknowledgment of their services.

On the night of the Derby the two friends were at supper at Coghlan’s house, in Porchester Terrace, and as Harry Hill was perfectly aware of the intimaev of that gentleman with Tom Ferguson, no surprise was created when Lord George Bentinck’s turf agent made his appearance, and it was at once guessed that his visit had some connection with the objection to Running Rein. At Hill’s request, Coglan wrote to Tom Ferguson —who was laid up at the Curragh with the gout —asking him to put in writing all he had told him about the substitution of Running Rein. Lord Bentinck and Hill had both heavily backed Orlando, and Coglan was promised, in the presence of Coyle, that he should be put on a large sum to nothing if he would help to expose the fraud. Hill also gave his word that Tom Ferguson’s reply should be kept a ser ret. But when the reply came, some days later, Coghlan foolishly allowed Hill to tak t the letter away with him, on promising faithfully to return it the same evening. Harry Hill hurried off and showed the reply to Lord George Bentinck, who, with his usual impetuosity, started off at once to Ireland, and made poor Ferguson tell all he knew. But, instead of Coghlan being put on the large sum to nothing, he was totally ignored, all Harry Hill’s promises proving, as Coghlan declared, “as faithless and worthless as he was himself.”

: Although Francis Ignatius Coyle’s reputation in. Turf history of fifty years ago was far from wholes ime, to his credit be it said that he was a

man of undoubted courage, afid'Ahe most brilliant example of this quality was established in con-:' nection with Running Rein. Coyle was an Irish-, man, and his poverty often drove him to dirty 1 and unscrupulous means of " getting a. bit.;’) Still, such was the personality of the man, lie made many friends, and, of course, a few great enemies. He was fairly well educated, and Charles Coghlan was his firm friend and constant companion. Harry Hill, on the other hand, rose from a very humble position. When a young man he was “ boots ” at an hotel in Manchester, and later on made his way to London with his stock-in-trade and fixtures under his arm, prominent among which was a table, a few nimble peas, and a merry little thimble. Fortune smiled upon him, however, and in 1844 he was a racing star of the first magnitude and the favourite and most trusted turf agent of Lord George Bentinck, and, after getting all the information he wanted from Coghlan and Ferguson, Hill carefully avoided them, and was set down by the former as “ one of the meanest, craftiest, and treacherous scoundrels that ever lived.”

But to hark back to Running Rein. After winning the Derby he was lodged in a box at the Cock, at Sutton, and in the course of the famous trial, Wood v. Peel, which arose out of the objection, and came before Baron Alderson in ths Court of the Exchequer, on July 1,1844, the Baron expressed a wish to see the horse for whom the Derby was claimed ; but to the amazement of everyone, William Smith, the trainer, had to admit in cross-examination, that Running Rein had disappeared. Some person or persons unknown had smuggled him out of the way in order to baffle the agents of Colonel Peel. On the day after the Derby, it appeared, a stranger, having every appearance of a country farmer, with a red face and an admirable get up, entered the yard of the Cock, at Sutton, at about five o’clock in the afternoon, and ask the groom to “ put up ” the horse he was riding. _ The farmer was none other than Franzis Ignatius Coyle, and so well did he play the part, and so capitably was he got up, that none of those staying at the inn had the slightest suspicion of the perilous enterprise on which he was engaged. No doubt Coyle had made an accomplice of one of the grooms in charge of Running Rein (to whom the horse he rode into the yard bore a strong likeness), and with this assistance Francis Ignatius was able to “ ring the changes,” and to ride safely away, mounted on the back of the horse that came in first in the Derby of 1844. With the disappearance of Running Rein a most damnable piece of evidence was missing, and thus the all but successful fraud failed to bring down upon Goodman, Levy, and Wood the penalty they so ricely deserved. Although nothing favourable can be said on the morality of the part played by Francis Ignatius Coyle, still it must be admit*ed that the deed was a highly courageous one. If discovered it would inevitably have meant transportation for life to the principal actor. But nothing was ever found out; the Maccabeus colt disaaneared as if the earth had swallowed him, and not until years after Coyle’s death did these facts come to light; the Derby of 1844 had long been awarded to Orlando, and Running Rein was almost forgotten. — English Licensed Victualldrs' Gazette.