THE OUTSIDERS’ YEAR

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVII, Issue 985, 21 January 1909, Page 6

THE OUTSIDERS’ YEAR

The flat racing season in England which has just concluded, has indeed been an exceptional one (writes the “ Australasian’s” London correspondent). Interest has, as usual, been chiefly centred in the doings of the three year olds, and after their performances in the spring and early summer it is strange indeed to find Your Majesty and Langwm standing out as undoubtedly the two best of their age. The pair have not once met throughout the season, but neither has suffered a single defeat since Ascot. Your Majesty, who was badly beaten in the Two Thouand Guineas, did not run in the Derby, but Langwm only managed to finish a poor third in the Blue Riband of the turf, and it then hardly appeared possible that he would eventually prove himself vastly superior to Signorinetta and Primer, who finished first and second on that occasion. Only a month ago Langwm actually gave Primer 211 b and a neck beating over a mile and two furlongs; whilst Signorinetta has not even been placed in any of the three races which she has contested since the Epsom meeting. Her astounding double event in the Derby and Oaks stands out as one of the most inexplicable occurrences in the history of the turf. Amongst the older horses the same variation in form has shown itself, and the three Cup performers—The White Knight,

Radium, and Torpoint—have beaten each other in turn. An undoubted champion in the unbeaten colt Bayardo has certainly been found among the two year olds, but with regard to the big handicaps, in and out form has again been remarkable, and not within the recollections of the oldest racegoers has there ever been such a sequence of successes for rank outsiders. Indeed, in the twenty handicaps which have attracted chief attention since the season opened in March last, only two favourites have proved successful, and with the victories of Elmstead (Stewards’ Cup), Simonson (Duke of York Stakes), Marcovil (Cambridgeshire Stakes), Santeve (Liverpool Cup), and Old China (Manchester November Handicap), together with those of Rubio (Grand National Steeplechase), Norman 111. (Two Thousand Guineas), and Signorinetta (Derby), the season of 1908 will long be remembered as the “ Outsiders’ Year.”