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THE ASCOT GOLD CUP TROUBLE. Eiders Disqualification Not Approved By English Turf Press Stewards Erred. The disqualification of Eider, the French horse, after his dead heat with The White Knight in the race for the Gold Cup at Ascot, June 20, did not receive the approval of -the English turf press. The White Knight was ridden by W. Halsey and Eider hy G. Stern. About a furlong from the finish Elder took the lead and close to home The White Knight raced up to him and in a bumping finish got up to make it a dead heat, and at the same time trying to savage the French horse. Halsey lodged an objection against the jockey of Eider for boring, bumping and catching hold of his leg. The stewards Viscount Churchill, the Earl of Durham and Lord Stanley sustained the objection, but at the same lime exonerated Stern from the charge of catching hold of Halseys leg. Eider was disqualified, and the race awarded to The White Knight; Reppo got second money and Rridge of Canny was officially placed third. Morpeth II., winner of the Austrian Derby in 190C, "was among the unplaced horses. The dead heat for the Gold Cup was the fifth since. the race was first instituted, and on two previous occasions the winner bad been disqualified. In 1S11 and 1823. In the course of his comment in the disqualification, the London Sporting Lifes chief critic says: "Eider unquestionably came away from the rails inside the distance, but it is equally certain, that The White Knight was not so far from the rails when he passed the first post as he was when, say, a furlong from home. He no doubt kept a straighter course than the French horse, but it was not a straight one. After the bumping had commenced, The White Knight deliberately tried to savage Eider: otherwise he must have got the verdict outright in the first instance, though the margin would have been a very narrow one. I was firmly convinced in my own mind that there was fault on both sides, and I quite expected, or at any rate hoped, the stewards would come to the same conclusion. So did a good many other people; indeed, I came across several who were amazed by the disqualification."
