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SAFFERYS START IN FORTUNES HIGHWAY In a sketch of Mr Vanderbilts colt Sea Sick II published in Daily Racing Form a day or so ago some reference Is made to the price Saffery ob tained about Montargls Of Saffery an English contemporary says saysThose Those who get the long prices do not always have the best of the settling as Saffery did In the old days when he took all the hundreds to one lie could get about Montargis for the Cambridgeshire of 1S73 Henry Saffery or Macleod as his real name was at that time was a bookmaker in a very small way of business He was engaged during the week as a cutter In the tailoring business of Old England or Les Montagues dEcosse in Paris and on Sun ¬ days he used to stand up and bet from a piquet at Longchamps and Auteull The Comte de Julgne had run Montargis in the Derby won by Doncaster and had entered him for the Cambridgeshire in which his weight was 111 pounds Saffery thought that the French punters would want their little bit on the French horse and he took all the longpriced bets he could get about him and in those days as much as 200 to 1 was often offered against horses in such handicaps as the Cambridgeshire CambridgeshireFor For some reason however the Frenchmen would not have Montargis at any price the horse had been beaten twice at Doncaster and the great tip in Paris was Mr Foys Walnut the winner of a handicap at Newmarket in the second October meet ¬ ing In which It was understood Mr Billy Wright was In some way interested Saffery was left with all his bets on his hands His brother kept an oyster bar in the Place de la Madeleine and there Saffery went on the afternoon of the Cambridgeshire He had laid heavily against Walnut and the success of that horse mean ruin to him Thirtysix horses started for that memorable Cambridgeshire in which the first four were Montargis Walnut Sterling and King Lud the firstnamed winning by a short head When the telegram announcing the result arrived Saffery did not turn a hair but remarked hi the most casual way to the man behind the bar Open me another dozen natives George GeorgeThe The money he made over Montargis fairly started him He never returned to the tailors shop and he ultimately became the biggest bookmaker In France He occupied the No 1 position at all the principal meetings and I well remember seeing him lay the Duke of Hamilton in one bet 20000 to 3000 against Jannock when that horse won the big hurdle race at Auteull When the parlmutuel was Intro duced Into France Saffery practically retired from the turf with several millions of francs owing to him He died at Margate several years ago He was certainly one of the gamest of men and the most Imperturbable
