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ENGLISH DERBY MYSTERIES AND DREAMS How Teddington Wasnt Stopped The Tangled Caso of Running Rein If It were possible to write the full and true history of the Derby it would contain some startling reyelations of strange doings behind the scenes of which the public has little suspicion and no knowl ¬ edge edgeThere There is for instance says the London TitBits little doubt that a very different tale would have teen told of Teddingtons Derby but for the prompt action of his wideawake owner Sir Joseph Hawley When the Kentish baronet attended the York spring meeting In 1851 he was amazed to find the book ¬ makers eager to lay odds to any amount against his colt which was looked on as a certain winner of the blue ribbon a few weeks later Sir Joseph at once scented mischief and leaving the course he travelled as fast as relays of swift horses could take him to his training quarters where he com ¬ municated his suspicions to Aleck Taylor his trainer As the result of their deliberations Teddington was at once removes to another box placed under the charge ofcJar different boy and a strict watch kept over him night and day Whatever scheme was on checked Teddington soon resumed his place as first favorite In the betting and as everybody expected1 woa with ease easei i Aaother mysterywhlcb has not been solved to this iUy Is associated with Leandcr andUhe memorable Derby of 1844 It was more than suspected tliat LeaWefr w a m twrjremrold but there was aot sufficient evidence on which to 1 ase an objection to his running In the race his fetlock was broken by a kick from Running Rein and he was effectually placed hors de combat He was shot and buried but when a party of sportsmen who wished to test their suspicions dug np his body at dead of night they found that the head which alone could settle the matter was gone goneRatan Ratan the second favorite for this race was made safe by a cunningly devised bolus but who administered It was never discovered and to crown this Derby as the most shady and fraudulent on record Running IJein who came in first was found to be none other than Maceabaeus a fouryearold and thus an impostor of the first water But when it became necessary to produce tlie horse for an examination by exports it was found that le lik Leanders telltale head had been spirited away awayIn In connection with Running Rein by the way a dramatic story is told A Captain Osbornc had backed Orlando for a very large sum and when Hiinning Rein came in lirst he was facet with the alternative of blowing ills brains out or being de ¬ clared a defaulter He was just on the point of choosing death when a note was placed in his hand Running Rein ran the missive which was frpm a friendly font is an impostor and ho wont get the Derby Stakes Buy up all the bets on Orlando you can get and you will make a fortune fortuneThe The captain put away his revolver followed tho touts cnlvice and instead of providing work for the undertaker found himself 18000 in pocket pocketFew Few horses have ever started a hotter favorit1 for the Derby than Macgregor in 1S70 So rosy were his chances1 that odds of J to 4 were laid on him to an enormous amount and the money was considered as good as won To the consternation however of his backer lie seemed unable to move freely in the race and finished a bad fourth behind horses which were not in the same century with him himThere There was no doubt whatever that Macgregor had been drugged but who the rascal was who did the dastardly trick is as much a mystery today as it was at the time of the race raceIt It is of this race that the following remarkable story is told During the night before the race a jockey called Swift saw the finish of the Derby in a dream He saw Kingcraft which he recognized pass the post a winner by a length and a half followed by a dark brown horse which lie could not identify and with Macgregor the favorite a bad fourth In spite of the jeering of his friends to whom he told the story he backed Kingcraft for every sovereign he could raise ami to his delight as to the disgust of the scoffers he saw this dream exactly reproduced the favorite badly beaten ami the despised Kingcraft winning a small fortune for him himAnother Another remarkable dream story of the Derby which Is almost unknown is told by L II Curzon A member of a sporting club saw one night dur ¬ ing his slumbers the tissue which contained Iroquois first Peregrine second and Town Moor third That seer was the special favorite of fortune as on a previous occasion he dreamed that Rosebery hud won the Camberwitcb a dream which for the moment puzzled him not a little But he was clever enough to solve the difficulty by backing the horse for botli the Cesarewitch and Cambridgeshire and Rosebery as is well known won both these races racesKven Kven more remarkable is a story of that great Derby race of 1SC2 won by the despised outsider Caractacus riddon by Parsons the stable lad Al ¬ though Caractacus was so badly thought of that Jim Goater point blank refused to ride him and odds of 40 to 1 were freely offered against him a tipster gave him as a certain winner on the strength of a dream in which his blind daughter had seen the horse Win with a little boy on his back as pale as death How vividly accurate was this dream forecast was admitted by all who saw the finish of that sensational race
