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■FMFrHrtJB " KING EDWARDS RACING CAREER. Early Experiences Discouraging, but Perseverance Brought Fitting Reward to Royal Sportsman. London. Eng.. June 1.— It was on March 30. 1S71. that a horse lielonging to King Edward ran for the first time in a race. The Tenth Hussars had organized a steeplechase meeting at Barn Farm, near Bouthall, and the kings horse. Champion, competed for the regimental challenge cup, finishing second. Steepleehasing was. therefore, the kings first love. and it was not until 1890 that be became the owner of Hat racers. It may. perhaps, be said of his early racing days that re went slowly, feeling his way: certainly this period was uneventful and in no way remarkable. Success did not come at once. Alen. for example, an Arab of which the king had hopes, and which he had picked up on the way back from India, made only one appearance, in a match against a horse of only moderate speed. The match was at the Newmarket July meeting iu 1877. and the result is briefly summed up in "Ruffs Guide" for that year: "Field Marshal Lord Stratlinairns Avowal. 0 years 9st. T. Chaliuer. 1: II. R. H. the Prince of Wales Alep. aged. 9st. J. Jones. 0, Betting: 9 to 4 on Alep. Won by thirty lengths." The kings racing colors were registered in 1S75. but it was not until two years later that a jockey wore them. They were the colors which George IV. had taken when prince regent — crimson waistcoat with purple sleeves and black cap. At this time the kings horses were being trained in a modest way by the late Fothergill Rowlands, at Pit Place. Epsom. A few years later they were in the care of Xohn Jones, at Downs Cottage. Burgh. Heath road, and subsequently at Priam Ixiilge. in the same road, but higher up the bill. Lord Marcns Beresford. as good a judge as any. was the kings adviser in the matter of pnrefiasee of blood stock, whether for the race course or the stud paddock. Among the stce plechasera owned by the king at this time were The Scot. Hohenlinden and Magic. The first named, says a writer in the Daily Mail, was not quite I sue. ess. It started favorite in the Grand National of 1884. but vvas beaten some distance from the finish. Hohenlinden won the Grand Military Gom Cup in 1SS7. and in the following year was successful in three steeplechases of the four in which ho took part. Magic won several races in ISMS and iSMl. and was the best horse the prince had until Auihusb II. won the Grand National Steeplechase eleven years later. Steepleehasing has not the honor and glory that it once had. and in the eighties the king liegan to think of fiat racing. He had not. however, the best of luck at this time, and he hardly dared to hope for great success. Still, he would not allow himsel , to be despondent. "1 have only won one race under Jockey Club rules," he said to a friend in 1886. "but. so far from lieing discouraged. I shall continue rac ing. I lope to own. some day. a Derby winner of my own breeding, although at the present time my luck is so bad that if a horse of mine were winning a race it would drop dead l efore passing the win ning post." This very thing happened only a shot; lime afterwards. In the Sfockbridge Cup. a race of six furlongs, the kings horse. Counterpane, after rushing to the front and holding a lead when enter ing the straight, staggered, fell and died. The kings horses were now being trained by John Porter of Kingsclere. who was also nurchasir.g broodmares for the formation of the Sandringfaam Stud. Mr. Porter trained several winners- for the king ami the royal luck had begun to mend. In 1S9! Klorizel II.. the first really goad horse the king had owned, was- born of Pordita II., the mare which wa-t l e. later, the iiifitlHM* of Persimmon and Diamond Jubilee. Floriz.d II. won 39.330, Persimmon 7:;. 095. Diamond Jubilee. 45,025. and Barracoota, another of Perdita II. "s offspring. .320 — a total of marly 232888B. The way was now paved for the "princes year" 1S!»6 -wheal Persimmon won the Derby. Success had come at last, and with it the greatest victory for which the king could have hoped. His winnings went up with a bound. In I«I2. 1803. 1S04 and IMS they reached 0 710. and in the next four years 56,000. His great year followed — M00 — when, with Diamond Jubilee lie carried off the Two Thou sand Guineas, the Derby and the St. I.eger. and With Ambush II. the Grand National, this being the only time that both the "blue ribands" of the turf — that of flat racing and that of steoplechasing-have been won by one owner in the same year. Many at Epsom, when Minoru won the Derby this year, recollected that extraordinary scene on the Downs when Persimmon won the same event. The horse did not start favorite. The odds were 5 to 1 against, but in the paddock he was immensely admired by the critics. The large racing community, playing for safety, backed Leopold de Rothschilds St. Erusquin, and after the parade St. Frusquin was a hot favorite. Who will ever forget the race. Watts, on the princes horse, and T. Loates. on St. Frusquin. settling down to ride one of the tines: finishes ever seen in the Derby? Who can forget the enthusiasm, the frenzy of the crowd ou the hill rushing down to the railings, the excitement in the boxes, the last desperate bit of riding by which Watts seemed to fling Persimmon to the front at the last, holding him there by the niagnc tisni of personality it seemed, until the winning post was passed? Four years later a similar scene took place, when the prince « colors were borne to victory by Dia ntoud Jubilee, a brother of Persimmon, which received his name from the fact that be was foaled in the diamond jubilee year of her late Majesty Uiieen Victoria. On this occasion II. Jones was the successful jockey, as the horse had shown an aversion to both J. Wafts and M. Cannon, and the wisdom of this step was apparent from the colts subsequent career. Since then, until this year, the royal horses proved nothing but disappointments, and in the last few years especially they were dire failures. Minoru was not bred by his majesty as bad been most of the otheg animals to carry the royal jacket. The preponderance of fillies ill the royal stud in the crop of yearlings two years ago led to the king leasing half a dozen colts from among those bred by Colonel W. Hall Walker, at the fully Stud, in Ireland. The others were Oakntore. which has won two races this season, Calderstone, Prince Pippin. I. a I-i and M orcock. As a two-year-old Minoru ran six times with one success, this being in the Great Surrey Foal Stakes, at the Epsom Summer meeting. At Ascot he was beaten by Ijouviers in the Coventry Stakes. This year he showed signs of the great improvement Marsh had worked in him by giving Valens five pounds and an easy beating in the Greenham Stakes at Newbury and followed this up by an equally easy success in the Two Thousand Guineas, beating Pha-leron and Louviers in record time for the race. This success iiointod to the strong possibility of the royal victory in the chief race of the year, as it seemed only a question of Marsh keeping the horse up to concert pitcli for him to again repeat his superiority over Louviers. This id *a was amply demonstrated when a reigning monarch won the Derby for the first time. Twice as Prince of Wales had his majesty been successful and the king now shares with Lord Beach ry th« honor of being the only man living who has a record of the sort. The kings racing career has been a long and honorable one. 1 ut it is doubtful if he ever had a prouder moment tli an when leading back Minoru amid such a scene of delight and enthusiasm on the part of bis subjects.
