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SOME FAMOUS ENGLISH RACES. Reminiscences of Notable Events in British Turf Annals and a Bit of Their History. Volumes could be written of the romance attached to British, turf events in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Take, the Ascot races, for Instance, at which royalty and the elite foregather in! July. They were really founded by Queen Anne In 1711, and kliig3 and queens have been more or less" intimately associated with them ever since. Even Queen Victoria.-. who was little given to horse racing, had many, recollections of Ascot. She went there first as a young girl lnlS34, and on that occasion gave 0 to the winning jockey, little Bell, and when she did so asked the boy bis weight. "Please, maam," he answered, "master says as how I must never tell my weight to anybody." It is said that when Persimmon won the Ascot Gold Cup for King Edward there were scenes of unparalleled .enthusiasm.1 But even these did not equal the. excitement in 1801. when George. Prince of Wales later George IV.. won the most sensational race ever witnessed on Ascot Common. An untold amount had"1 been staked,, and when Chifney, on the, princes Baronet, snatched a victory by half a head, witli five other horses running neck and neck to within a few yards qf the winning post, the entlm-: siasm of the 40,000 spectators was boundless. "I made fourteen baronets last week," said George III. to ills son when congratulating him, "but your Baronet is worth all Of mine put together." It was the third Duke of Richmond who started the Goodwood races In lSOOa meeting which rivaled Ascot in its attraction of royalty and society people. One of the most memorable races for the Goodwood Cup was that of 1S30. when King William IV. entered three horses, which came in first, second and third for that event. Ascot and St. Legcr excepted, the Derby Is the oldest classical event on the English turf, the first race being run in 1780. It was a Captain Tiurgoyne who amazed society In 1743 by eloping with Lady Charlotte Stanley, the daughter of the Earl of Derby who really founded the .race. He purchased an estate near Bansteaid Downs to stimulate the" native breeding of horses and instituted the famous Derby Stakes in 17S0. How many have wanted to win the Derby and been disappointed? More than one Lord Derby would have given worlds for the honor. It was! Lord Glasgows ambition In a long life, but ho only got second once. One of the most successful Derby winners was probably John Gully; the man who rose from the prize ring, to the, house of commons. In 1830 he won 00 000 over his horses. .St. Giles and Margrave, when they won the Derby and St. Leger. The St. Leger. the second oldest horse racing event in. the country, was founded four years before the Derby. It takes Its name from the famons Don- caster sportsman. Colonel St. Leger really pronounced "Sillinger," although it is generally pronounced as spelled by the majority. It is a race .which never falls to. arouse, enthusiasm in the north, and in the days liefore railways, laborers living .fifty miles away would save up their shillings, weeks before, walk to Doncaster see the race and walk homo again. Mauy memorable St. Lcgers have taken place, including two, dead heats, while on one occasion a horse named Theodore, against which the odds had been quoted at 1.000 to a walking stick or. officially. 1.000 to 5 won. One hundred years ago the race for the Two" Thousand Guineas, which King Edward won this year, was instituted, the. year after the founding of the Chester Cup. The title of the former race originated from the fact that It was established as a sweepstakes of 100. guineas each, and the subscribers numbered twenty: while the One Thousand Guineas had the same conditions with ten subscribers, and was therefore called the One Thousand Guineas. One of the greatest races in connection with, the Two Thousand was when Donovan was considered such a certainty that odds of eighty-five to twenty were, laid on him in a field. of nine. Tom Cannon, however, was riding a bad-tempered horse! named Enthusiast, which could only go when lie liked. And he did on that day. and Cannon nulled off the race -by a head, Both the Cesarewltch and the Grand National were founded seventy years ago. in which year also Hie Cambridgeshire was established. The Ecllpso Stakes Is a race of more modern origin, being established in 1SS6. When the Sandown Park race committee announced that they intended to give a fortune at once in the shape of 0,000. thus eclipsing all previous prizes, no small sensation was ere ated in the racing world. The distinction of riding the winner of the first 0,000; belongs to Tom Caiit non, who brought Bendigo home in a canter. The race for the Eclipse Stakes of 1S92 was memorable on account of the fact that the late Duke of Westminster entered his horse. Orme. a pronounced favu-ite for the Derby that year, but was reported to have been got at. po did not run. lie ultimately won the Eclipse Stakes by a neck.
