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THE FAMOUS ASCOT GOLD CUP Notable Features in the History of the Greatest of WeightforAgo Races RacesThat That Royal Ascot is the greatest of race meetings is admitted by all It possesses features peculiar to itself We need not tell of improvements for this years gathering they are always improving at Ascot it remains to add however that it annually furnishes a sight unique in Uuroi c perhaps in the world We refer to the procession on Cup Day of fair women and their attendant cavaliers from the stands to the luncheon tents Is there a tincr and braver sight We trow not Opinions must differ as to what is the greatest race in the world accord ¬ ing to the nationality of sportsmen of whom the question is asked The average Englishman would most probably select the Derby the Australian the Melbourne Cup and the Frenchman give preference to the Grand Prix There can be little doubt how ¬ ever that as a test of real equine merit the Ascot Cup is the garter of the turf In the first place It is run over a distance of two miles and a half which forms a lest of staying power second it is a wtighlforage race whicli provides for the bsst apportionment which experts can make and in the third place as no animal under three years of age can compete immature racehorses arc debarred from u severe strain upon their stamnia stamniaDumas Dumas in one of his romances mentions a horse qui avail deux fois gagne le Derby As the great race at Epsom is confined to threeyearold this is a manifest absurdity In the Ascot Gold Cup however a victory does not impose a penalty so that a superlative horse can win it as often as he lias capacity to do so soAccording According to Sir Joseph Ilawley the race which was founded in ISO owed its origin to Lord George Cavendish and Squire ThornhUi of Riddlcsworth Suffering in its early years owing to the lifeand doalh struggle we wcro having with Napoleon and the commercial and financial panics following the fall of that commanding genius the cup really did not rank as a leading event until the early years of George IVs reign Then Sir Mark Wood hav ¬ ing sold his pocket borough of Gallon in Surrey to Ix rd Oxenbrldge because it commanded iwo seats la the House of Commons at a fancy price began to race in grand style He opened the ball by win ¬ ning three Ascot Cups in succession that of 1S30 with Lueella thai of 1S31 with Cetus and that of 1S32 with Carmine all of them ridden by that line horsemen Jem Robinson who was very successful at Ascot The early thirties saw some excellent horses win the event more notably Lord Chester ¬ fields fouryearold Glaucus ridden by Bill Scott in 1S34 Lord Jerseys fouryearold Glencoe ridden by Jem Robinson in 1S35 and in 1S3G and 1S37 the Martinis of Westminsters Touchstone In the first year as a fiveyearold lie was ridden by John I Day and upon the second occasion by Bill Scott The Lucky Baronet Sir Joseph Ilawlev was of opinion that horses winning in the year 1S30 fur ¬ nished us with some of the most prepotenl sires ot ° the nineteenth century In the Derby of that season Hie first six past tho judges chair were Bay Mid dleton Gladiator Venison Slane Touchstone and Rocklnghani RocklnghaniThat That Sir Joseph spoke with sound sense is evi ¬ denced by the fact that from Rockingham came Miss Jwickenham the dam of Tcddington whose sin was Orlando a son of Touchstone To Bay Middle ton lie was indebted for his famous mares Aphro ¬ dite and Knlipyge another of his Derby winners was Musjid a son of Newminster who was again a son of Touchstone and from Mendicant a daugh ¬ ter of Touchstone he obtained a long list of winners in Beadsman Blue Gown Pero Gomez and Gre n Sleeve It is also to lie noted that in The Flying Dutchman a son of Bay Middleton Swcatmeat a son of Gladiator and Alarm a son ot Venison we had three of the best stayers ever stripped on an rnglish race course courseWhen When that grand mare Beeswing belonging to Mr Orde won the Ascot Cup in 1812 beating Mr Combes Tho Nob which was second Mr Pettits St Francis third and Mr Kirbys Lancrcost which was poisoned and Kringo the property of Mr riiornliill the scene at NeweastleonTyne where Mr Ordo lived was rever paralleled in that grimy town Upon the arrival of the Edinburgh mail bear ¬ ing the tidings of victory It might have been imagined wrote the Kev George Biggc that the population more particularly that portion of it which ascended lo tho upper regions from tha depths of many a dark coal pit had gone mad In the midst of the frantic enthusiasm which exceeded the emotional display called forth years before bv the crowning victory of Waterloo tho joy bells slid donly burst forth with clangorous volume from the oldest sleopli in Newcastle so that women rushed forth from their homes shop girls from behind their counters and many a comely lass from the factory in which she toiled to inquire what on earth had happened Tauld moors woon tCoop Tauld moors woon tCoop There was no need to tell even the young children in that sporting hive of industry that tauld meer meant Beeswing and that CupAnd tCoop meant the Ascot Cup And hero it may be remarked that in tho seven teenth century the custom of rinsing church bells to celebrate the victory of a notable nice horso was by no means unusual Thus in tho parish register of St Edmunds Church Salisbury the following entry appears A D 1545 For ringing in the race day that the Earl of Pembroke his horso did winne the Cuppe five shillings and eight pence penceThat That the Ascot Cup in the forties was considered the most important race of tho time was evidenced by its being chosen by the Emperor Nicholas of Rus ¬ sia to make a votive offering through it to our nation ISMOn on the occasion of his visit to England in ISM On June Ir 1S45 the Emperors Plate was first run for at Ascot previous to lien the race had been known as the Ascot Gold Cup The visit of the Great White Czar had made a wonderful im ¬ pression in England and was especially reflected on the urf as not only was tho name of the Ascot Cup changed but two other races tho Ccsarewiteh and Grand Duke Mithel Stakes were inaugurated in honor of the Imperial family The Ascot event was endowed by the reigning Romanoff with what at tho time was considered tho enormous sum of Jir 00 per annum and in consequence the name of tho race was changed to commemorate the gift The race continued to bo called the Emperors Plato iinlij the outbreak of the Crimean war when the original title was reverted to but liosn of the otlier two events remained unaltered unalteredIn In the first race for the Plate the omenlovers wcro furnished with a theme by the victory of a horso called The Emperor which beat such greal opponents as Alice Hawthorn and FaiigliaRallngli much to the astonishment of the racing world as the owner of the lastnamed horso believed him to IK invincible The trophy which Lord Albcmarlo re ¬ ceived upon that occasion was a massive piece ol silver plate the main feature of which was a model of tho gigantic statue of Peter tho Great al SI Petersburg part of the granite upon whicli bar statue stands being used for the pedestal Tho model of the statue and piece of granite were placed upon a triangular base with basso relievos of the Imperial Palace of St Petersburg The Kremlin Moscow and Windsor Castle Upon corners of the base wero models of throe Russian soldiers a euirrassier a cossack and a Circassian all three of the Imperial Guard Tho trophy was forty inches in height and weighed COO ounces ouncesIn In the opinion of General Brialmont ono of the ablest engineers in tho Belgian Army or In Europe for the matter of that the Czars visit to this country was inspired by ulterior motives and tha1 which ho saw here confirmed his impressions So little did lie think of tho rough and ready style of the regiments which he saw reviewed in Windsor Park that visions of making Constantinople a Rus ¬ sian capital and the Black Soa a Russian lake flolci before his enchanted eyes from that moment momentOld Old raccgoors considered the Ascot Cup of 1S50 ns one of the finest of their day This In possibly correct as it was won by a stayer of all time The Flying Dutchman which as a fouryearold made an awful example of Jericho Canezoil Llttlo Jack and PeepoDay winning in a canter ity cigh lengths lengthsOn On the other hand Sir Joseph Ilawley was wont to assert that tho Inst race for the Emperors Plate in June IS53 was tho greatest and grandes struggle between two good horses that ho ever saw The pair were Mr Stanleys Tcddington five years ridden by J M arson and Lord Exeters Stock well four years ridden by Norman They ha Ninnylianuner Defiance Lady Evelyn Kingston ant The Indian Warrior behind them The finish in this race was extraordinary At the distance Stock well and Teddinston came on together to tho lower end of the enclosure where Teddington took a leai of half a length which after an exciting struggle he maintained until a dozen strides from home when running out to the loft Stockwell almos succeeded in reaching him Marson being obliged to use both whip and spur on tho loft side to land his horse the winner by a head This was a fitting close to the Emperor of Russias cup and a year or two later our troops administered the quietus to his territorial ambitions ambitionsRenowned Renowned as this great race Is for the quality of the fields which contest It perhaps the fact was never more In evidence than when Boiard was suc ¬ cessful in 1874 He had previously won the Gram Prix and French Derby and ho was followed home on tiiis occasion by Doncaster winner of tho Derby third in the Grand Prix and second in the St Leger Doncaster ran a dead heat for second place with Flageolet second In the Grand Prix and French Derby Kaiser second In the Two Thousand Guineas and third in Derby and St Loger was fourth behind the four being Marie Stuart win ¬ ner of Oaks and St Leger and Gang Forwarc winner of the Two Thousand Guineas and secom Jn the Derby London Sporting Life
