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UNLUCKY SIR MARTINS PLUCKY OWNER. "Banl with a silver spoon in his mouth." is an old saying thai was spoken of young Squires when they began to splash their money about. Since the • ally Victorian days when tenants used thus to do scribe the youth who was destined to become their landlord, times have changed, and more millions are made than Inherited. The fortunes of Messrs. Lllis and Walter Winans were inherited, however. We have heard that the family is of Scottish es traction, which will perhaps explain its migratory propensities, and also the business acumen which built up the fortane to which the subject of our notice and his brother succeeded oat the demise of their father and aacle. The real establishment of the wealth which Missis. Louis W. and his brother Walter Winaas now eejoj and. let it be understood, they do enjoy It — came with the acceptance by the Russian government of the tender ..1 their father and uncle for the construction of a railway from St. Petersburg to Moscow. This in the present day of engineering ma let sound a stupendous task, but to those who I tew the difficult tracts of country that had to be covered, the success of the work was remarkable. Anyhow, it was accomplished, and the Messrs. Wiaana not only received the congratulations of the Czar of al! the Russians, but became the personal friend-- of that mighty autocrat. In course of time the brothers Wlnans returned to the United State-, which they had left to undertake their meat venture in the eastern hemisphere. Oace "homo" again, if the term may be used, they found that their fame had preceded them, and following their railway contracting business they ■msssed a huge fortune by the construction of the Baltimore Ohio railway and other similar ventures. Louis Winans. who is the subject of this notice, is younger than his brother Walter, famous as the champion revolver shot of the world. What he can do with tin- pistol sounds almost Incredible. Walter has not cultivated a taste for racing, though he lias registered his colon for life. They are "cornflower blue, emerald green sleeves and cap." and are in striking contrast to those of our subject, which are "black, white and red hoops, red cap." It must led be supposed that because Dies* two millionaire brothers are sportsmen they have no cultured tastes. On the contrary. Walter, besides his fondness tor polo, with a grand private ground at hi- Kentish residence at Sarrenden, i- well known as an amateur painter, and has more than ordinary ability as a sculptor. Lewis, whose home is at Brighton, is likewise talented, in fact, the inheritance of money has never caused any member of the family to gaffer from the complaint known as "swelled head." Baowgh of family history, however. It is as a generous supporter of the turf — or the "great game," as poor Gnbbins used to describe it in these pages — that we hare to deal with Louis Winans. A comparatively newcomer to the sport, so tar as owning horses is concerned, he has the laudable ambition of winning our Derby, and if he succeeds the vie tory will be popular with every spoilsman worthy of the name. We know what it is to own a Derby horse, and we have also tasted the bitterness of dis appointment when our hopes of success have been dashed to the ground just when their realization seemed strongest of fultilhnent. We knew our lata before Kpsom, whereas Mr. Winans saw his horse go to the post lit to run for a kingdom, and a tew minutes later had dinned into his ears the fateful cry, "Sir Martins down." The colors were so conspicuous that there was no mistaking the unlucky horse. To say that he fell would not tie strictly accurate. He was knocked to his knees ami "Skeets" Martin was forced out of the saddle by the horse which brought about the collision. That Sir Martin would have won had he steered clear of accident we are sure, and the only consolation we have in looking back to the Derby of 190! is that it fell to our late beloved King Edward VII.. the only British monarch to have secured the Blue Riband, during his reign. Sir Martin was a good horse, which ought to have made history. Imt bad link dogged him. In his trot race in this country, as a three-year old. be was handicapped at 136 pounds, but he took the liberty of winning in a canter from the four-year-old. Dusky Slave, which started favorite, and to which I:. conceded tweaty-aaae pounds. The challenge Stakes al the Newmarket Second October meeting fill a ready prey to him. hut with llii pounds he had to put up with third place in the Cambridgeshire to Christmas Daisy. 100 pounds, and Mus-taph.a. P2 pounds, but it was our opinion at the time that lie was second best, and two days later he readily accounted for the first Durham Stakes, a handicap thai has added considerably to the Importance of the last days program in the Houghton week. The greatest proof id his racing ability was as a four year-old in 1010, when he won the Coronation Cup very easily by a length and a half from Bachelors Double, with Loeviers, which had been beaten only a lew laches by Min in in the Derby, a fxior third, and such as Mustapha receiving thirteen pounds. Dean Swift. Mirador and Bombs amongst the unplaced lots. This was indeed a convincing performance, ami the pity is that he went to Ascot for the bdd Cup. His performance was SO ignominious that "Uncle" Joe Cannon was l.y many blamed for running him over a distance of two miles and a half, and the wiseacres knew "this, that and the other." They did not know, nor did the trainer, nor could anyone else have known that the horse wa- Buffering from an Incipient illness. The exact nature of the complaint we have never in-quired, it is sufficient for our purpose that the horse was not able to run again for twelve months, and though his efforts as a live year old he showed in running a glimpse of the dash of his younger days, he never won another race. We have known othci eases of early hopes dispelled, but not on" in which the trainer has been Bach a sufferer. Genial Joe Cannon may lake defeat philosophically, but like all conscientious workers, his tirst thought is for his employer, and in Louis Winans be recognized from He- in -t that he was acting for a gentleman ami a sportsman. However, the disanpointments of Sir Martin have been forgotten to a certain extent by successes which have followed. There came into the Lordship stable anotlnr aspirant to Derby honors. Adam l!i do. Inn he was too late all arrival from Amri ii 1 for justice to he done 1o him for the Derby, and a photograph of the held as they swept down to wards Tallcnh.ini Corner showed him bopeiesslj hunched in. because he could not act down the hill. How he has come on under careful training is a matter of recent history. His preparation for the Cambridgeshire was timed to the hour, and though In- was forward enough eighteen days earlier to win tie- Duke of York Stakes at KemptOB Park, he was a different horse when he ran for tin great handicap of the Houghton week. Trained to perfection. he ran 0:1 stoutly and won through sheer gaiiiem -anil tin- condition, and if the compiler of the weights had not taken such an exalted view of his public form he might have tried conclusions in the last big race of the year the Manchester November Handicap I. Well, if Sir Martin and Adam Bade have been the best performers for Louis Winans, he has bad other g I winners. Dalmatian has not done ihc great things expected of him. and Rots Pride has so far failed to justify the big price paid for him when hi- was brought from Ireland, though he won at Warwick on Monday. Hut others have turned out trumps, and it must not lie forgotten that The Valet won the Manchester November Handicap two year- ago after performing no better than Dalmatian over the cramped course for the Derby Cup. Mine In-ad has more I ban paid hi- way in sprint races. and even Edward has ,,,t failed to contribute to wards lii- com bill and lodging. Taken all in all. the connection of Mr. Winans and Joseph Cannon has been a happy one. with unite a fair amount of success, and it must lie a plessnre to the trainer to know that he is serving an employer who races for the love of the --port, and whose sole ambition is to own horses capable of taking their pin-- In the great events. Money t-110 consideration, and whether the horse has to bo purchased in Ireland. America, or the land of his adoption, i- never permitted to enter into the bar-gala-— London Sporting Time-.
