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STILL DECRYING DURBAR S VICTORY. The victory of Hull.. r in li.is reals BUSOM Derby was coldly resented in England and as a matter of fact then was an almost total absence of the • eaetoasarj applause awarded the winner of that C great event. Hardly iuy of the critics concede that C the best none won and the average r British opinion is Interesting!] expressed In the following by ■ "The Special Commisonor." la L ud n Sportsman. . uf lone o. •There lias been a lot of writing and talking : about the last two Derby ianrori 1 met the Bar. . Cecil Legard in St. James Square, the other day. . aad lie said, Bow would you liandieap Kennymore and Durbar II. over the si. Leger coarse?* I sug-gested thai Keanymon shonld concede seven pounds, fmt this very lust of all parsons declared h;s belief that Kennymore would give fourteen pounds and win. ; Leek at the two animals, said be. It is almost laaneaeible to compare them! Now there is no better judge of a none than the Rev. Cecil Legard, ami , 1 his opinion is always worth noting; hut it brings s into glaring relief the ridiculous character of the i race for the Derby both this year and last. tor. of 1 course, ji is of the highest Importance to maintain 1 the prestige of tins the greatest race in the world. : it may be that undue Importance has been attached 1 to the Calcutta Sweepstakes, but I da know for " eertaia that aoaac on acta were paid by ticket-holders to start their horses this year. On the Other r hand. I know of a man who would have run his » horse if he could have gat in touch with the ticket holder, but be tailed to do so. Clearly, therefore, • the organisation for bringing about such business J ts not very complete. Nevertheless, it is within 1 nay own knowledge that the money paid by the sweep to drawers of starten did. in fact, increase the 1 recent Derby field. I also remember a case wheat a i tilly was started for the Derby out of nam Madams, • just became she bad been drawn by a man. who was *a gaad fellow and hard up. "Now it is manifest that only a few such starters, untrained for the race, and perhaps only half schooled at the sate, may easily upset a Whole field, and what a high-coBTaged colt like Kenny-more may or may aot do when he finds himself badly kicked — as happened seven minutes after the • lag went up for the Derby — no one can anticipate with aay certainty. In Kennyiuores can it had l the Worst possible result, and raised all his combative instimts. so that his running in the Derby r may lie wiped Hian olT tie- slate. But what a disappointment lor sir John Thumb*] "Then is but oae Derby, and though Kennyniore 8 should win the St. Leger — as, if all goes well with i him. I fool sun he will -that will not make amends ! for the lost Blue Riband of the turf— lost also bj t John o Gaunt, la his year. When he. too. should 1 have won. People an- very forgetful, and we have been told in various papeM recently that John o Gaunt lost the Derby through slipping on wet turf r coming down the hill. What really happened was - that the race was run in a most frightful storm. . with the- rain beating dead in the faces of the field 1 Up to and round the Furzes. St. Amant. alone of [ the lot, had a hood and blinkers on. s that he galloped for all in- was worth, regardless of the • trouble, while the others hang back, and most of f all John o daunt, which had a peculiar dislike to , faring wind and rain. lie made no sort of effort t to race, and vis about last until they came round 1 Tattenham Corner, and then, with lb. rain and wind 1 at I he back of him. he gal going at last, and ran 1 right through his horses, bul too lite to catch St. . Aidant, which lie hail beaten easily for the New-mark* - I Stakes a fortnight earlier. "The old adage of Va Viet is! must, of course, apply, but 1 think few impartial critics will deny that John o iaun: was unlucky not to win the Two Thousand Guineas, Newmarket Stakes, and 1 Derby. Nay. more, it is. I beUeve, the opinion of f Sam DarUag thai John o" Gaunt could have won 1 the si. Leger rtn against Pretty Polly. "And now another Derby has gone wrong, for r nothing will make me believe thai the mean-quartered Durbar 11. has any pretentions to rank above Keanymon -or Brakespear, for the matter of f that. The only point to be elucidated is. What is - really the matter? Certain to Ush fossils will, of f course, blame the starting-gate, hut that question. . thank madness, is now outride the pale of argu- - ne-nt. D is well known thai the starts under the : ■eg in earlier years were often positively scandal- - •II-.. and the very list of them for 1 he Derby retained his unenviable notoriety, for Flying l"ox t was so badly npst by a concerted series of false S starts thai he ran the worst race of his life, though 1 he WOO, Matters like this ought to be put n 1 record, and I do not write without knowledge. Fly-baa Ko was a horse of curious temper — as be well 1 might be. f rr in his breeding — but he was quite • generous, though inclined to be mulish After break-lag - away a damn or mare times, and going right i- up Hie hill, he naturally got upset, and as Moray ; Cannon was riding his Irsl Derby winner, and was % correspondingly nervous, mere is no wander that t the rictory was not s, convincing as were all the other- gained by Hying Fox. "Flying Fox, however, won. and Kennymore did , 1 not, sun. I .-mi convinced that Kennymore k as s much in front of his eon temporaries as was Flying • fOX, We shall sec."
