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SOME EPSOM DERBY REMINISCENCES. Severn sports were in a rather parlous condition during the early seventies, hut this dm- n u apply to rai liiu. which was going strong, although, perhaps, the hor-es wiiieh were running in the tic-L year of thai decade were not an exceptional!] good lot. At all events, the Derby lield of lS7o could not compare as regards its merit with some of those which Immediately preceded and succeeded It, thereby fully Justifying the witty criticism winch appeared in "Punch" to the effect that horses which ran were all moderate, as "only two of them could pass muster." t Li- being an absolute fact, as the order at the lini-h was Kingcraft first, Palmerston second and Muster third. MacGregOra forelegs were aroppy, and he completely failed, at many excellent judges anticipate I he would, to act down the kill iii the Derby: but -till Ins defeat brought consternation to the talent, who had supported him as one man. Considerable. stimulus, moreover, was provided them in tlnflr protestations ot turprlse at the defeat, of the favorite by some wild statements whicb were made by J. Daley— Hermits aid jockey--who had ridden MacGregor hi l oth the iVo Thousand Guineas and Derby. The public for the most part never knew exactly wha poor Daley -he died a few months ago —said In In- post i.randial contidvnees. hut the nature of his utterances wa- aunViently objectionable to Justify the threats of stringent legal proceeding- on the pan of Mr. Merry. Happily, however, the wrath o i the Incensed owner of MacGregor wa- placated by the puMicatloa of a mo-t abject apology, in the course of whicb his forgiveness for "words spoken In idle talk " was humbly craved for. Mr. Merry, moreover, live.1 long enough to Ins compensated tor the Kp-cn defeat of MacGregor, as he won the Derby of 1s7:; witb Doncaster, which stalled at the healthy odds ,.f 4i» to 1. with Jang Forward and Kaiser dead heating for second place a halt length behind ii im. The two seasons inteivening between the vear-1870 and 1S7:1 were memorable from several points of view, the former chietly on account of its having resulted in a series of remarkable aurccseeii for Baron Rothschilds famous blue jacket, yellow cap. now -o familiar to and popular with the public as Mr. Leopold de Rothschilds racing Hverj At all events, in 1S71 Baron Rothschilds ratuoux up. "Follow the Baron," was fully histined by the success of his horses, as. among-t other -tal.e-. be won the Derby with Kavonius: the One Thousand Guineas. Oaks, and St. Leger with Hannah, which was named after his daughter, the future ounte-s of Lord Kosehery: and the Ce.-arew itch with another three-yenr-od, Oorlaaade. Dp to that time Bar ni Bothschlld had not won a Derby or st Leger, but he ran second to Bine Gowa with King Allied in 1808, and had captured th ■• One Thousand Guineaa with Mentmom Lam in is,.:; and Tomato m lsi-,4: whilst the Oaks had fallen to his share by the aid of Hippia in lsr,7. No doubt Creniorne, which won tin- Derby in 1872, was an exceptionally good. and. moreover, a well-trained horse, inn Mr. J. N. Aatley, the so-called silent member of the Oxford and Cambridge Club, nearly succeeded in upsetting the go..,| thing with the rank outsider Pell Mell. which start..! at the healthy price of .". to 1. Mr. Astlev was one ..f the last men to give himself away, but be was guilty of thai indiscretion to a minor extent in connect* a with Pell MeU, which waa at Hie time known as the Makeshift colt, lor I I- lered to buy the i i.l, ■: troni his fellow-member who had drawn bias in the Oxford and Cambridge i lui. Derby Sweep-take-, which circumstance induced me to risk a sovereign each way on the home when 1 had heard the suggestion made. George Frederick, which won tin. Blue Riband • i the turf in is74. was the property of the racing solicitor, Mr. Cartwrigbt. who also owned his H|s tem, Louise Victoria and Maud Alexandra, the trio being from the Mamyns dun. Princess of Wale- as wa- their brother. Albeit Victor, Which account. lor their nann-. All f ur COuld race and of the fillies the elder wa- the better though she WUS affected by an unsightly atringhall a- -he walked: while George Prederick -which niea-iired more round the girth than any home 1 .an call to mind wax cursed by a vile temper, which grew worse a- his age increased. I: wa- about the comment -einent of the seventies I am not clear a- regards the exact year that a tremendous amount of excitemeut waa aroused in turf circles by the proeeentl »f Dr. Shorthouse. pro rietor ami editor of the "Sportil g Times." by Sir Joseph Hawkey, who considered that be bad been libeled iii that paper, aa undoubtedly he had been. The I rouble all arose over a contributor to Dr. Short boose a journal alluding to the irascible baronet as "Sir Joseph Scratch- llawhv." Whicb not merely wa- rude but also a direct reliction upon the policy be had adopted la connection with a certain home. Bejmnd all doubt Dr. Shorthouse could have saved himself trouble bad he given the nam.- of Unoffending writer, hut the doctor was a sportsman down to the ground, and determined to accept the full responsibility an admirable resolution, which resulted in hi- conviction ami imprisonment. On the other hand he gained the admiration and respect of thousands of people outside the kmrnalistic world: but. perhaps not unnaturally, his experiences Involved a distaste for iournali-ni .ind abortl] after his release be disposed of the paper to bla id I nn. I everybodys old friend — John Corlett. Apropos of the prosecution above referred to. it may be nienti.no.! that everybody seemed to know who the author ot the libel which sent Dr. Shorthouse to prison really was. AH the same. I am not goiag to mentJoa it here, lint there was a O in it. and its owner, alter sub-edit lag another oportiug paper in this country, eventually round hi- way to South Africa, where he kept up bia Journalism until be -nd of his life. A little above I alluded te Creaaornea Derby and now 1 should life to hark back for a moment to Prime barllea Two Thousand Guineas in the -ame year. Half lie people who saw this brilliaat 1iiler cut down bis opponents at New marker promptly arrived at the opinion that the Derby was as good as over: but the other liftv per cent of the spectators were ...undent that his wind waa affected, ami results proved the correctness of their Judgment. Doubtless, however, not on,- i , a thousand of the Rpertatom were aware of be "Brt thai Prince Charlie was within aa ace of having men nobbled the night before the race, but ii was no all the saaae. and perhaps one dai I will give i he -t.r.v aa told me by one who wain a position to know tie facta In the -im,. v.ar 1872— the French ewaer J. Lefevre. won the-iin- Thousand Juineas and Oaka with Seine, but tin- oretti red, white and blue hooped ja. Lot was already well known on the l.tighsh Uirf as fa- livery of "Mr. Lombard " the iiom-de .ours.- adopted by i. Lefevre. U ■one time there was ,,,. „| ,in;, n„. pmnrk Cornea jrpoa wi,,,-,. back George Fonthani waa usnallj to »• round though Parry rode Peine in the due iiion-am! Guineas and amongst the beat mooev-tin.l.-r 0f the lot. from the small punters point »f ■I:™ ■* ;,n „*I*-** *« «* dnb-footed Miss rO».— I. dies m London Sporting Life.
