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I t r t t c 1 * p .- I l t i I r I t AUSTRALIANS VIEW OF AN EPSOM DERBY. The English Derby, to an Australian, Is not a i race -meeting. It is a fair, a picnic, a huge holiday gathering, a national festival — anything in the - world you like that is jolly and popular, except a i race meeting. True, horses run races there, but I they are an incident in the day. True, also, that men bet on them. But men will bet on flies crawling - up the wall. Let me try to reconstruct Randwick race course, , to give you a picture of Epsom. It is situated some-s - where near the National Park, and about half a million - people go there, a big proportion of them bv ■" road, in every kind of vehicle under the sun. and 1 the rest by trains, which take about two hours to do the short journey. The race course is nowhere i level. A big hump rises in the middle of the flat. . and all round it are hollows with slight ascents to the rails on three sides. The course itself rises * and dips like a switchboard railway, and from its * outer edge to the rails it slopes inwards. This does not seem to be intentional, but is the natural lay .- of the land. The consequence is thai n horse on the ■ rails has a great advantage. When the horses go to i the p.isl tor the Derby, they dont go round the course, but take a cut across, for the reason that t there are a few hundred thousand people walking ; all over the race track. Round half the flat on the » side near the winning post are great lumbering; ; ■ ! ; 1 . j ; . . . j a i - a i I - , - - ■" 1 i . * * .- ■ i t ; » ; motor buses, drags, and taxi.-, ranged in a close line against the rails, forming an effective barrier. Scattered all over the hills and valleys in the center of the enclosure are many hundreds of tents booths, anil side-shows, with a few thousand more vehicles scattered amongst them. At odd places in and about this medley, bookmakers are stationed. When you have made a bet you have to take your bearings, or you stand a good chance of never finding your man again. Here there is no registration of bookmakers, and as often as not people b- t with men who "welsh" at the least excuse. The crowd seldom catch them. Losing oue of their absconders on Derby Day, they burnt to the ground a taxi which he was using as a stand. So much for the flat, which is free. In the grandstands the.e is accommodation for about 30,000. and thus only a handful of those present get a view of the race. For the rest there is nothing but the merest glimpse of the horses racing for two seconds just in front of them. Numbered saddle cloths are not used and you need a quick eye to distinguish colors, which frequently are very similar. Though the Australian starting-gate is used. It took twenty-one minutes to start the Derby this year, and theu Kennymore and Brakspear. the first and second favorites, were hopelessly left at the post. From the point of view of racing, as we are accustomed to it in Australia, the whole thing was comic. The starter was beaten by the task c* i despatching thirty horses. If at the end of five or six minutes, during which he failed to get a perfect line, he had sent the field away in the best manner he could, there would not be much to say against him. Every minute after that time made matters worse. Kennymore. the favorite, on the outer position, for some time stood as quiet as an old sheep, but, after being kicked by another horse . during a false start, he, as his jockey said afterwards, went mad, and was finally quite uncontrol-able. When the barrier finally rose he wheeled right ; round, and, to all intents and purposes, was out of the race. It is amusing to read in the chief morning papers. the accounts of the scene at the start which virtually settled the Derby before it was run. They describe, in hesitating lauguage, what took plaea. "as well as could be seen by the glasses," from the far-distant grandstand, their view almost obliterated I by the big crowd at the rails, as well as by the , fence of uplifted cinema machines. It never seems I to have occurred to any of the London journals to , send a smart descriptive reporter to this important part of the field. Only one paper, as far as I have seen, thought of interviewing the leading jockeys and the starter after the race. To add to Lie , topsy-turvyism of this crazy Derby, the horse that ran third did not figure in the official program, and. though his name, colors, and jockey were chalked 1 up on the starting-board, hardly anyone saw them, and he was left entirely out of the betting. wLr?ii nis , number 33 went up as third-placed horse, everyone looked at his race-book, only to find there was no i such number there. Had he won, it would have , made the climax. It would have meant that the , biggest race of the year had gone to a horse which I the great mass of the public had had no chance of i backing. But when you come to look at the Derby as ■ ! joyous holiday festival there is nothing in the world like it. The Melbourne Cup is an incident beside J it. From this aspect the English Derby is splendid [ ; and unique. From nine oclock in the morning the multitude began to pour out of London. Hundreds of motor buses had been taken off the general services and a large number of them were hired by [ private parties. In this way many Australians went to the course. The Epsom road was filled with a [ wonderful procession of ornate drags, taxis and costers barrows. It was a ay throng, which 1 marked its passage to the Downs with laughter and 1 good-humor chaff. A remarkable feature of the ! course was the number of wealthy and aristocratic : people who went with the rabble into the free en-! closure. There Lord Rothschild and others were ! to be seen, their drags and luxurious taxis occupy-: ing commanding positions. Luncheon tents were erected, and Arry and Arriet were enjoying ; their "Alf of Bitter" or "Pint of Four Ale," and I dancing ragtime in the centre of a ring of admirers, their exclusive friends near by were sipping iced champagne and partaking of the good things of f well stocked hampers. Gipsies and their children l thronged the course, eager to tell the fortunes of f "the good, kind lady" and "the noble gentleman." and it was difficult to escape their persistent attentions - without distributing coin. Everywhere side % shows were doing an immense trade. Children l were enjoying rides on donkeys ana showing more enthusiasm over the close finishes of their bored 1 and melancholy little mounts urged to a trot by the sticks of the men in charge, than the bigger r crowd iu the classical events of the day. Swinging boats and cocoanut shies were well patronized, and : everywhere the bars were overflowing. The crush 1 was terriffic. but the utmost good humor prevailed. The outstanding features of the Derby of 1011 , were the defeat of the kings horse. Brakespear. th enormous number of police engaged in guarding the I course and the absence of any suffragette distnrb-t ance. Although the favorite, Kennymore. was held , to have an excellent chance, the victory of Brakes-pear , was confidently expected by a host of good judges, and, had it occurred in the presence of the king a memorable scene of rejoicing would have ; been witnessed. As it happened, the unexpected win i of Durbar II.. an unknown French horse, which went out at 20 to 1. was received in silence. In view of what happened at the Derby last year. when the kings horse Anuicr was brought to the % ground during the race by the suffragette Miss Dav ison. special precautions were taken this vear to J "itard the course, more especially at Tattenhara l C/orner, where the bulk of the police were congress gated during the running of the big race. About t three thousand police, plain clothes men and de- tcctivi-s were on duty. Two additional sets of rails J were erected around Taltenhani Corner, where lie- tragic allair took plac,. last year. These rails MM ■ placed about three feet apart and between them i ■ long line «r men in blue patrolled, making t t quite impossible for anyone to get onto the course at t that part.— Sydney Referee.
