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SOME REMARKABLE RACING DREAMS. Thormanby Relates Some Astonishing Tales of the Turf Occurring in England. "Of all forms of superstition by which sportsmen of the gambling sort are affected, the most prevalent. I think, is- the belief in dreams as prophetic of future events. And it must lie admitted that there is some ground for such belief, for in many cases wonderful tips have come from dreamland. I have collected a few of these as samples, and I have tio doubt most readers could add to the list. "About a month before the Derby of 1S7J5 Mrs. Peters, the wife of the steward at a certain Loudon club when; a large Derby sweepstakes was made up every year, dreamed that one of the members had sold his chance to iier husband, and that the horse won the race. At breakfast next morning she told Iii iti her dream. The steward, who was very skeptical about such matters, laughed at her, but asked the name of the horse. " Doncaster, she answered. I saw it as plainly as I see this cup and saucer, and the whole thing was so vivid that I am sure theres something in it. " Pooh, pooh, old girl, Doncaster hasnt a chnn , replied her worser half. Ive backed the winner and Ii is names Kaiser, and you shall have a new bonnet out of the stakes." The. lady shook her head and stuck to her text, though she knew it was no use arguing. A few days before the great event came off one of the members of the club said to the steward: " 1 say, Peters, I sail on Monday for the east, and I want to get rid of this ticket. Everybody says the horse has no chance, and if you can get some one to give a guinea for it. let me know. "Peters looked at the name on the ticket and read Doncaster. Now. whether he bethought him of his wifes dream, and the peculiar coincidence influenced him. or whether it was done in u spirit of pure speculation, it would be useless to inquire: but Mr. Peters reply w;is: AH right, sir, and theres the guinea, and if nnbod.v will have it I will keen it; not but what I feel sure that Kaiser will win. "The ticket was at once transferred to him. and he actually offered it to several gentlemen, who prumply refused it. When the great day arrived and Mr. James Merrys horse was deel ircd the winner, to the great astonishment and consternation of a good many -people, Mr. Peters had the satisfaction of pocketing !" sovereigns. "Perhaps you wont pooh-pooh my dreams next time; cried the missis, exultingly, when lie told her the good news. "There seems to have been something very peculiar and ominous about this horse. Doncaster. for Mrs. Peters was not the only person whose slumbers he invaded. On the Sunday morning previous to the Derby the wife of a costermouger Timson by name woke the partner of her bed by singing out lustily, the boy in yaller wins the day. Ned Timson. who had been biwling mackerel all the previous day. and had been taking the hoarseness out of his throat the previous night with sundry pots of four-ale. wild at being aroused out of his refreshing slumbers, gave her a thump and told her to shut up. AVhen they were both awake lie asked her what she meant by kicking up that row. Then she told him that she had dreamed she was on Epsom Downs and had seen a jockey in yellow pass all the others horses, and everybody shouted, the boy in yaller wins the day. " "That, you know. Ned. was a song my mother used to sing that shed heard some great actress sing when she was a girl. If theres a jockey in yaller Id put a bit on him if I was you. " Shut up. you silly mug, growled Ned, who put as little confidence in dreams as did our friend, the steward." "But these skeptical gentlemen are sometimes not quite so skeptical as they would fain make believe, and when Mr. Edward Timson. who was a bit of a sporting man in his way, saw the horses taking their preliminary canter, and one of the jockeys dressed in yellow .lames Merrys colors-he clapped all the money lie had in his pocket thirty shilling upon the boy in yellow," and pocketed foity yellow boys for his pluck. It was the making of him: lie bought a new horse and cart, ami christened the former Yellow Boy." while Sal. you may be sure, did not forget to exult about her dream. She became a celebrity of the neighborhood and was regarded by her pals as a sort of Cassandra as no doubt she was in some respects, when she had imbibed to many half-uartcrns of gin. . "My nr-xt Doncastrian anecdote is not exactly a dream story, though its hero was a sleeping man; it belongs rather to that class of superstition which the Romans included under divination the foreshadowing of coming events by some chance incident or stray word. A sporting man of my ac-iliiaintaiice was traveling into Scotland by the Flying Scotchman, and, having fallen asleep, was awakened by the guard shouting Doncaster, Doncaster. " Eh, by jove, he cried, starling up and rubbing his eyes; you dont say so; lias Merrys horse, then, really won? "The guard was so struck by the words that lie related them to several people. I should lake it as a tip. suggested one. lie caught at the idea, put half a sovereign on the horse, and made twenty. "But not even yet. have I finished with this wonderful Doncaster and his lucky omens. There was a commercial traveler named Raimalen, nephew of a well-known trainer, who, though he had a great taste for racing, never staked a farthing upon any other-event than the Derby, but regularly every year put his fiver upon his fancy for the Blue Riband. It so happened, however, in the eontrarioty of tilings in general, that lie was never able to pay a visit to the Downs on the great day, as in that week his Dublin journey was always due. His manner of selecting his horse was singularly original: he never took a tip, never allowed his judgment to be influenced, as far as putting on his money went, by any sporting organ; lie appealed purely and simply to blind chance, in this manner: lie wrote out the names of all the horses that ran, each upon a separate slip of paper, rolled each up in a little pellet, then, taking the lot up in his hand, cast them with as much force as lie was able against the wall of his room, and backed the horse that rebounded farthest. Though the experiment had not been successful on the whole, it was eminently so for the Derby of 1S7.1. for the pellet he picked up had Doncaster inscribed upon it. "Another famous dream horse was Blue Gown. The following story was related to me by a sporting writer as a personal experience. After that famous Derby was run. I went off to finish the night, at Cremorne. I had scarcely passed through tlu; gates when I met a pal. in the commercial line, in very high spirits, who asked me to come and have a drink. I have just landed a thou, over Blue Gown. he said, and it is the queerest story you have ever heard. I fancied Rosicrucian, anil had a bit put on him, when I dreamed the funniest dream. You know Im in the hosiery line. AVell, I was down at Manchester a few weeks back, and one night I dreamed a lady came to me and said, Mind I shall require a blue gown to match with the stockings you have given mo. AVell, I never take any notice of such things, and certainly I never thought of connecting it witli Hawleys horse. Hang me, if two nights afterwards I didnt dream precisely the same tiling over again. I began to think it rather singular; but still the coincidence never dawned upon me, though I actually dreamed it a third time. But it was now so very extraordinary that I mentioned the circumstance to a friend. Its a tip for the Derby, as sure as youre alive. he cried at once: lay on all you know, and Ill go in with you. Then it seemed to come upon me all at once, and I could not understand how I could have been such a fool as not ta see it before. I didnt lose a moment in putting on Blue "own every farthing I could scrape up, and this, showing a roll of bank rotes, is the result. "About the same time a man named Lowry, who had been a tout to Henry Padwick, was lying dangerously ill. his life being despaired of. " Look here, my girl, he said to his wife one morning, get together all the money you can and put it on Blue Gown, for thats the Derby winner for this year. I mightnt live to see It, but its a dead certainty, as sure as you are here. " La. Jm, what makes you thnk that? inquired tin; wire. " Because its come to me in my sleep, he answered. "She had the courage to follow his advice, and, though lie ,was under the turf before the event came off, she made a nice; little sum by the tip to console her widowhood and give her a good chance to another husband. "The triple dream I have just mentioned had a parallel some years previously. A man named Coakcly, a chemist and druggist at Stockbridge, one night in the spring of 1S40 dreamed that he saw Pyrrhus the First win the Derby. He was not a betting man, so he could not understand what had put the horse into his head; lie was still more puzzled when lie dreamed the same tiling on the following night; he was yet more astounded when it returned on the third. Being acquainted with John Day, who. as everybody knows, lived in the neighborhood, lie told him about this curious vision of the night. I should back him," was the worthy trainers advice. Tin? chemist very wisely took it anil made more by that tip in a day than he would have done by pills in a year. "For my next anecdote I must go as far back as 1S39. A provincial actor, named Freeman, very well known in his time, while performing in some country town had his benefit fixed for the Derbv night. In those days of small salaries the benefit was tlie actors main dependence to clear off debts, stock him with clothes, and prepare him for his next engagement, and the choice of a piece likely to prove the most attractive was a matter requiring the most careful attention and a source of much anxiety. Mr. Freeman, on the present occasion, found the task so difficult, and was so worried by Conflicting ideas, that he was almost ill. One night his wife awoke him with, .Tim, did you hear that? " No. lie said. What? " I heard a voice say, quite distinctly, that if you put up "The Flying Dutchman" for your benefit youll have the biggest house of the season. " Good Lord, cried Freeman; I never thought of that piece, and that is the name of the Dcrbv favorite. A splendid idea. Ill do it; if the horse were to win it would fill the house. "lie lost no time in issuing bills; those in the town who had bet on the horse, thinking it a lucky tip, took tickets, and when the news came that Flying Dutchman had won the Blue Riband nunibers of people, struck by the coincidence, flocked to the theater, filling it from floor to ceiling. ;uid making it. indeed, as the mysterious voice had prognosticated, the biggest house of the season." Thormanby, in London Sportsman.
