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MORE REMARKABLE RACING DREAMS. Thormanby Spins Some More Yarns Over Turf Visions in the Old Days. The disposition on the part of sporting men to accept such omens, has before now been taken advantage of by imposters, and more than once advertisements have appeared in the sporting papers announcing that a lady, who had twice dreatned the name of the Derby winner, had again been so favored, and was prepared to send this tip from Queen Mab on the receipt of thirty postage stamps. It is said, that she reaped a goodly harvest, though it was more than the senders of the half crown did. Spiritualists have also tried the dodge, and mediums have seen horses gallop past the winning post that never came a naif mile of it. 1 d t d C li r C a t s c: I 1 I 1 I 1 ! 1 1 - 1 1 1 : ! 1 I To come again to the experience of persons still living, here is a curious instance of a lucky dream. The night before the race for the Chester Cup of 1856, William Day, the trainer, dreamed that One Act won, and that William Goater was second after a good race, and that he told Goater after the horses had passed the post that he thought he Day had won. To this Goater hastily replied: "Yon know you have," and, walking up the course together, the Findon trainer said: "You have done me out of the best stake I ever stood." This dream William Day told to some ten or a dozen gentlemen during breakfast at the hotel at Chester, where he was staying. After saddling One Act William Day stood close to the winning post to see the race, and as soon as his mare passed it the third time he thought she had won. He said to the judge: "What has won, Mr. Mr. Johnston" "White," he replied: and then, looking up, added: "Oh, you, Mr. Day!" Strange to say, William Gostcr was standing by Days side all the time, quite unnoticed by the latter until, turning around to go and meet One Act. Day found himself face to face with his Findon rival. As they walked up to meet their respective horses Goater said: "I stood to win more money on mine today than I ever stood before," thus absolutely fulfilling Mr. Days dream to the very letter. The famous mare. Caller On. winner of the St. Leger of 1801. was the heroine of aii equally vivid and prophetic dream. Caller On had been performing very moderately during the summer of her three-year-old career and the extreme odds of 100 to 1 offered against her seemed to foreshadow her absence from the post. A gentleman with whom Mr. IAnson was slightly acquainted a keen sportsman and courser, Mr. Peat, then a chemist and druggist at Redcar dreamed that Caller On won the St. Leger and, like a true Yorkshireman, backed her for that event. On being told by his friends that she was not likely to run, he wrote very respectfully to Mr. IAnson. informing him of his dream and of his having backed the mare, and offered, in case the owner did not think of running her, to pay the stake and all other expenses if he w-ould allow her to go to Doncaster and take her chance. Mr. IAnson. on considering the matter, desired his daughter, who was then, as always, his trusty counselor and amanuensis, to reply in courteous terms to Mr. Peats letter, thanking him for his handsome offer, and informing him that Caller Ou should run and take her chance in the St. Leger, but that Ik; would himself pay all expenses. The result, as is well known, gained Caller Ou the brightest gem in her chaplet of fame, and Avon Mr. Peat his money. Mr. Alexander Young, the brewer of Richmond. Yorkshire, affords another instance of sleepers to whom Queen Mab revealed herself as a prophetess. He dreamed on the eve of the Chester Cup that he was standing in the ring at Chester after the race and saw No. 21 hoisted as the winning number. This dream induced him to go to the Chester races, and on the course he met his friend, John Jaekson, the then leviathan of the betting ring, who inquired what had brought him there. Mr. Young laughingly replied that he had come on a fools errand to back No 21 on the card, as he had dreamed it had won. The race cards were just coming out. and Jackson said: "Well buy one and see what it is." To their surprise they found that No. 21 was Jacksons own horse, Tim Whiffier, and, on being assured by the owner that the horse really had a great chance, Mr. Young backed him to win a good stake; and always declared that he stood on the course in exactly the same place as he did in his dream. Mr. Young, who was the breeder of Digby Grand, Grand Flaneur and at one time owned Controversy, told several people at Richmond of his dream before he went to Chester. I have heard it stated on very good authority that the Honorable Amias Charles Orde-Powlett, younger brother of the late Lord Bolton, some time before Voltigeur won the Derby, dreamed that the first, three horses in that race were: Voltigeur, 1; Pitsford, 2; Clincher. 3. He wrote to his brother, the Honorable T. Orde-Powlett. to that effect, and both gentlemen backed the lucky dream, the horses, as everybody knows finishing as above written. The mother of these two gentlemen was also celebrated as a lucky dreamer. She twice dreamed the winner of the St. Leger, her husband on each occasion backing the dream and landing a good stake. Lord Vivians famous City and Suburban dream is probably known to most turfmen. Still, it may be new to some, and therefore, I give it in Lord Vivians own Avords. "I dreamed on the morning of the race for the City and Suburban Handicap that I had fallen asleep in the weighing-room of the stand at Epsom prior to the race, and after it had been run 1 was awakened by a gentleman, - the owner of another horse in the race, who informed me that The Teacher had won. Of this horse, as far as my recollection serves, I- had never heard before. On reaching Victoria station the first person I saw was the gentleman who had appeared to me in my dream and to whom I mentioned it, saying I could not find any horse so named in the race. To which he replied: There is a horse now called Aldrich. which was previously known as The Teacher. The dream had so vividly impressed me that. I declared my intention of backing Aldrich for 00, and was in the act of doing so when I was questioned by the owner as to why I was backing his horse. I answered. Because I dreamed he had won the race. To this he answered, As against your dream I will tell you a fact. I tried the horse last week against a hurdle jumper and he was beaten at a distance. I thanked my informer, and discontinued backing Aldrich. General Taylor, who had overheard what passed, asked me, if I did not Intend backing the horse again for myself, to win him ,000 by him. This I did by taking for him 1,000 to 30 about Aldrich. It is a matter of history that this horse was the winner of the City and Suburban of 1874." Sir George Chetwynd. by the way, had an almost equally remarkable dream with respect to Curate in the same race the City and Suburban of 1874. He dreamed that Curate came in first, but ran up a bank just beyond the winning post and, disappearing, never returned to weigh in; consequently the race was awarded to Mr. Lefevres Minister, which came in second, ridden by a jockey in deep mourning crepe on jacket and cap. as well as on boots and breeches. Now, Curate was a horse that had leen heavily bucked for the City and Suburban, but was scratched just before the race, and Minister did come in second. The dream, grotesque as it was, left so vivid an impression on Sir Georges mind that he backed Minister for a place, and had reason to be well satisfied that he had not scorned his queer dream tip. Colonel Starkey, the owner of Sulphur, was another sportsman, who was indebted to a dream for enabling him to hedge at the last moment. When the Colonel ran Sulphur for the Lincolnshire Handicap, he was very sanguine up to a certain time that the horse would win; but on the Monday prior to the race he was out with the Burton Hounds and rode nearly all day side by side by side with Mr. Lawrence Thornton, landlord of the Saracens Head Hotel, Lincoln, when, just as the hounds were running into their fox and each man was putting on his best "spurt" to be in at the death, Mr. Thornton rushed his old hunter past the horse the Colonel was riding, and turning around, said: "Ah, thats how I want to see Sulphur rush past cm in the handicap for you." Well, 011 the way back the Colonel seemed gloomy. He said: . "Thornton, you beat me today, and I shall be beaten tomorrow. I dreamed." he went on to say, "last night that Sulphurs number was put up third, and thats where he will be: so I advise yon only to back him for a place." And sure enough, Sulphur was placed third by the judge. Perhaps a yet more curious verification of a dream is furnished by the subjoined story, which I have on excellent authority. An American merchant, who was carrying on trade in the city of London, and who, so far from being a sporting man, was not even acquainted with the names of the horses in the betting, dreamed some weeks before the Derby of 1870 that Sir Bevys had won. He related the dream to several friends, but the name of the horse was unfamiliar, and they ridiculed the idea, of anything coming of it. "Well," said the merchant, who was thoroughly possessed by the idea, "nevertheless, Ill bet you 2 to 1 naming a small stake it does win." His friend objected, pointing out that he ought to take 20 to 1 against instead of laying 2 to , 1 on. The dreamer, however, insisted on the original terms, and odds of 2 to 1 were laid three weeks before the event was decided, and when Sir Bevys was quoted at 20 and 30 to 1. I need not remind the reader that Sir Bevys carried off the Blue Riband of 1879. There can be no questions, then, that dreams do sometimes come true, and that there have been lucky sportsmen who have had reason to bless Queen Mab for her "correct tips." Yet, I candidly confess that I regard these prophetic dreams as mere freaks. When a dream is fulfilled it is remembered as a phenomenon. But think of the countless myriads of dreams which do not come true and are consequently forgotten, and the reflection will probably lead you to the coh-I elusion that to put faith in dreams is to leas . upon a broken reed,
