view raw text
MOST WONDERFUL SIGHT Epsom Derby of 1920 Long to Be Remembered Attendance Greatest in History-of Famous Race. The Epsom Derby of 1920 will long be remembered as the most remarkable spectacle that has ever been -seen, for the atendance mnst have exceeded, by many thousands, any that has ever previously assembled on the fnmons Downs, and is never likely to be equalled in the future. Unluckily, in nearly every other respect, the race could scarcely have been more unsatisfactory. In the first place it was unlucky for a nervous, highly-strung horse like Sarchedon to be drawn next the rails on the left hand side, as this brought him into clo.e proximity with a dense and very noisy crowd that assembled round the starting post. It was quite impossible to see from the stands, what happened at the start, but as this was not delayed long, and Sarchedon was one of the leading trio in the first eighth, it seems safe to assume that he did not suffer from the luck of the draw. , Secondly came the extraordinary pace at which Abbots Trace made running for fully a mile.. It may be that Douoghue had orders to make every post a winning one, with the idea that the only chance of beating Tetratema was to rush him off his legs. It seems more probable, however, that Abbots Trace, which was always a bit headstrong, took .the bit in his teeth, and ran the race according to his own ideas. Be this as it may. the colt ran himself to such a complete standstill thnt It only required a very slight cannon to upset him, and he lay on the ground, fairly knocked ont, for quite five minutes. It is by no means certain that the much-tnlked-of trial of the Clarehaven Lodge Derby candidate was not quite correct, and subsequent running may prove that Sarchedon can beat Spion Kop whenever he will do his best. The fateful Wednesday at Epsom was not one of the greys best days, and he was evidently In a sour mood, in spite of which he got fourth. Spion Kop must have improved Immensely since last season, when his six essays resulted in five seconds and a third, and he was only given 102 lbs. in the Free Handicap at the Houghton meeting. At that time he was estimated to be 31 lb. behind Tetratema over three-quarters mile, at which distance the winner of the Two Thousand Guineas would probably still beat him easily, but he is evidently a great stayer. The greatest unfortunate in the race was Allenby, which was going uncommonly well when he broke a small blood-vessel about half a mile from home. This was cruel luck for his owner and trainer, especially as he had to be stopped in his work for a week. He ran very well at Ascot. The fillies of the present year are undoubtedly a very long way behind the colts, and Clnna and Chnrlebellc stood right out from the other fifteen. The betting showed that the race was regarded as being a match between them, and so it proved; the finish being a wonderfully fine one. Up to about a hundred yards from home Cinna appeared to have a shade the better of It, but at that critical point tlie filly changed her legs, nnd this enabled Charlebelle to gain a heck victory in the last two or three strides. Whalley and William Griggs never r.ode better than in this great battle, and, for once in a way, the jockey of the second received nothing but praise. This is tlie more remarkable because, in both Derby and Oaks, the victory of the second would have been tlie popular one. Archaic and Cinna, Lord Derby and Sir Robert Jardine would have been a double that would have made the Epsom week a memorable one indeed. Rallys Magazine.
