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LORD CLIFDENS ST LEGER Incidents in the Brief Turf Career of Lord St Vincent Scenes Attendant Upon Running of English EnglishClassic Classic in 1SC3 When Osbomc Rodo RodoNoblemans Noblemans Horso to Victory It was in 1SG3 writes J B Radcliffe In his Life and Times of John Osborne that Osborne rode his first St Leger winner Lord St Vincents Lord Clifden his victory being one of the most sensational in its incidents of any race for the Doncaster Scllinger in the long annals of the great ¬ est of the three classic contests contestsOne One of the most prominent examples of Lord St Vincents pluck during his brief turf career was his purchase of Lord Clif ¬ den which as a twoyearold had been so highly tried that 20 to 1 was asked about him for the Derby before he ran for the Woodcote The colt was the property of Mr Hind a wine and spirit merchant living at AshtonunderLyne Staffordshire Ed ¬ win Parr the trainer and Mr Holmes an Irish gentleman were the ambassadors to effect the purchase and the sum asked was five thousand pounds down and two thou ¬ sand more if he won the Derby The terms were at once closed with and at half past eleven oclock that same night of the confer ¬ ence the future hero of the St Lcger was in his new quarters at Godmersham LORD ST UNLUCKY That Lord St Vincent was a spirited buyer more cases could be cited but disappoint ment grievous disappointment invariably followed his outlays Though successful in the St Leger with Lord Clifden Hidalgo and Duenna could never be trained and Lady Stafford which he bought of Mr Hind for 2000 guineas about the same time that he secured Lord Clifden was a failure He also gave an Irish breeder 750 guineas for Bellman which never won a race and ns Zetland which he purchased of old John Osborne for 2000 guineas specially to win the Goodwood Cup was beaten by his own nomination Tim Whiffler and The Orphan died from tetanus it may be said that Lord SL Vincent had more of Fortunes buffets than her rewards rewardsLord Lord Clifdens terrific finish with Marconi in the Derby will ever be memorable The judge said the only difference between them at the finish was that Lord St Vincents colts head was down and Marconis up as they flashed past the post Lord Clifdens equivocal market position before the Derby led to the supposition that he was not sound The real facts of the case were that the colt occasionally shows signs of lameness at ¬ tributed to a fall at exercise when he slipped tip These symptoms did not reappear after his sensational finish for the Derby and his trainer Edwin Parr gave him a rattling and uninterrupted preparation A new course was made at Telscombe under the hill and in this isolated spot which was un ¬ known and inaccessible to the touts Lord Clifden did such rousing gallops from day to day that he stumped up the 2000 guineas purchase Zetland Necromancer and Charles Fox FoxLOUD LOUD CLIFDEN CRITICISED CRITICISEDLord Lord Clifden was sent in advance to Don caster the Saturday before the St Leger Quoting from the Van Driver in Bailys BailysMagazine Magazine Nothing he writes could be more diverse than the ideas formed of him the next morning when he appeared on the course According to strict Doncaster eti ¬ quette he should have gone a splitter round the course whether it was as hard as asphalt or as deep in lime And not having com ¬ plied with he usual precedent a renewal of the hostilities in the ring took place which a quiet canter on Monday did not cause to abate abateTuesday Tuesday morning being rumored to be dress rehearsal the critics were in great force but except from the two Johns Os bornes there was no applause and he was rather damned with faint praise than com ¬ mended as he ought to have been No horse could take that gallop that had not been trained was the remark of Captain White to John Scott as he went up to the Whitehall brougham which stood as usual at the bend where the jockeys pull up Yes you are right Im afraid I cannot best him and I would just as soon he had been left at home was the reply of the reteran St Leger trainer But although his opinion became known and the captain was summoned to a medical survey in the stable afterward no one would have the horse ana no reason could be assigned for it with any good cause causeI I do not like thee Doctor Fell The reason why I cannot tell All concerned in him were nervous save Lord Frederic who enjoyed the confusion and surveyed the battlefield and the bring ¬ ing up of the reserves with the calmness of a Clyde Ve know hes well trained and will be well ridden and what more do we want Why only to collar the stuff after ¬ wards was all that could be extracted from him and Johnnie Osborne passing him at the time he was speaking he added That lad rides the winner of the Ledger Mine is a good mare but not a smasher was what John Scott said of Queen Bertlia The St Ledger Day continues the chron ¬ icler of the turf events of the period fairly beat us and accustomed as we are to the theprofanum profanum vulgus the hordes of Lancashire and Yorkshire were too many for us And as if the flies were not sufficiently danger ¬ ous in the streets in the high tide of the morning a menagerie made its appearance with appearancewith elephants and camels in advance and no less than seventeen lions and caravans in the rear For a time all circulation was suspended as the mob flocked round the beasts like boys round a sweetstuff woman womanGOOD GOOD 1IU3IOU OF CROWD CROWDAnd And yet this vast mass of human beings was as tractable as children and fell into thiir places in the most goodhumored man ner having no other thought than the St Leger When the bell rang for it the sensa ¬ tion it produced was overwhelming although it was a relief to some to think that the excitement would soon be at an end and the worst known knownAll All candidates finished their preliminaries well with the exception of Donnybrook which was anything but Donnybrook Fair but as was Surplice West Australian and the Flying Dutchman Lord Clifden towered high above the others and in fact adver ¬ tised himself The scene at that moment was indeed a striking one and such as no other country could produce On the Moor the masses of England were packed like bees in a hive and on the roof of the stand the proudest patricians were established All were pervaded with one idea and their curiosity was soon set at rest restj j Fearful of being hemmed in John Os ¬ borne had taken up a position which pre ¬ vented any fear of collision but left him at enormous disadvantage for when the flag fell he was quite away from his com ¬ pany and as Bluemantle and Lee Boo took them along at a cutthroat pace the long stern chase of Lord Childen seemed perfectly hopeless and he really seemed to be beaten farther and farther every stride he went wentOWNER OWNER AND TRAINER WORRIED WORRIEDTo To the ring nothing could be more wel ¬ come than this intelligence but to Lord St Vincent and his trainer the torture was almost insupportable All is lost now was the refrain of their song as going over the j hill he was 150 yards from the leading horses By the time however they had reached the flat there was a more favorable change for now Lord Clifden was not the last but the last but two It was then j for the first time that Osborne found that j he had a Great Eastern under him and calling on his mount he went through the lot one after another until he had overhauled Queen Bertha BerthaThe The race between them was not long but decisive and amidst an amount of ex ¬ citement unsurpassed since Voltigeurs year Johnnie landed his mount winner The scene that followed beggared description and i i the carrying of Johnnie into the weighing room by the mob will never be forgotten nor the struggle with the policemen which Ed ¬ win Parr had before he could be permitted to see him in the scale scaleOf Of the cheering the champagne the con ¬ gratulations objurgations and maledictions that followed we need only say a word as they are the accompaniments of every St Leger but they have never been exceeded in our time and the whole tableau rendered the Lord Clifden Leger Day the most mem ¬ orable iii the annals of Doncaster
