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INCIDENTS OF LINCOLNSHIRE • English Writer Recalls Sidelights on Past Runnings of Old Stake i ♦ i Uow a Chance Tip on a 40 to 1 Shot Turned I a Business Man Into a lieckless Plunger. ♦ "Anything might happen" has come to be a sort of unwritten axiom in England in connection with the annual renewals of the Lincolnshire Handicap, which was won this year by Sir Gallahad III., the favorite. Some runnings of this famous race are recounted by Alexander Scott in the following article from the London Daily Mail : A half-sovereign bet, prompted by a "tip" of mine, that turned an acquaintance more or less content fifth a small business into one of the most reckless plungers the turf has ever known, is one of my Lincolnshire memories. It is sixty years since I saw my first handicap and nearly fifty since the day when to save myself further pestering I told the man that of all the Lincoln horses. Controversy, owned by Lord Rosebery, was the best for his money. The horse was a 40 to 1 chance, and 40 to 1 in half-sovereigns was the bet that my plunger made. It came off and with |100 the man. Wells was his name, threw up his business and took to the turf. FOLLOWING ARCHER. By blindly following the mounts of Fred Archer, then fairly launched on his wonderful career, he quickly turned his 00 into 00,000, and became known to all race- : goers as "Wells, the Plunger." Thoroughly did he earn the title, for only a few months after he had won his modest 00 Wells had 5,000 on Thunder at Chester when that famous horse, with Archer up, was unexpectedly beaten. But Wells knowledge of thoroughbreds and racing generally was little more than nothing, and in a few years he had run through his big winnings and was back to half-sovereign wagers. One of the most spectacular Lincolnshires I have ever seen was that won by Buchanan in 1881. The weather was terrible and snow and sleet fell while the race was being run. Buchanan was a gray and, covered with snow, looked like a ghost horse as he raced 1 home ten lengths in front of a field of thirty-five others. Some of the most acid comments ; I can remember in my sixty years of ■ racing followed Buchanans win, for ho was 1 one of an owners two representatives, he ! only carried second colors, and the performance was an astounding improvement on 1 previous form. In spite of that the horse ; was well backed by somebody who knew all 1 about the grays real chance. A BAD 031 EX. Racegoers are superstitious and there were I many who did not like the omen of the ghostly Buchanan coming out of the snow to win that Lincolnshire. For once in a way the gloomy ones were not so far out in their misgivings, for running in the Liverpool I Cup the same year the horse fell and his • jockey, Willie MacDonald, was fatally injured. ■ All omens, however, are not like that, and I a different one brought the well known Sir John Astloy, known as The Mate, a slice of f luck at Lincoln. He had backed H. Rymills 3 mare. Rosy Cross, and was walking across to see her saddled when he knocked his foot 1 against something lying in the grass. It was a horseshoe, and unable to resist the suggestion. Sir John had another 00 on I Rosy Cross at 20 to 1. And the beautiful mare duly won. ONLY SIX MARES HAVE WOX. She was one of only six mares, however, to win the race in the last sixty years. In I spite of White Buds victory last year, mares , are the only animals that one can declare against with reasonable safety. Apart from that, however, beware of the 1 man who would tell you the exact type of f horse required to win the Lincoln. With 1 Betsy Prig I feel inclined to say that "there » aint no such thing," for I have seen all I sorts of horses, milers, sprinters and hurdlers, from the great Bendigo down to Knight t of Burghley, little more than a five-furlong j selling plater, score. Apart from Bendigo, I should say that Clo-rane I and Winkfields Pride were the best horses I have seen win the Lincolnshire. • They won in 1896 and 1897, respectively, and 1 both were ridden by Mornington Cannon. Winkfields Pride, by the way, provided a t sensation. The year before the horse had j won the Cambridgeshire from end to end, and was fairly remembered, but little more 2 than a fortnight before Lincoln he was 3 quoted at 25 to 1, and rumor had it that he ? would not run. In spite of that money was s piled on him, and the starting price was I 7 to 2. For all the confidence in him the Irish 1 borse was only up in the last stride to beat t an outsider called Funny Boat by a head.
