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GLORIES OF TWO THOUSAND S " ; , I English Turf Writer Recounts High Points of Classics History. r Ormonde and Flying Fox Recognized as Greatest Horses to "VVin Big Stake at Newmarket. p V b r - - . i n Although of recent years the Two Thou- p sand Guineas has failed to maintain its former class, the race will always be re- e garded as second to none from a spectacular j; pcint of view. To see that charging field of j, is horses coming down the broad expanse of greensward known as the Rowley Mile, the colors of their riders flashing kaleidoscop- .. ically in the May sunshine, is indeed a sight; for the gods. When the plungers reigned the "Guineas" fe was generally regarded as the halfway- house to the honors of a Blue Riband, but j "autre temps, autre moeurs A real "live" Derby celt nowadays is seldom ready to dp full justice to himself at Newmarket. j Unlike Epsom, Newmarket has never been known as a rogues course, and casting my mind back thirty years or so I cannot recall . the names of many ill-temperd beasts which r triumphed in the first of the classics. Cer- T tainly Handicapper, the surprise winner of 1901, was a bit erratic in some of his run- ning, but he carried W. Halsey Home that v day from seventeen others, though doubtless , we did not then- see the best- of the subsequent St. Leger winner. Derides, which . added to the years outsiders by smashing up 1 the Derby hero, Volodyovski, on the Town ; Moor. j UNIMPRESSIVE WINNERS. 1 Sweeper II., the "Guineas" winner in 1912, was a horse of temperamental qualities with , no pretensions to stay a yard farther than a mile, while Diamond Jubilee 1900 womu never have won the race at all if those connected with the management cf the royal string had insisted on "Morny" Cannon riding, as was originally intended, for the "horse refused to take to any jockey save ; Bert Jones. Apart from this trio, taken at random, the first classic, in my time at any rate, has invariably fallen to a game horse. When Neil Gow credited Lord Rosebery 1 with the prize in 1910 we surely saw one of j the best finishes cf all time. In the last ; quarter mile the bearer of the primrose and rose hoops and Lemberg ran home locked together so that none of the course except the man in the box with his eye glued on the blackboard opposite could say which haa i won. If he had signalled a dead heat, the decision wculd haye caused no surprise, but as it was, in the opinion of the judge, "Danny" Mahers superb jockeyship had just landed his mount first past the stick by a short head. The pity of it was that Neil Gow was not fighting fit on Derby day. Later, when he went on to Epsom, Lem-berg won for Bernard Dillon his only Derby, and later on the Manton celt dead-heated with Neil Gow in a memorable contest for the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park. ORMONDE AND FLYING- FOX. By universal consent the two best horses that ever won the "Guineas" were the mighty Ormonde 1886 and Flying Fox 1899. George Barrett rode Ormonde in the first classic, but to Fred Archer went the honor of completing the triple crown when he subsequently scored on the Kingsclere wonder at Epsom and Doncaster. A good many people never forgave the late Duke of Westminster for allowing such a horse as Ormonde to be sold to go out of the country, but the son of Bend Or turned roarer, and this was his excuse for - parting with an animal the like of which we may never see again. Curiously, Flying Fox was in the same interest as Ormonde, but this bearer of the black and yellow livery had nothing like the class of animals to meet as did the winner of 86. With the exception of Caiman, the mile record holder, his opponents were poor stuff, indeed, though Scintillant did manage to win at Caesarewitch. Ayrshire 18S8 was the last "Guineas" winner that Johnny Osborne threw a leg across, though he had been successful in the race on Pretender as far back as 1869. Ayrshire beat a fair-class field, but the colt by Hampton Atalanta, was not so good as Donovan, the Duke of Portlands Derby winner of the following year. Tis true Ayrshire also added the Derby to his Two Thousand Guineas laurels, but he was beaten out of sight by Seabreeze, Chillington and Zanzibar in the St Leger. ANOTHER TRIPLE CROWN HERO. Yet another Triple Crown hero won the Newmarket classic in 1893 Isinglass, and so superior was popular Harry McCalmonts colt all that year over his two nearest adversaries in point of merit Ravensbury and Raeburn that he usually managed to beat them pointless. Said the trainer of Ravensbury after the first defeat, "I know mines a smasher, so what sort of an animal is Isinglass?" To , which the only answer can be that Isinglass ; Avas a horse and a half. The rivalry of Persimmon and -St Frus-quin the ."Guineas" winner of 1896 had been foreshadowed since their two-year-old days, but when the" princes colt showed up i badly in a gallop at headquarters during Craven week it was practically decided that he would not run until the Derby, so as to i give him more time to mature. Instantly St. Frusquins price .for the "Guineas" hardened to 6 to 4, with more takers than layers. He went out on the. day at odds-on price, and on the showing he made the "talent" had no hesitation in installing . him favorite for the Epsom classic: ! Ho was a good horse on that day at Newmarket when Tommy Loates nursed him i home in front of six "also rans," but all things being equal he would never have beaten Persimmon. The best mare I ever saw win the Newmarket classic was the peerless Sceptre, who squandered her field in 1902, and. incidentally, won for her owner a "packet." As she also won the One Thousand, the Oaks and the St. Leger, and was none too lucky when running fourth in the race for the Derby, it . goes Avithout saying that she Avas an uncommonly good and game bit of stuff. There Avas only one better than her that year a colt named Ard Patrick, but a pound, plus sex alloAvance, Avould probably have brought them together; , When Disraeli won in 1898 the connections thought they also had the Derby in their pocket, for the three-year-olds that year were a. rather poor lot. Sam Loates beat fourteen opponents at NewrharCet, but Marshs stable reckoned that they would turn the tables in the Derby Avith the speedy Dieu-donne. They certainly did turn the , tables on Disraelis people, but" riot Avith the horse they expected, for to their consternation up rolled Otto Madden on the unbacked 100 to 1 forlorn hope, Jeddah, Avhich had previously Avon the Newmarket Stakes. Mornington, in London Sporting" Times;
