Mahmoud Wins Derby: Aga Khans Colors Victorious for Second Consecutive Year, Daily Racing Form, 1936-05-28

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, 1 MAHMOUD WINS DERBY Aga Khans Colors Victorious for Second Consecutive Year. Lowers Record for Race Held by "Windsor Lad Stablemate Second Roswell Failure. Special Cablegram. EPSOM DOWNS, England, May 27. Mah-moud, the Aga Khans big gray colt, raced to a record-breaking victory in the 152nd running of the English Derby today, making his owner the first to sweep two Derbys in succession since 1885. The big horse, ridden by Charles Smirke, ran the heartbreaking mile and one-half course, with a hill at the finish, in 2:33 to break, by a fifth of a second, the record established by Windsor Lad in 1934. Smirke also rode Windsor Lad in that race. Mahmoud, son of Blenheim, another of the Aga Khans victorious Derby horses, defeated his stablemate, Taj Akbar, by three lengths in a driving finish to reward his backers at odds of 110-8. Three-quarters of a length behind the runner-up came Mrs. James Shands Thankerton. Lord Astors Pay Up, which went to the post a 5 to 1 favorite on the strength of his victory several weeks ago in the Two Thousand Guineas, bore out the tradition that an Astor horse never wins. Pay Up finished fourth. His Grace, Lord Carnarvons bay colt, which was backed at 28 to 1, finished fifth. H. G. Blagraves Convert was last. Mahmouds victory climaxed a sensational comeback for jockey Smirke. Banished several years ago for questionable riding, Smirke could not regain his license until 1934 just in time to ride the Maharajah of Rajpiplas Windsor Lad, which he drove to a then record breaking triumph. As Smirke rode Mahmoud to the unsaddling circle today to receive the floral horseshoe, the crowd of almost 500,000 gave him a thunderous salute. Continued on thiry-fourth page. MAHMOUD WINS DERBY Continued from first page. William Woodwards Boswell, the only American-owned horse in the race, never was a contender. He was high in the betting but failed to show the speed which his American backers had hoped would carry him to the first American triumph since 1914. The three first horses enabled Americans to reap a golden harvest, however, for they held ,000,000 worth of Irish Hospital Sweepstake tickets on Mahmoud, Taj Akbar and Thankerton. The start was delayed almost five minutes as several of the twenty-two three-year-old I colts acted up at the post. When j .sxi uroMti -xzusaL sas it came, however, the start was good and the field was off in perfect alignment. The Maharajah of Rajpiplas Carioca was the early pacemaker. Barry Star -was second, while the rest of the field was strung out on the long back stretch. They were strung out in this order: Pay Up, Midstream, Abjer, Couvert, Magnet, Noble King, with Mendicant Friar bringing up the rear. As they hit the half mile post, Carioca still was ahead, followed closely by Midstream, Pay Up, Magnet, Abjer and Boswell. In the middle bunch was Mahmoud. He ran easily and freely. As the field thundered down hill toward Tattenham Corner, Thankerton, a sprinter, went out in front, with Aga Khans third entrant, Bala Hissar; Pay Up and Boswell bunched almost at his heels. But as they entered the straightaway, Thankerton, with a burst of speed, began moving away and soon had established a lead of three lengths. This bid for victory killed him off, however, and shortly after entering the final uphill drive for home, Thankerton gave way and Mahmoud. making his first real challenge, began gaining on the leaders. Running in the center of the track, Mahmoud passed a horse, almost with each stride and soon was in front. His stable-mate, Taj Akbar, made a good effort to catch the flying grey colt, but Mahmoud under stout whipping, held on to win comfortably.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1930s/drf1936052801/drf1936052801_1_6
Local Identifier: drf1936052801_1_6
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800