More Remarkable Racing Dreams.: Thormanby Spins some More Yarns Over Turf Visions in the Old Days., Daily Racing Form, 1908-08-06

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MORE REMARKABLE RACING BREAMS Thormanfcy Spins Some More Yarns Over Turf Vis ¬ ions in the Old Bays BaysThe The disposition on the part of sporting men to accept such omens has before now been taUen advantage of by impostors and more than once ad ¬ vertisements have appeared in the sporting papers announcing that a lady who liad twice dreamed the name of the Derby winner Jiatl again been so fa Tored and was prepared to send this tip from Queen iMab on the receipt of thirty postage stamps It is said that she reaped a goodly harvest though it was more than the senders of the half crowns did Spiritualists have also tried the dodge and mediums have seen horses gallop past the winning post that never came within a half mile of it itTo To come again to the experiences of persons still living here is a curious instance of a lucky dream The night before the race for the Chester Cup of lSrO William fay the trainer dreamed that One Act won and that William Goater was second after a good race and that lie told Coaler after the horses had passed the post that he thought be Day had won To this Goater hastily replied Yon know you have and walking up the course to ¬ gether the Findon trainer said You have done me out of the best stake I ever stood stoodThis This dream William Day told to some ten or a dozen gentlemen during breakfast at the hotel at Chester where he was staying After saddling One xct William Day stood close to the winning post to see the race aud as soon as his mare passed it the third time be thought she had won He said to the judge What has won Mr Johnston White he replied and then looking up added Oh you Mr Day Strange to say William Goater was standing by Days side all the time quite unnoticed bv the latter until tufuing round to go and meet One Act Day found himself face to face with his Kindon rival As they walked up to meet their re fcpeclivc horses Goater said 1 stood to win more money on mine today than I ever stood before tJius absolutely fulfilling Mr Days dream to the very letter letterThe The famous mare Caller Ou winner of the St Leger of 1SG1 was the heroine of an equally vivid and prophetic dream Caller Ou had beeu per ¬ forming very moderately during the summer of her threeyearold career aud the extreme odds of tlOO to 1 offered against her seemed to foreshadow Ler absence from the post A gentleman with whom Mr 1Anson was slightly acquainted a keen sports ¬ man and courser iMr Peat then a chemist and druggist at Redcar dreamed that Caller Ou won tbe St Leger and like a true Yorkshireman backed her for that event On being told by his friends ihat she was not likely to run he wrote very re ¬ spectfully to Mr IAnson informing him of his dream and of his having backed the marc and Wered hi case the owner did not think of running her to pay the stake and all other expenses if he would allow her to go to Doncaster and take her chance Mr IAnson on considering the matter desired his daughter who was then as always Lls trusty counselor and amanuensis to reply in cour ¬ teous terms to Mr Peats letter thanking him for hip handsome offer and informing him that Caller Ou should run and take her chance in the St Leger but that he would himself pay all expenses The result as Is well known gained Caller Ou the brightest gcin in her chaplet of fame and won Mr Peat his money moneyMr Mr Alexander Young the brewer of Richmond Yorkshire affords another instance of sleepers to whom Queen Mab revealed herself as a prophetess Tie dreamed on tlio eve of the Chester Cup that he was standing in the ring at Chester after the race imd saw No Ll hoisted as the winning number This dream induced him to go to the Chester races inil on the course he met his friend John Jackson ihe then leviathan of the betting ring who inquired what had brought him there Mr Young laughingly replied that he had come on a fools errand to back No ill on the card as he had dreamed it had won wonThe The race cards were just coming out and Jackson said Well l uy one and see what It Is To their surprise they found that No 21 was Jacksons oni horse Tim Whifller and on being assured by the owner that Jhe horse really had a great chance Mr Young backed him to win a good stake and always declared thuthc stood on the course In exactly the came place us he did in his dream Mr Young who was the breeder of Digby Grand Grand Flaneur and at one time owned Controversy told several people at Richmond of his dream before lie went to Chester I have heard it stated on very good authority that the Honorable Amias Charles OrdePovlett younger brother of the late Lord Bolton some time before Voltlgeur won the Derby dreamed that the first three horses in that race were Voltigeur 1 Pits ford 2 Clincher 3 He wrote to his brother tlw Honorable T OrdePowlett to that effect aud tooth gentlemen backed the lucky dream the horses as everybody knows finishing as above written The mother of these two gentlemen was also celebrated as a lucky dreamer She twice dreamed the winner of the St Leger her husband on each occasion backing the dream and landing a good stake stakeLord Lord Vivians famous City and Suburban dream is probably known to most turfmen Still it may be new to some and therefore I give it in Lord Vivians own words wordsI I dreamed on the morning of the race for the City and Suburban Handicap that I had fallen asleep in the weighingroom of the stand at Epsom prior to the race and after it had been run I was awakened by a gentleman the owner of another horse in the race who informed me that The Teacher had won Of this horse as far as my recollection serves I had never heard before On reaching Victoria Station the first person I saw was the gentleman who had appeared to me in my dream and to whom I mentioned it saying I could not find any horse so named in the race To which he replied There is a horse now called Aldrich which was previously known as The Teacher The dream had so vividly impressed me that I declared my in ¬ tention of backing Aldrich for 100 aud was in the act of doing so when I was questioned by the owner as to why I was backing his horse I an ¬ swered Because I dreamed he had won the race To this he answered As against your dream I will tell you a fact I triad tbe horse lastweek against a hurdle jumper and he was beaten at a distance I thanked my informer and discontinued backing Aldrich General Taylor who had overheard what passed asked me if I did not Intend backing the horse again for myself to win him 5000 by him This I did by taking for him 1000 to 30 about Aldrich It js a matter of history that this geegee was the winner of the City and Suburban of 1S4 1S4Sir Sir George Chetwynd by the way had an almost equally remarkable dream with respect to Curate in the same race the City and Suburban of 1S74 lie dreamed that Curate came in first but ran up a bank just beyond the winning post and disappearing never returned to weigh in consequently the race was awarded to Mr Lefevres Minister which came in second ridden by a jockey in deep mourning crepe on jacket and cap as well as on boots and breeches Now Curate was a horse that had been heavily backed for the City and Suburban but was scratched just before the race and Minister did come In second The dream grotesque as it was left so vivid an impression on Sir Georges mind that he backed Minister for a place and had reason to be well satisfied that he had not scorned his queer dream tip tipColonel Colonel Starkey the owner of Sulphur was an ¬ other sportsman who was indebted to a dream for enabling him to hedge at the last moment Whzn the Colonel ran Sulphur for the Lincolnshire Han ¬ dicap he was very sanguine up to a certain time that the horse would win but on the Monday prior to the race he was out with the Burton Hounds and rode nearly all day side by side with Mr Law ¬ rence Thornton mine host of the Saracens Head Hotel Lincoln when just as the hounds were run ¬ ning into their fox and each man was putting on his best spurt to be in at the death Mr Thornton rushed his old hunter past the horse the Colonel was riding and turning round said saidAh Ah thats how I want to see Sulphur rush past cm in the handicap for you youWell Well on the way back the Colonel seemed gloomy He said saidThornton Thornton you beat me today and I shall be beaten tomorrow I dreamed he went on to say last night that Sulphurs number was put up tbird and thats where he will be so I advise you only to back him for a place placeAnd And sure enough Sulphur was placed third by the judge judgePerhaps Perhaps a yet more curious verification of a dream is furnished by the subjoined story which I have on excellent authority An American merchant who was carrying on trade in the city of London aud who so far from being a sporting man was not even acquainted with the names of the horses In the betting dreamed some weeks before the Derby of 1S7 that Sir Bevys had won He related the dream to several friends but the name of the horsa was uufamillar and they ridiculed the idea of any ¬ thing coming of it Well said the merchant who was thoroughly possessed by the Idea never ¬ theless Ill bet you to 1 naming a small stake it does win His friend objected pointing out that he ought to take iiO to 1 against Instead of laying 2 to 1 on The dreamer however Insisted on the original terms and odds of 2 to 1 were laid three weeks before the event was decided and when Sir ISevys was quoted at 20 and 30 to 1 I need not remind the reader that Sir Bevys carried off the Blue Riband of 1S79 1S79There There can be no question then that dreams do sometimes come true and that there have been lucky sportsman who have had reason to bless Queen Mab for her correct lips Yet I candidly confess that I regard these prophetic dreams as mere freaks When a dream Is fulfilled it is remembered as a phenomenon Hut think of the countless myr ¬ iads of dreams which do not come true and are con ¬ sequently forgotten aud the reduction will probably lead you to the conclusion that to put faith in dreams Is to lean upon a broken reed


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