THE TURF

Gisborne Times, Volume LXV, Issue 10318, 29 January 1927, Page 9

THE TURF

I Recourse sensation. I THEFT OF ASCOT GOLD CDF RECALLED. No race has of the grandstand. u f that T Fvt the Senary of the race y e a r was* interestl „g incident aDd the fact that two horses—The was Die la'-- d Fidernm—ran a' White K nl £ t place. Eiderran, dead-heat o jic>rse was disqualwho was ft l*f aud th e race was ifi ecl j fo ] . ff ic White Knight. I Mother interesting fact was that I Anotnci qvam arrived on a I e it J ‘w London on the day of the visit- l0 , !n j ie was entertained ah ho drew atin the course of Ins speech, ten l « fact that he was apparently i' i n some quarters in London re gai at susp i c ious character, for a , s Voter of one of the evening paConsisted of the two lines:— 3LAFK twain arrives. vSC OT GOLD CUP STOLEN. The story of how the Ascot Gold r- was lifted was never made pubC’P , ‘ t jie arrest of the thieves, hut J IC i aC ( S became known to Scotland vVafter tlie cun had been melted , m and it was impossible to bring iLnre against the men who had it. The cup was 13}in in iaio-M. and about- 6in in ammeter. It weighed-6Soz and Was worth £3OO. H ie custom aV-A scot meeting, whicn lasts four days, and is. held on a picturesque course 30 miles from London was to display the three principal’trophies —the Ascot Gold Cup, the King’s Vase and the Hunt Cup—on a table on the lawn at the back of the grandstand. The trophies were in charge of a policeman in uniform and a representative of the firm of jewellers who made them. It seemed utterly impossible for anyone to steal any <>f these trophies while they were on view with two men guarding them and many people passing to and fro. As a matter of fact, the •thieves did not go to Ascot with the intention of stealing any of the trophies; they went there in the hope of relieving” some wealthy punter of his pocket book. But thev noticed tb~ 4 while the races were being run all • eyes were on the horses, and none on the trophies. They waited for the big race of the day, and after the start, one of them engaged the policeman and the other attendant in conversation regarding the race", whlie the other lifted the gold c-up off the table, and hid* it 1 under his raincoat, which he was carrying on bis arm. By the t'me the teeft hod been discovered a few seconds later the gold c-up, hidden in the folds of the c-oat. had passed into tlje cure, of a third member of the gang outside the rails of the grandstand-enclosure, who had been waiting to receive a well-filled pocket book. The cup was hidden under a neighboring hedge that night, as the thieves knew thar the police would be watching suspicious characters on their way back to London. Next night the thieves came back for the cup, and a few hours later it was melted down by the fence to whom they sold it. Since this robbery the Ascot, trophies have not been displayed on the lawn for the adaiiration of patrons of the meeting.