DUCHESS SENSATION AND THE MELBOURNE CUP.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume IX, Issue 988, 19 October 1881, Page 1 (Supplement)

DUCHESS SENSATION AND THE MELBOURNE CUP.

The Melbourne Sportsman, furnishes the following in explanation of the fact recently received by cable, that Duchess had obtained first place in the betting on the Cup : — “ There has been an excitement in sporting ciacles. An outsider has suddenly and simultaneously been placed on the betting markets of Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia, and the first question now asked by friend or stranger is, “ Have you backed Duchess for the Cup ? ’ ft at the Ballarat Hunt Races, last Saturday afternoon, that the horsey public were flabbergasted by this mare being first quietly booked by a gentleman totally unconnected with any stable at £3OOO to 75, and

then taking as many wagers as he could get up to about £12,000, at from 1 100 to 2| to 100 to 5. Soon a cautious whisper became a bold guess that Duchess must be in the dangerous St. Albans stable ; and this idea rapidly gained ground when one or two parties known to be tolerably intimate with Mr. James Wilson, asked and obtained the double of Somerset for the Derby and Duchess for the Cup at 1000 to, 20, and afterwards took 1000 to 30. Findiag that the mare had so quickly • taken the fancy of many folks, who always eagerly follow what they ‘ smell ’ to be a good thing, some of ‘ the talent ’ began to call ‘ mixed goods ; ’ and a favorite offer soon became the singularly appropriate coupling of the ‘ Duke and the Duchess ! ’ I’ll lay the Duke and the Duchess ! ’ a colt so named, and in Howie’s stable at Ballarat, having already been a bit of a favorite for the blue ribbon. All Monday and yesterday the gossipmongers were full of nothing else than the wondrous trials the previously disregarded mare had shown the clever Mr. James Wilson. She had carried Bst. and beaten Progress 2 miles at a stone less, said one. She had beaten Tourmaline for a mile, and then polished off Somerset for a second, declared another. She had run away from Royal Maid (feather weight) -*■ «- - -A— o the Cup distance in 3min. 28sec. with L her mouth open, exclaimed a third. Nor did any one seem to doubt the reckless assertions. Then, however,

came a rumor that she was not at Mr. Wilson’s at all, but at Bob Howie’s ; and the jaws of the above know-alls fell on to their neckties ; nor did some of the chaffing division forget to rake up her past very mediocre performances, and then ‘ take a rise ’ out of the sanguine investors. Putting joking aside, though—for it has now become a very serious business, inasmuch as Duchess has been backed for something like £50,000 —the real facts of the case are these —The mare is a 4-year old, by Manuka, out of Princes and she has appeared three times in public, viz. : Running second in the Maiden Plate at Carterton, winning the All-aged Stakes at Coleraine, and then winning the Portland Handicap last June, under 7st, the next to her being Mesalliance at Bst 51b, and the time for the mile and a-half 2min. 54|sec. This presents nothing of much promise, rather the reverse; nut her owners, Messrs. Skene Bros, (the breeders of Game, late Normanby), thought something better was in her, and she was quietly sent to St. Albans to be ‘ asked a few questions ’ when fit for them to be put to her. These it seems, she has recently answered so satisfactorily that it was determined to strike the iron whilst hot, and take up at one swoop all the money obtainable before the fact became blown. This has been very cleverly managed, and the cause of the affair being worked in such a systematic style is the known fact that a portion of the Ring had decided never, knowingly, to lay money against the St. Albans horses. So well, indeed, has the secret been kept, that none of Mr. Wilson’s establishment were even aware of the mare being there ; and had the question been asked if Duchess were in the stable, none would have laughed more at the idea than those actually saw and handled her every day. Such is the real story of the affair ; but as to her being a ‘ moral ’ for the Cup, that must still be an o'pen matter. There was once a filly at St. Albans called Melita, and that certainly did not come off.” $ —