Gigantic Prizes In Derby Sweepstakes

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 683, 7 June 1929, Page 12

Gigantic Prizes In Derby Sweepstakes

BEATEN FAVOURITE A SOCIETY PARADE RUGBY, Wednesday. The Derby exercised its usual influence over the majority of the population of England today. Tens of thousands of people of all ranks of society went by rail and road this morning to the Epsom course. Enormous prizes are to be won in the sweepstakes of the Calcutta Turf Club aud London Stock Exchange, and thousands of smaller prizes are available in minor sweepstakes organised in offices, factories and clubs. Viscount Astor’s Craigadour was favourite. That owner has had extraordinarily bad luck in previous Derbys, his horses having been second on four or five occasions. The next best followed horses were Major McCalmont’s Mr. Jinks, Mr. Sol Joel s Kopi, Sir Victor Sassoon’s Gay Day, and the Earl of Derby’s Hunter's Moon. This year’s London Stock Exchange Mutual Subscription Fund in connection with the Derby closed on April 19 with the record total of £1,000,000. Its success was so great that the organisers decided to duplicate all but the 040 consolation prizes. Thus there will be: Two first prizes each of £125,000. Two second prizes each of £65,000. Two third prizes each of £32,500. Two fourth prizes each of £17,500. There will be 670 further prizes of £SOO each, two for each of the remaining horses entered, and 340 consolation prizes of £250 each. The grand total of prize money will be £900,000, leaving £IOO,OOO to be devoted to charities and expenses. Tickets were distributed all over the world. Mr. John J. Hamilton, chief organiser of the fund, said recently:—“Our decision to duplicate the winning tickets this year, both for the placed

horses and the entries, has been taken I in order that the prize money shall be ! more equals distributed.” Subscriptions not only reached £1,000,000 for the first time, but the money was subscribed at a faster rate than ever. Little more than a fori- | night was occupied in disposing of the 1,000,000 tickets. Last year the tickets were on sale for more than a ! month, and only about 500,000 were sold. When the fund was started j a few years ago the tickets sold amounted to only £IOO. Every successive year saw a growth of subscriptions until, in 1927, the total reached £250,000. Last year that figure was doubled. ' famous Calcutta Sweep has j been for many years the premier Derby attraction, and this year was over £1,000,000. An extraordinary mistake was made i