"CROCKS" THAT HAVE WON CLASSIC RACES

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 136, 30 May 1908, Page 4

"CROCKS" THAT HAVE WON CLASSIC RACES

It U Herniary lu go back some years to lind a parallel to Ihe achievement of the lit teen-guinea ex-trap-horse Kubio, in winning the Grand National. Possibly the nearest approaih to R ua*> the ca-e of Thro-tb\ which beat Lord Kusehvry's l.ada> in the ninetyIniutli St. l/cger, and which was .so little thought ot hy tli;' owner. Lord Aliugtnn. that In- was at oa<* time on the point of having her sliot. alter liavi vainly tried to give her away amongst his friends ami acijuaiulauees. Then, too, there was Salamander, a Grand National winner like Uubio. who, after being used in harness and as a hunter, wan hawked about to more than a si-ore of country fairs before a purchaser could he found to give .l\t> for ! him. Although the respectable sum of on-' thousand guineas, on the oiher hand, was paid for Hermit bv his owner. .Mr., Ib-nry Chaplain, the racing publie thought so little of him that he was •generally alluded to a,; "Chaplain's j Crock," nnd long o.lds were laid •against him when he ran for th.- Derby in the "snowstorm year." Never!heb ss. he romped lioitu a winner. io the nl'er ruin and discoinliUire of the .Marijuis of Hastings, who had Milked hU eiitiiv fortune on aiioiher iini-e. Not even hi - * mvuer, .Mr. .1. \\. I.ar naeh. supposed for one -ingle in-lan; that -liddali, 'In 1 winner of tiie IS:*S I Derliy, stood the remot;vt chance of I Hashing first past the poM. the resuh ' ■being that tin' horse started at forlorn odd*. Never, before or since, has so long a starting price been obtainable for the winner of any one of the great races. Without doubt, however, the wit "croekiest " of all "crock*'' that aver won a classic race was Amato. which carried all before him in the Derby of 1838. Nicknamed on account of his in tirmities the "coughing pony," he \va* tried privately, ran in that one race only, and was practically unquoted in the ring, nobody apparently knowing anything at all almut him.