DERBY DAY SENSATIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1920, Page 3

DERBY DAY SENSATIONS.

Selrlom lias a horse's chance of victory seemed more impossible than that of I Phosphorus, Lord Berners' colt, in the Derby of. 1837. All the knowing Turf-men confidently asserted that the odds against him were "all Lomba/d Street to an orange"; although one poetic tipster spotted him in the following anticipatory couplet:— 'Tis over; • the trick for the thousands is done; George Edwards on Phosphorus the Derby has won; A still greater surprise awaited the spectators of the next year's race; for the winner, Sir Gilbert HeathcoVs Amato, was an utterly unknown horse on the racecourse. The "coughing pony," as he was contemptuously called, although he stood 15J hands high, had never appeared in public; and although a few residents of Epsom who had seen the horse in training backed him for small amounts, his chances seemed to microscopic that a few weeks before the race odds of 100 to 1 were laid against hiru, and he actually started at 100 to .1. In the race, however, Amato won with comparative case. Singularly enough, this was not only his first, it was also his last public appearance. The Derby, of 1539, which was won in a snow-storm, proved a curious repetition of Amato's sensa.'tional victory; for the winner, Bloomsbury, had never previously run in a race, and started at the odds of 30 to 1. There was, too, a dispute, as to his which resulted in a lawsuit; and altogether Bloomsbury caused considerable stir by his victory. Never was 'there a m*ore |iopele.ss outsider than Black Tommy, who ran second to Blink Bonny in the Derby of 18r>7. So badly was lie thought of that odds of 200 to 1 were offered against him, and few were venturesome enough to take them. It is even said that one daring bookmaker laid his owner, Mr Drinkald, the extraordinary wager' of £20,000 to a coat, waistcoat,'and hat? So splendidly did the despised colt acquit himself in the race that he was only beaten by a neck for the ' first place. Forty to one were the odds offered against Caractacus for the Derby of I ].Sfi2, and the odds seemed amply justified, for the public knew practically nothing of Mr Snewing's colt. There was hardly a soul, however, in the neighbourhood' of his stable who hadn't invested his money on the horse. In fact, so great was the faith in his ability to win that, it is said, "the pawnbrokers' shops for miles round were full of goods pledged to back Caractacus." There were thirty-four runners, including The Marquis, winner of the Two Thousand, and Mr Merry's Buckstone, who finished second aiid third respectively; but Caractacus beat themall and, amid a scene of the wildest exdtement won by a neck, a length and a half separating The Marquis and Buckstone. More recent races have provided sensations almost as great, as when .Teddah, Signorinetta, and Aboyeur won the "Blue Ribbon" at the amazing odds of 100 to 1, thus rewarding their backers with £I,OOO for every £lO they risked on then.