A WET DERBY.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8493, 24 July 1907, Page 3

A WET DERBY.

(From Our London Correspondent.) LONDON, June 6. The Dean of Dunedin, who writes me from Madrid that the temperature there is pretty much that of an Otago winter, should have been here to witness our miserable Derby. Cold, wet, windy and miserable —only an Englishman could be happy under such circumstances. But it is the racing event of the year, not only are the trains packed, and roads crowded with every kind of vehicle; motor car, victoria, wagonette, dog-cart, down to the "donkey-shay," at once the conveyance of the highest and the lowest in the land, but the roads are full of sight-seers watching the return, and greeting any noticeably humourous conveyance with due attention, which usually took the form of cheers and laughter. For everyone goes to the Derby. No one too wealthy, none too poor. Side by side with the stately equipage of a lord is the business cart of a successful butcher, with' his buxom wife and daughters. Occasionally a brake comes along groaning beneath the j weight of a dozen young fellows and j their sweethearts, with that ex- I change of headgear so dear to the \ heart of the London coster. Here, a { motor 'bus engaged for the day, with ! holiday-dressed passengers of [the ! black coat class; there a party of maidens with summer bodices of many hues. Merry jest and laughter are the order of the day everywhere. But the tens of thousands of people who had made up their minds to make holiday this year were a little j damped in their ardour when they ! pulledfthe blinds up this morning and ] found.it was raining in torrents. The attendance was by no means a record but, considering the drenching morning, was a big one. The folks i one chiefly pitied were those who had spent the night on Epsom Downs, . ■with practically no shelter, and there must have been at least 2,000 of them. Happily, the rain stopped at noon, and for the next hour or two things were pleasant enough. This time before the serious business of the day commenced is to many the chief feature of the day. ; At this stage the course is a seething ocean of'men of every sort and condition, and probably nowhere else j in the world could such a varied col- ! lection be seen rubbing shoulders.■! The crowd is composed of Cabinet Ministers, Covent Garden porters, | denizens of Bayswater, of Hounds- j ditch, and of Park Lane; butchers, j /bakers and candlestick-makers; coun- \ -trymen from every county in Eng- j land, and from many in Scotland and j Ireland; foreigners galore; the babble j <»f tongues being equalled —if j equalled—only in Cairo. There was the purse trick merchant j who changed his pitch at frequent in J tervals, there was a clever conjurer, j there were acrobats, there was an ! of buying for a penny j .some original and ingeniously made j ■dolls, there were refreshment cater- j <-ers in their thousands, for the susten- ; ance of the inner man on Derby Day is the most important thing of -all; and the übiquitous pickpocket was; of course, to be counted by his ' thousands- j Seemingly there were more booths than ever, but perhaps never before in the history of Epsom, has there been such a demand for non-intoxi-cating liquors as compared with beers and spirits, and the luncheons were enjoyed by all. So the time passed merrily and all too quickly until the signal was given to clear the course for the first race, and almost simultaneously the Royal Standard denoting the arrival of the King was hoisted over the Royal stand. The masses of people dissolved behind the rails on either side like magic, and presently the two-year-olds that were to take part in the Caterham Plate cantered down the course to the post. Among them was "Pearl of the Lech," carrying His Majesty's purple, gold braid, scarlet sleeves and black cap. The sun by this time was out, and the discomforts of the morning were already forgotten. The world-famous panorama of Epsom Downs has never been seen to greater advantage, for the freshriecj of the greenery is now perfectly enchanting. The Derby parade was over in good time. It was evident when the lot had reached Tattenham Corner that Slieve Gallion could not stay, and Orby. running gamely, gained a clever victory over Woolwinder,while the favourite was third, and Bezonian was fourth. The victory of Orby, is a great event for both Irishmen and Americans, as the horse was trained in Ireland, while the owner (Mr Boss Croker) is well-known to every living soul in the United States. Orby, who was supposed to be 281b better than Hayden, won a race at Liverpool, and at Baldoyle was successful from a useful field.