The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-06 00:00:00

THE DERBY AND THE OAKS.

Gamos is owned it appears by Mr. Graham, a gentle-
man who has twice before had winners for the Oaks and
who (although only a few years on the turf) has already
got the name of a successful man. He runs his horses
under the nom de guerre of Jones. Mr. Graham was un-
able through illness to witness the victory of his colours on
Friday. The engagements of Gamos this year are—
Eigteenth Bentinck Memorial, Goodwood ; Yorkshire
Oaks, York August Meeting : Park Hill Stakes, Don-
caster September; and Grand Duke Michael
Stakes, Newmarket First October Meeting. Bell's
Life reminds us that when Macgregor cantered
home so magnificently at Bath lately, Gamos was one of
the beaten of two that came home anyhow, and yet on
Friday afternoon this filly settled with perfect ease a field
supposed to have in its numbers the the three best fillies
in training. Commenting on the Derby racing of Wed-
nesday the Field says few Derbies have given rise to less
excitement or interest than the one decided this year, as
dullness reigned supreme on the "day of days," and the
attendance was one of the smallest we ever remembered to
have seen in a somewhat lengthened racing experience while
a greater surprise than the defeat of Macgregor in the
race has never been recorde,l in the annals of the turf.
To have been defeated by Kingcraft—the best performer
of last year, except Sunshine—was nothing, but that
horses of the Palmerston and Muster stamp should have
finished in front of the Tvio Thousand winner, and Bonny
Swell been at his neck, is one of those puzzling problems
that defy the nicest calculations. The defeat of Mac-
gregor, however, the Field attributes to the hardness of
the Found and his inability to act down the Epsom hill,
as his forelegs and pasterns are rather straight.
It has ever been a matter of surprise to the special com-
missioner of the Sportsman, that Kingcraft should have
been beaten by a worse-looking animal in the Two
Thousand Guineas. The winner of the Derby himself is
not a horse of the very highest class, as far as his ap-
pearance is concerned, but he is the best-looking of the
rather mean lot he conquered for the blue riband, and has
proved that he is superior to anything of his year. He
looked so little fatigued after the struggle, that he
might not have had more than an ordinary exercise
gallov on the Limekiln ground at Newmarket. It
is quite possible that another surprise may take place
at Doncaster as there is a field of cracks for the St. Leger
Amongst others the entry embraces, Bridgwater, The
Recorder, Ely Appleton, Palmerston, Camel Coutts,
Kingcraft, Hawthornden, Exciseman, Bonny Swell
Captivator, King o' Scots, Macgregor, Sunlight, Sun-
shine Prince of Wales, Sarsfield, Paddington, Piccadilly,
Stanley, Valois, Normanby, Cymbal, Ptarmigan, and
Fragrance. It is said that the field for the Oaks on Friday
(seven horses) was the smallest for the last half century,
since in 1821 Lord Exeter's Wilful carried off the race.

Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and
the Duke of Edinburgh have been very recently made the
theme of two fortunately harmless and ingenious hoaxes.

The South London Press says it was alleged by a
member of the Lambeth Vestry, at one of the elections
held last Monday evening, that some of the members
were so fettered to the favourable opinion of certain other
vestrymen, that they frequently, in voting for measures
unpopular with the party to which they were espoused in
name, would, in holding up their hands, pass their arms
round the necks of other members to saddle the repute of
I the vote on to others than themselves.