The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-06-14
RACING IN ENGLAND.
II III Z ID E II b Y
Defeat Of All the Favorites-Triumph Of Com.
plete Outsider-Mr Merry Wins the Race
When About to Retire from the Turf
The Road, the Rail, the Crowd.
LONDON, May 20, 1878,

:. LONDON, May 20, 1873,
The greatest horse race in the world has more
been run, and 10 has resulted In the triumph Of
Doncaster, complete outsider, whose chance was
generally regarded as so hopeless that he started
at the long odds OF 40 to !, while his owner, Mr..
James Merry M. p, had so little confidence in his
ability to win the race that he invested on him no
more than floO. though that was done at the re-
freshing odds OF so to l, bringing in $4,000 in
addition to the stakes, which were worth a. 1875,
or s24,l25 making in all about thirty thousand dol
lars This is, however, a sum which no owner OF
great racehorse would care to win over contest
80 important az the Derby. II is only week ago
that Mr.. Merry announced in the advertising
columns of the RGcg Calendar his Intention to sell
all his horses in training, his brood mares and his
stations which il practically an admission that he
is about to
RETIRE FROM THE TURF,
with which lie has been connected Tor nearly thirty
years. hr. Merry is one OF the greatest lronmas-
tiers in the whole kingdom, ana is man OF i'm
mense fortune. He has tor many years past been
o member OF Parliament for the Falkirk boroughs,
where he is extremely popular from the fact that
his great foundres are in the immediate neigh
borho0d; but he has never distinguished himself
legislator, and, in fact the local jokes current
ABOUT MIN III J1db TespcCJ are nearly dS IiulculOuS
as those which circulated here about Mt. whalley
or Mr. Newdegate. For example. when, few years
ago, he being once more candidate at q new cleo
ton, facetious townsman asked HIM II he would
ABOLISH THE DECAL0GuE
he was puzzled for moment, never having heard
Of the Decalogue and turned Tor advice to his lead
ing bOttlehoder who gave him a hint. "We,n
said he, a have not yet inquired into that subject
but If l find that the Decalogue 10 not for the adj
vantage OF the Falkirk boroughs shall certainly
vote for its abolition whenever government brings
in blll." There is, however, no more honor
able, Straightforward and enterprising follower Of
the turf than Mr.. Merry. He has always main
tanned a large and expensive stud; he is most
clever and successful breeder Of race horses, and
he has won very many OF our most important
prizes, but he has been singularly
UNFORTUNATE In THE DERBY,
for which he has had more favorites than any
other owner and yet had never won the great
event before yesterday, except upon one occasion
IN 1870, when Tnormanby bore his glorious yellow
jacket and black cap first past the winning post.
He had for many seasons the best two.year.olds of
their time but all OF them, with the exceptions re-
ferred to- came to grief from various causes. The
breaking down OF Dundee would, OF itself, have
been sufficient to induce any ordinary sportsman
to abandon the turf In disgust, but Mr.. Merry was
not SO easily bafded. The overthrow in rapid sue
cesson Of Hobbie Noble, Scottish Chief Blackstone,
Marksman, King OF the Forest, Macgregor and
Belladrum formed long series OF disasters only
broken by the inability OF student, Teddington
and sunshine to go TO the post 1t was hardly
possible that man could bear up forever against
such disappOintments, ana lattcrly Mr.. Merry,
worn out by illness, became wearied OF the pursuit
OF fortune on the turf and determined to retire,
as already mentioned. At the eleventh hour. the
prize after which he has always been striving fell
once more to his lot, and with an animal for which
he entertained SO little respect that 1t was only
a few days ago that he determined TO send IT to
the post The Derby OF the present year was almost
the
TAMEsT ON RECORD
The cause Is difficult TO discover, but perhaps 1t
was due principally to the facts that IL was certain
the field would be very small one, and that the
appeared to be at the mercy Of one OF three animals
AS turned out, the body OF horses that faced the
we have seen for many years past. The records
OF the race show that as few as Iour animals have
no Of 5hf . se sear Ta
Saltram winner, there were but six starters, as
there were on the day when Ditto was successful
in 1903; Sir Peter Teazle had only half a dozen
horses behind him in 1857, as had John Bull in 1902
and the sister to Pharamond colt in 1897. There
are various other Of the leld numbering less
scriptions began TO approach their present dimen-
sions Until about forty years ago there were never
more than hundred entries, but since that period
they have gone on rapidly increasing until In 1885,
when Lord Lyon won, there were as many as ga
since JneQ we nave nau 10 nOLCe STEADY uecunc.
until this season there were not more than 2ol.
The field gave good promise at one time OF being
1T all events q considerable one, but the accidents
OF the turf were more than usually numerous; and
so it turned out that there could not possibly be
more than dozen runners, and OF these it was
certain that several had not the ghost of chance
Still the fact appeared to
HAVE LITTLE EFFECT ON THE CROWD,
which was undoubtedly nearly as large az it has
SO limited. The 'Roadn to Epson Downs appeared
to be as great feature of the Cockney Carnival''
as usual and II was far more ENJOYABLE than IL has
fell on Tuesday having erectually laid the dust as
well as made the course suitable for horses with
straight and upright forelegs, who could not other
wise get successfully down the hill from Tattenham
Corner to the winning post. The railways how
ever conveyed by far the largest number OF visi-
tors, and perhaps taking everything into account,
there were about one hundred aud fifty thousand
persons on the Downs including the
PRINCE OF WALES,
who returned in haste from Vienna in order TO be
present at the great race and who was accompa-
Prince Arthur. There was nothing very notable
about the crowd on this occasion except the apathy
with which 1t received the announcement OF Mr.
Merry's victory. His coors are by far the most
popular on the turf, and 1t is rarely indeed that
the success OF one OF his horses is not
accompanied By loud OF
ever, that 'oracc was dumb,n and when
Doncastcr returned to weigh in there was hardly
partly accounted for by the utter unexpectedness
OF the result, for nearly every one, except those IN
the lmmedlate vicinity OF the Judges cna1r,
imagined that Kaiser had won, and looked for his
number on the telegraph board. few words will
explain the
RELATIONS OF THE STARTERS,
the most prominent OF whom in the betting were
Gang Forward and Kaiser, who finished first and
second few weeks ago for the Two thousand
was confessedly very near thing between them,
and the partlsans OF each were confident that he
would beat the other over the extra half mile
which they had now to travel but, as will be seen,
Gang Forward had considerably the best OF it in
the betting. Both were in admirable condition,
but so well did each look that IL was impossible to
award the palm. Hochstapler, the German horse,
had been backed for an enormous amount OF
money, but there Is fair ground Tor supposing-as
many do-that, from first to last, he was a dead
'un,o that Is to say, that he had no chance, and
that he was betted against, the bO0kmakers know
ing the fact He is a commanding horse, but he
walks and canters in most sovenly fashion, and
it is only in a good, fast galOp that he shows any
thing ike the action OF a racehOrse. He had been
only once in public when, In sweepstakes at New
market, he beat two moderate opponents IN can