A Mirror of the Turf; Or, The Machinery of Horse-Racing Revealed, Showing the Sport of Kings as It Is To-Day

by James Glass Bertram

The history of the St. Leger is distinguished by many curious events and circumstances, one or two of which may be alluded to. Yorkshiremen of all grades have recollections, pleasant or otherwise, of the annual race for the Blue Ribbon of the North, and of the curious characters who appeared at Doncaster to assist at its celebration, such as the eccentric James Hurst, who came to the paddock dressed from head to foot in sheepskin garments and drawn in a carriage of his own make by his tame dogs, or occasionally by an ass, and sometimes attended by a few tame foxes! On one occasion ten false starts took place before the genuine race was run; that was in Altissidora's year (1813), when seventeen horses came under the charge of the starter. A speculative occupant of the grand stand, after the eighth false start had taken place, laid 100 to 20 against the next attempt being successful and also 100 to 30 against the tenth, and won his money. In the year 1819 the great Doncaster event was run twice! Two years afterwards, Gustavus, which had won the Derby, was expected to win the St. Leger also, but he was defeated by Jack Spigot, a northern horse. This was the first great struggle between the southern and northern trainers, and the latter, who entertained a profound contempt for Newmarket men and their modes of training, prophesied that they could never win a St. Leger—a prophecy that was speedily shown to be erroneous—and the race is now seldom won by a horse trained in the northern stables, the latest Yorkshire-trained winner, if I am not mistaken, being Apology.

Large amounts of money usually change hands over the race for the St. Leger, the horse-loving Yorkshiremen being fond of making a bet; many sums of considerable amount are risked by persons who habitually speculate on the race. It was recently calculated by a gentleman well versed in such matters that during the St. Leger week, over fifty thousand individual bets would be made in Doncaster alone, the amount standing to be won on the various horses in a good year for betting—when, for instance, there is a strong run on five or six animals—being not far short of a quarter of a million sterling, the stake ranging from a shilling to five hundred, or even a thousand pounds.

The "form" of the horses which compete is generally so well known as to prevent the odds offered against those supposed to have any chance of winning from being high. Upon one occasion, however, "any odds" might in reality have been obtained against the horse which won; as a matter of fact, one bet of a hundred pounds to a walking stick was laid. During these latter years the highest rate of odds laid against a winner at the start for the St. Leger was 40 to 1, the horse being Dutch Oven. About Hawthornden (an outsider) an Edinburgh gentleman obtained early in the year the extraordinary bet of £500 to £1, but the layer, once well known as a big betting man, ultimately proved a defaulter; the taker of the bet, however, was paid in the course of time about a fourth of the sum.

Space cannot be afforded to record the early struggles for the St. Leger. The progress of the race was slow and the stakes nothing to speak of; indeed, it was not till the century had well advanced that subscribers became numerous. In 1804 the nominators amounted to a couple of dozen, five years later the entries exceeded fifty horses by one. In 1839 107 became the figure; in 1864 that number was doubled, 217 having been entered; and in 1879, when Rayon d'Or proved victorious, 274 horses had been nominated for the race.

"Descriptions" of the St. Leger, as we know them, were not written in its earlier years. In 1784, when Omphale won, it is stated by an authority of the time that the filly had been amiss for twelve months preceding, and had only been nine weeks in training, yet won easily. After 1786 the betting about the first three horses seems to have been recorded, and a "place" is about that time apportioned to every horse that took part in the struggle, which was not a difficult matter, seeing that the fields, till 1803, seldom exceeded eight horses. In 1789 a horse named Zanga came in first (it belonged to the Duke of Hamilton), but the rider having been proved guilty of "jostling," the race was awarded to Pewet, the favourite. Champion, which also won the Derby, was victor in the St. Leger of 1800, ridden by Buckle. The betting was 2 to 1 against the son of Pot8os. The St. Leger of 1801 is characterised as "a good race, and much betting," and next year, when Orville won, the legend of the event is extended a little, and is as follows: "Orville took the lead (in a field of seven), was never headed, and won easy." The odds were 8 to 1 against the winner, the favourite being Young Eclipse, which was priced at 5 to 4 on. Next year the same story is told of Remembrancer. In 1804 quite a chapter of accidents occurred in the race; several of the horses fell, their jockeys being much hurt.

The following lines convey a description of the race for the St. Leger of 1806, for which fourteen horses faced the starter, the winner being Fyldener by Sir Peter, out of Fanny by Diomed: "They all went off at very little better than a canter rate, and were nearly together at the distance post, except Mr. Harrison's colt (by Harrison's Trumpator, out of Bonnyface), who was beat several lengths; after which some smart running took place; but Fyldener appeared to win easy at the end of a clear length. On the whole it was a very indifferent race, and they were a long time in running it."

The St. Leger began to be "timed" in the year 1810, when it occupied three and a half minutes. In the year of the ten false starts a note was not kept, but in the following years, with a few breaks, the time was regularly noted, a practice which does not seem to have been followed in regard to the Derby till the year 1846. In 1822 the winner was Theodore, and the race is rendered memorable from the fact that the odds against that horse were 200 to 1, about which circumstance many good stories could be told. In 1823 the race for the St. Leger was actually run twice over. To begin with, twenty-seven horses were saddled and mounted and assembled at the post, three false starts then took place, when twenty-three of the horses again faced the starter, who also officiated as clerk of the course. These horses ran the entire distance, and the first three were placed in the usual way by the judge: Carnival 1, Barefoot 2, Comte d'Artois 3. But to the surprise of all it was pronounced "no race," as the horses had started without the word being given by the starter. There was nothing for it but to run the race over again, which was done, the struggle resulting very much as in the first trial, except that Barefoot gained the place of honour, Comte d'Artois being again third, to Mr. Houldsworth's Sherwood, which attained second honours, Barefoot winning easily by two lengths.

The annals of the St. Leger are not free from stain. Many a time and oft have whispers gone abroad of "foul play" and fraudulent practices. A calendar of all the suspicious doings which have been incidental to the great race would fill many pages. One or two of them may be referred to. As has been told, the race was won in 1822 by a rank outsider (Theodore). The favourite that year was a colt named Swap, belonging to, or at least nominated by, M. T. O. Powlett. It was ridden by W. Scott, and started at odds of 7 to 4 against it, and finished nowhere. Previous to the race being run there had been displayed a great amount of excitement and temper with reference to the doings in the various betting centres of the time. Ugly rumours were in circulation regarding the favourite; those in "the know" were so anxious to lay against the horse that suspicion was excited of all not being as it ought to be with Swap. And so it proved. "The legs" became jubilant after the race, some of them having netted large sums of money. The betting had been very heavy, and backers of Swap lost considerable amounts. Afterwards, in the Gascoigne Stakes, Swap beat Theodore easily.

In the sporting circles of the period this particular St. Leger long formed a theme of gossip, and the men who managed "the affair" were well known, but no steps could be taken against them for lack of proof. Ten years after the Swap business there fell out another St. Leger scandal, when a horse entered for the race was purchased by the Bonds, the keepers of a gambling house in St. James's Street. Ludlow, the horse in question, was likely to start a great favourite when it passed into the possession of the Bonds, as was asserted, to be "milked" for the race; at all events, the sporting public became possessed of that idea, which, in some degree, put a stop to speculation. Bond wrote a letter to one of the newspapers in which he maintained that he meant to run the horse on his merits, and mentioning the bets he had taken, and naming the parties he had backed the horse with; but Ludlow was the absolute last in the race, which Mr. Gully carried off with Margrave. It was in connection with this race—in consequence of some dispute—that Gully and Mr. Osbaldeston fought a duel, in which the former had a narrow escape of losing his life.