EPSOM 89 



of the crowd goes without saying, but vast numbers come 

 from the provinces every year, and in this respect the 

 attendance is much more cosmopolitan than are the at- 

 tendances at the Park meetings, where — except on bank 

 holidays — the same people go week after week, so that it 

 becomes almost difficult to pick out a fresh face in the 

 paddocks. 



Epsom was in its glory as a racing centre all through 

 the eighteenth century, and its Derby is now 121 years 

 old, the Oaks being a year older. Almost from its com- 

 mencement the Derby came to be regarded as the greatest 

 contest of the year, and even now the same opinion pre- 

 vails, and the Derby is still the blue ribbon of the Turf 

 Moreover, a Derby winner is always held in great estimation 

 by the breeders of blood stock, and until he is tried and 

 found wanting he can command a high figure when sent 

 to the stud. As a general rule, too, the Derby winner is 

 the best of his year, and though it occasionally happens 

 that in a bad year the race is won by a bad horse, such is 

 the exception. Take, for instance, the last dozen years, 

 from 1887, when Galtee More won. About the famous Irish 

 horse being the best of his year there is no question what- 

 ever, and to dismiss him briefly, he was quite 10 lbs. in 

 front of any other three-year-old who carried silk that 

 year. Next we come to Persimmon, and though the Prince 

 of Wales' equine wonder was no better than St. Frus- 

 quin at a mile, we must judge the pair on their perform- 

 ances, and Persimmon beat the Two Thousand winner a 

 neck at Epsom over a mile and a half, but when giving 3 lbs. 

 at Newmarket at a mile was beaten half a length by 

 Mr. de Rothschild's colt. So far there was little or nothing 

 between them, but, whereas St. Frusquin never ran again 

 after winning the Eclipse Stakes, Persimmon won the St. 

 Leger in a canter, and in the following year accounted 

 for the Ascot Cup and the Eclipse Stakes. That both 

 were horses of exceptional merit admits of no doubt, but 

 St. Frusquin never won over a longer course than the ten 

 furlongs of the Eclipse Stakes, while Persimmon was a cup 

 gem of the first water, and is fairly entitled to be called 



