HANDBOOK OF THE TURF. 71 



Derby Day. The day on which the Derby stakes are 

 run for. It always occurs on the second day — Wednesday — of 

 the great Epsom Spring Meeting in May, being the Wednesday 

 before Whitsuntide. It takes place on this day, rain or shine, 

 the precise minute varies only occasionally as when the horses 

 are bad in coming into form for a start. Parliament adjourns 

 till tha race is run. 



Every Xew Kiijilaiid deacon oiiplit to soe one Derby day to learn what, 

 sort, of a wo. Id this is lit_' livts iii. .Man is a siKininy, as well as ajnay- 

 iiij,' anim d.— Dr. Oliver Weii«lell Holmes, 18o4. 



The Derby lias always been the one evmi in ilie racinj; year which 

 slaiesiueii, i)lulosoi)iiers, poets, essayists andlitleraieurs tlesire to 

 see onee in their lives.— The London Field. May 2i>, IbSC. 



Diiriny; the last twenty years the averajie time of iIh> Dt-i by, one and a 

 half miles, is 2 niin.' 46 se<'., or a mile in 1 mi n. 52 sec, the horses 

 carrying 122 pounds.— The Badmiidon Library : Racing and Steeple- 

 ciiasiny, Arthur Coventry and A. L. T. Walson. 



The horses were brought out, smooi li, shininy, line-drawn, frisky, spirit 

 stirring to look upon —most beautiful of :U1 tli(! bay horse Ormonde. 

 Avho cotild harilly be restrained, such was his eagerness for action. 

 The horses disappear in the distance. They are off, not yet. distin- 

 guishable, at least to me. A little waiting time, and t hey swim into 

 our ken, but in what order of precedence it is as yet not easy to 

 say. Here they come! Two horses have emerged Irom the ruck, 

 and are sweeping, rushing, storming, towards us, almost side by 

 side. One slides by the other, half a length, a length, a length and 

 a half. Those are Archer's colors, and the beautiful b:iy Ormonde 

 flaslies by the line, winner of the Derby of 1886.— Our Hundred Days 

 111 Europe, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes. 



As long as tlie Derby is run for at Epsom, which, for aught we know, 

 may he to the eiul of time, so long will Epsom continue to fascinate 

 the public, and people will flock to the Downs in the hoi)e, or on 

 the pretence, of seeing a race which not one m:in in fifty everreally 

 sees, norone in tweni y cares about seeing. — The Badminton Library : 

 Racing, The Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire, and W. G. Craven. 



Description. An idetntification. All turf rules require 

 an adequate description of evei'y horse entered for any race, 

 purse, or stake, which shall embi^ace name, color, sex, marks, 

 and other facts required for identification. 



Developed; Developing-. To bring out; to perfect. 

 It is said of a finished trotting horse that he is developed ; the 

 art of training a horse to develop his speed qualities. A horse 

 that is in training is said to be developing ; one that is getting 

 his gait is said to be developing fast, or developing well; 

 promising. 



Developed Sires. Stallions in service that have been 

 worked, trained and developed for speed, in distinction from 

 those which have not been trained for speed. Upon the cor- 

 rectness of the theory that developed speed in sire and dam is 

 an important factor in the transmission of speed, there are dif- 

 fering opinions. Many hold that the developed sires are not 

 as successful in the stud as those which have never been devel- 

 oped, and instance Electioneer with one hundred and forty-four 

 in the 2:30 list, never developed ; and others believe that the 



