66 HORSE-RACING IN ENGLAND 



large ' fields ' are over now, for reasons not 

 wholly unconnected with the increase in the 

 number of two-year-old races and ' monster stakes.' 

 Lastly, it may be well to add — so frequent are 

 inquiries upon the subject — that the notorious 

 Lady Elizabeth ran for the Derby won by Blue 

 Gown in [868, and started favourite at 7 to 4, 

 being so much more fancied than Blue Gown, as 

 7 to 4 is less odds than 7 to 2 ; that the shortest 

 (unofficial) time for running the race, dating from 

 1846, is 2 minutes 43 seconds (Kettledrum's, 

 Blair Athol's, Merry Hampton's, and Ayrshire's 

 time, but they did not all carry the same weight), 

 and the longest (unofficial) 3 minutes 4 seconds 

 (Ellington's 'record' in 1856); and that the 

 greatest of all favourites was Surefoot (95 to 40 

 on) when he lost in 1890. 



Of the Oaks it may suffice to state that it has 

 always been for fillies only (three years old), that 

 it received its name from the twelfth Earl of 

 Derby's seat, called The Oaks (purchased from his 

 relative, General Burgoyne, and originally an inn 

 on Epsom or Banstead Downs) ; that it is a year 

 older than the Derby, as it dates from 1779 ; that it 

 has always been run on a Frida3% and over a dis- 



