viii PREFACE. 



performances of the more celebrated horses which 

 have won the race are also given, likewise brief 

 memoirs and anecdotes of many of their owners, 

 trainers, and riders. 



Information about bets and betting men, Derby 

 dreams and omens, and money won on Epsom Heath, are 

 included in the following pages, and the writer trusts 

 that in recording what he knows he will not be accused 

 of chronicling small-beer, his opinion being that all 

 that can be said regarding our national racing holiday, 

 and the event which has given it birth, is worth saying. 



In conclusion, all the author claims for this 

 book is that, so far as it goes, it is a painstaking 

 record of our chief Isthmian game. There are men, 

 however, engaged on the sporting press of the period 

 who could probably write a fuller and better history 

 — only they have made no sign of doing so. 



Mayfair, 



Aiml 2bth, 1890.) 



