TOUTS AND TIPSTERS. 123 



Sporting journalists Avho could rhyme a little were 

 wont to invoke the muse about the time set for the 

 decision of the Derby, and it is no more than the 

 truth to say that some of their poetic prophecies Avere 

 admirably done ; many of them not only gave the 

 winner, but their selection was couclied in beautiful 

 language, when the difficulty is considered of working 

 with so many different names. 



It was in 1837 the poetical tips began : ' Vates,' a 

 well-known turf-writer of that time, led off", scoring a 

 brilliant success the first time of askincr : his lines 

 ended as follows : 



' 'Tis over ; the trick for the thousands is done : 

 George Edwards on Phosphorus the Derby has won.' 



Among the poetic prophets, ' Orange Blossom ' scored 

 several successes, and so did ' Rhyming Richard ' and 

 many others. Outsiders who had no access to the press 

 also set themselves up as poets, and recited verses 

 made for the occasion, in tap-rooms of public houses 

 and on tlie street. In some years the poetry apropos 

 to the Derby was much more in evidence than in 

 others ; Blue Gown's year was one of them. One of the 

 many doggerel songs which heralded the victory of Sir 

 Joseph Hawley's Blue Gown is worth quoting, to the 

 extent, at least, of the concludin<]f verse, seeinij that 

 the ragged prophet who recited it, at The Cock, at 

 Sutton, assured all who would listen to him that the 

 poetry was his own, and that Blue Gown was a cer- 

 tainty. After going over all the probable competitors, 

 his 'poem' wound up as follows: 



