A CHRONICLE OF THE DERBY. ^p-j 



Colonel Peel, and other sportsmen also contributed to 

 the tield. The second filly was made favourite, Lord 

 Suffield's Calisto, against which odds of 5 to 2 were 

 betted. 



' The Derbys ' about this time, for several years 

 ' fore and aft,^ presented no aspect of novelty, being, 

 1839. as a rule, common-place races. Notwith- 

 Bioomsbury. withstanding that fact, the general body of 

 the public, whatever may have been felt by sports- 

 men, did not abate their interest in tlie struggle one 

 jot. Each year the crowd of spectators seemed to 

 wax greater, the road and the rail being more thronged 

 than on previous Derb}^ Days The betting, too, 

 increased, both in the amount of the bets and the 

 number of bettors. ' Sweeps ' grew in popularity, and 

 became a feature of nearly every public-house parlour 

 throughout London, as also in large shops and ware- 

 houses, whilst in the Great Metropolis the inhabitants 

 appeared eager to seize the occasion of the mighty 

 contest in order to obtain a holiday. Bloomsbury's 

 year may be described as a somewhat memorable one, 

 frimi the fact of the race having been run during 

 a snowstorm, and also because of an objection which 

 was lodged against the winner by Mr. Fulwar Craven, 

 owner of Deco[)tion, which, although she only obtained 

 second place in the Derby, recompensed her owner by 

 winning the Oaks on the following Friday. Llooms- 

 bury, Vv'hich started at the very handsome odds of 30 

 to 1 against it, was what is called, in the slang of the 

 turf, a ' dark horse ;' in other words, it had never pre- 

 viously run in a race. The reason why an objection 



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