When the starter mounts his rostrum on Saturday, it will be the centenary of the most controversial and tragic running of horse racingâs blue riband- the infamous 1913 Epsom Derby. Spare a thought for Emily Wilding Davison, the suffragette, who brought down the Kingâs horse, Anmer, as a protest against women being denied the vote; and who died four days later in hospital. Much has been written and conjectured over the tragic incident, and the two following links are both worth reading: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/profile-emily-wilding-davison-8631739.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/may/26/emily-davison-suffragette-death-derby-1913 Spare a thought also for Herbert Ebsworth Jones, the Kingâs jockey, who rode Anmer on that fateful June day in 1913. Having won eight Classics between 1900 and 1909- including the Triple Crown on Diamond Jubilee in 1900, life dealt him a bitter blow when he rounded Tattenham Corner in 1913. He spent the rest of his life haunted by visions and nightmares of Emily Davison, and finally ended it all by committing suicide thirty eight years later in his gas-filled kitchen . The third and final tragedy occasioned by that never-to-be-forgotten day had its origins a year earlier in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. As the ill-fated Titanic disappeared for the final time, the greatest civil maritime disaster of all unleashed a hatred against the Ismay family; a hatred that would last forever. In its wake, a three year old colt, Craganour, would be denied the honour of being a dual Classic winner- an award he so richly merited: http://www.not606.com/showthread.ph...art-4)-The-Dual-Classic-Winner-That-Never-Was
Sad lessons from the annals of history Tam. Do you know whether Arkle was on the winner (tote place of course)?
QUOTE=OddDog;4812687]Sad lessons from the annals of history Tam. Do you know whether Arkle was on the winner (tote place of course)?[/QUOTE] Good morning, Oddy. Of course he had the "Tote Place!" PS. In truth, he probably backed Anmer!
There is some dispute as to whether or not Herbert Jones was haunted by the memories of that day. In a letter to the Racing Post published yesterday, Michael Tanner said (regarding the programme broadcast on Channel 4): "The programme peddled the canard about Bertie Jones' being hanunted by Davison's face - and the implication that he killed himself as a consequence. I interviewed both of his children for my book, and they utterly refute the notion. Their father killed himself 38 years later following the death of his wife and a loneliness exacerbated by deafness." Also, according to today's Racing Post, the demotion of Craganour was also due to the venom the senior steward on the day, Eustace Loder (incidentally the breeder of Craganour) felt for Bruce Ismay. Allegedly Ismay had seduced Loder's twin brother's wife Nellie! Certainly it was a race marred in tragedy.
And they haven't made a soap of it yet. Talking of soaps (OK you weren't) does anyone think along the same lies as I do re soaps? I think there is just one script and they just shuffle the order of events, find some more has beens and some promising actors, mix them up and bingo, new soap.
That book sounds controversial, disputing the views given onC4 documentary. Then again it is written by someone with racing links and the biases that go along with that.
Soaps are a load of old bollox Ron. More happens in a week's episodes of Coronation Street than to most people in their entire lifetime - long lost children, cancer, heart attacks, drug abuse, jobless, homeless - all before Wednesday's episode. Fecking ridiculous.
.. explosions, crashes, homo-sexuals, lesbians. Whatever has happened in one soap has happened, or will happen in another. Then at some stage there has to be a dramatic piece for one of the million nominations; you can tell at the time which ones are going to be the candidates. As you say Oddy, Fecking ridiculous. And as for Cornation Street, sorry had to spell it incorrectly as it kills me to even write it..............
Apologies for copying and pasting some quotes from a previous post that I made on the same subject a couple of years ago: The 1913 Derby was run on 4th June and the Suffragette Emily Davison threw herself under the King’s horse Anmer, an action that caused her to sustain fatal injuries. Craganour, the favourite, crossed the line in front but became the first Derby winner to be disqualified for a race infraction even though connections of the runner-up Aboyeur made no objection. (I wonder if the stewards had some wagering liabilities on the favourite) The only previous disqualification had been ‘Running Rein’ (1844), who was subsequently found to be the four year old Maccabeus. Curiously there is film footage of the unfortunate Ms Davison but as might be expected it is very poor quality. There has been some debate about her intentions that day as some eye witnesses claimed that she was just trying to cross the course and did not realise there were horses still to come; others claimed that she was trying to pin a Suffragette notice to the horse; whilst the most plausible and credible offering is that she was trying to grab the horse’s tack to pull the jockey off.
And he died 38 years later sounds like something out of the mouth of Fraser from 'Dad's Army'. "We're doomed". No disrespect meant. A sad tale and a death resulting from the pursuit of an honourable cause.
