THE CHINA MAIL, SATURDAY, JULY 19, 1958.
-The Big Bribe: £10,000
to lose this Derby
Rae Johnstone
CONTINUING THE
FIRST-TIME-TOLD
STORY OF HIS RACING
LIFE AND THE HOT
SECRETS BEHIND IT
JOHNSTONE (left), judged on his Clasic wins one of the realent 10skeys. In writing
the frankest story ever to come out of racing. He KATE:
41 net down./ the truth as I recall
1934
DERBY HOW THEY WENT PAST THE POST: 1, WINDBOR LAD: 2. EASTON: 3. COLOMBO.
NO-I DIDN'T TAKE IT....... BUT I STILL LOST(and that's me)
It. as I concerns mit. But in doing so I leave you with the impression that racing Is sport fit for
knaves rather than querna I will have falled miserably. And I were better I had written nothing."
MAN
PART THREE
story, from my angle, would Lo oblivious to everything but the Incomplete.
job on hand. But Eprom on this one day of the year is different.
But I want to make tits quite -clear. During my entire riding career, from the Ume 1 107 Australia I was approached twice only (both
in England) with an inducement to stop a horse. For quite dif- ferent reasons I was not In Then
Cuincas week. the least tempted on either oc This was the Lime when Jcasion. And I did not accept. would have had that 10 grand,
cture
Ordeal
The sea of upturned faces and restlculating figures that 'pack the rolls on the right na the the packed purade begins und stands on the left (with the royal party usually standing on absurd the grass in front of the & gross
leave re im- weighing-room enclosure) makke bribery between this the most nerve-racking pre- to make Colombo the hollest bookmakers (since both those Tace ordeal, 2,000 Guineas favourite Bince inducements were bookmaker
inspired) St Fruequin beat nix in 1006.
and jockeys was commonplace. It is not. And.
I reflected--thinking back two I make this point because it
would be years. But I hadn't. Or any-
not distortion thing like it. So it www
that helped pression that any of my money
to
ANY believe the 1934 race to be the most sensational Derby of the century-the one that saw me defeated on the favourite Colombo.
Lord Glancy "Guls and It wan just that, on paper, moral consideration apart, for
the Cardiff ship- Columbo was n certainly 04
and two very good reasons, irreverently nicke bookmakers do not go racing
Quile obviously no named-came up with an offer primarily to give their money · FIRST. which, provided all went well, away. In fact 7-2 on looked jockey prepared to dept in
would do represented a sliuntion that the very gericrous odds. They al dishonest transaction kcant prosperou champlon ways do once they've won.
business other than with the jockey in
records could
bookmaker of acknowledged Ecarcely decline.
substance. And only very foolish bookmaker of substance a fair --who gets more than jeopardise his entire future for living playing it straight--would
galters" owner was
Here was the chance to ba associated with the
hotun
'Watch'
The afternoon was bright and
Colombo, who had all the ap- sunny, The King was among the pearance of being the racing machine of the era,
large crowd, many of whom the sake of such a deal. In England-will go racing just to see a good horse.
#
SECOND. Apart from ability. a jockey's most valuable ally is a
"Man is it, cherie," I told my wife Mary, I'll come back millionaire." A statement. which At the start several of the reputation for dependability-- was received with the gently jocks were chipping Gordon for doing what he is asked. Bardonle air of, a girl alfredy Hichards because he had relined to asepting, and even nourishing harmless day- dreams,
The horse
been beaten
00
just
5-2 on
chance, Loosestrife, in a two-
Difficult
in
horse race for the one-and-a-
Thero aro quarter-mile Chippenham
no secrets Stakes. Harry Wrese on racing. And it ia no simple task Typhonie had won by a short to stop a horse that is thorough- head. "Watch k, he, he ly capable of winning so that
As a prospective millionaire doesn't do you now," called the act passes unobserved. It is
I certainly arrived In England Michaet Beary, pointing
in character in 1934. Well, Harry,
they're all suppused to start
with nothing, aren't they? Co- Watch? I didn't export lombo, unbeaten in all his seven see any of them once we
at impossible for a jockey to do.
so in such a way that the deed escapes the atteallon of at least
to one of his fellow Riders in got race, And once
опо
Ü
person
two-year-old reus (worth 1 anywhere back near the race- knows, that is that the start of
total of £17,130 15s.) was go crowd again,
int well at home. He had not
been used to do anything serious but he gave me a great
impression of capability,
His first race of the Leason
What somebody
done
And
ROUND-UP
FOR ARMY HOUSES, NOT HORSES
CHORNCLIFFE CAMP, Folkestone, Kent, Home at one time or another of nearly overy British cavatry regiment until mechanisation ousted the horse has lost its cavalry drill ground to make way for housing. On the ground where recrulis arilled with their horses, 104 new married quarters for the modern Army aro springing up. The garden estate, with its laws, dowering troce and shrubs and an apple tree or a pear tree in tho Ing the shortest way and breake back garden of every soldier's home, will be a model for the ing the wind resistance for me futuro, When the estate is completed, 184 familles will occupy All was going smoothly as we the-amart ittle houses with their brightly coloured front doors. began the left-hand sweep and They replace condemned quarter. "More than half the new Initially grudni descent to Tattenham Comer..
quarters are semi-detached and, the others in blocks of four and "Tickey Nicoll moyed up all sorts of labour-saving devices. When the estate is completed six. They are furnished in contemporary style and atted with my. outside on Tiberius, whoshers will be a welfare centre and a N‚Å‚A.F.I, shop for la 500 one outstanding characteristic was the ability to stay. So his inhabitants, Nowadays, soldiers drive their own cars, and the effort to hit the front and go at War Office has agreed in principle to a site being set aside for this point was easy to appreciate, garages. All the roads on the estate are named after generals Then Smirkie (Charllo smirice, in the Army of Sir John Moore, who trained his Light Infantry on Windsor Lad) pulled out and at Shornello. swept by in gurilt. As he did
GD. Mediaeval Knight began to weaken. So that, with Gordon Richards, on Easton, following Windsor Lad. I was hemmed in behind the fading Knight.
cul.
Finale
I waited until I could pull balanced Colombo, and then went, Windsor Lad had by now pegged back Tiberius and Easton was second to him- Gordon's hip swinging in his right han...
There were no crowds now. Just Windsor Lad, Easton and the gap, Colombo gathering momentum
third above many are momentarily "set alight" in the canter back past the stands as the crowda TOOT encouragement to the popular fancies. My fellow was not the soberest of characters, .but he took it pretty well,
Three hundred yards from the Caplain Allison
line as Easton got almost to was a good windsor Lad, so Colombo got to starter. "Come in steady," he Easton. For a atride or so the called. I glanced swiftly to the issue hung desperately in the right as the tapes whipped up, balance. Then as saw that Steve Donoghue on sustained fre
to bravely Mediaeval Knight had broken Colombo, so Windsor Lad pro- fizzled out of well, and moved straight into duced his final trick-further his wake.
lengthened his stride and settled
Steve was quickly en
THE BIGGEST MAN IN THE R.A.F.
RITAIN'S tallest airman, and perhaps heaviest, is R.AF. Cor
poral Derek Myson, 21, of Hiddleston, Berkshire. He is oft. 10 inches tall in his stockinged feet, with boots on he rises to 7ft, 2 inches, His weight has increased from 12% stones, when fie joined the RAF four years ago, to his present 10% stones. His boots are size 18. Stores do not stock them so they have to be specially made. The R.A.F. have made, so far, three ft. long ft. wide beds for him—a 0ft. 2 lach bed available when he enlisted was much too small. Derek has to duck when walking through any doorway at 2nd. T.A.F. Headquarters, Munchen- Gladbach, Germany where he is on police duties. He is on a 12 years engagement and officially described as "still developing." "WHEEL CHAIR" SPORTSMEN
closing MORE than 200 "wheel Chair Sportsmen" from 25' countries wit be coming to Britain this monih to take part in the Seventh International Games for the Paralysed at Stoke Mandeville Hospi- tal, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. The gamos will opened on July 24 by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health," Mr R. H. M. Thompson, who will read a message to competitors from a troll carried by a relay of wheel-chair sportsmen fron Manchester, via London, to Aylesbury. En route, the message is expected to be read by the mayors of cities in which change overs are made. On of the highlights of the games will be the Wheel- past of the Nations" in which all the competitors, seated in their wheel-chairs, will take part.
fence in the initial hill climb go-reck.
the 1. The verdict one length and BLIND, BUT HAS !” TAPED
IF THIS IS
A UTILITY CAR
-GIVE US MORE
The Hiliman Minz Special
ก
THEN you try out a car the finish of a reputation. W the maker says is
they may well do ugain utility model you are apt to Wherefore since I stepped outlook inside it suspiciously. But at the Bushes.It was a of line once myself, you may
I did so quickly in the
Surprise
once
Wts to be the Craven Stakes surprise to find Easton, and he think I did so again when I was 1958 Hillman Minx Special, done, still going well, neveral offered £10,000 to Za that
at Newmarket on April 19
by ROBERT WALLING
when he would have to concede London bus-lengths wide of me Coldanbo did not win the 1934 Cheapest, at £748 tax paid, most of the work, a drop to:
but just about lovel. I drew my Derby,
up to 201b, to opponents of his whip, showed it to him only,
ple,
and he began to get nearer the
A light-actioned bay with a ground and lo pull out some splash of white on fils forehead real effort, and à long white sock up his
You may, of course, think what you like, "If you want to be thought a liar, tell the truth," somebody has written, I hope they were wrong.
In slow traffle third gear did in the Rootes range.
secont for overloking being There were no ashtrays, no quickly made with the floor elbow rests, and the floor was georlever. Braking was good, covered in rubber, not carpet, and sensitive. A steering-column There, was a heater, an extra filck-switch kept cancelling (£16 101). Well, suppose we self after I had used the flash- neer fore. Columba looked all The threat existed for several
inserted the missing items? I ing Indicators, and its green horce.
Of course If he'd got strides but gradually he pulled
reckon under £5 would cover warning light winking from the beaten, it would have been away to win by a lengil with, The fact is that, moral con- the situation. Actually, you can dash was helpful, not annoying noted that he either looked surpriso feature of the result, sideration apart, inc proposal have up to £137 5s. 7d, worth ns some are. "pig fat or had run up light" Freddy Fox on Badruddin only represented no templation what- of extras, if you want. since last season, But he won, a length and a half of Easton, soever. For to win the Derby
moolkly. effo:lessly, und Derby Day drew nearer, and, was my greatest ombition. The with it a detall which I would there was no criticism, best horse I had ever ridden? I had no doubt,
As soon
omit
Before any other race except I include It the Derby 1 And that, because without it the Colombe mounted, one is more or less
ence
ZANIES
*We can's go on like this, Henry Haight besene kuopicione?
Tany
"I preferred his Trafalgar-square period.”
1
Only half
the
Then I looked closer, "If this
what do is utility, then
they One point; why have a grand call one or two
view through the economy cars backward made on the Continent?? was wrap-around back window my comment. The Interior was your mirror shows only half of simple, you; but it was a clean, it? well-found design...
-Fuli
marks though for the Sensible room, too. Especially petrol diler low down at in the back for the long-legged. back, where the careless pump Frankly, the car was only a man cannot stop fuel over the four-Boater for heavyweight paint. Why does the tank only adults, due to bucket-type for- hold a miserly seven gallons, ward seats, though three biggish even though the miles to the children in the back would not gelion rate is 387 be squeezed to make five in all, The controls wore few. First, a welcome relu to the floor gear-lever; in this case bent to allow one to slide from one cent to the other."
A hugo spoedometer contained other gauges. Next, ignition and lighting in one switch. A choke, a starter, and a tiny "electric-
light" snap-switch to get the 1 twin wipers working.
Snapped up
Even Aunt Sarah, fond of her pre-war setien horse runabout, would not complain about coin- plexity.
Then add a roof light, a wash- able lining to the head, and a right-atross shelf under the dash for the parcels, and you will agree the term utility is ju misnomer.
The way it went was not utilitarian either. It antipped up to 78 m.p.h. just as early post- war sports cür, di even giving
me a bonus decolorating at 30 m.ph, in top gear up a sorts, easy hul-by clocking 05 mph. a few seconds after the throttle. was fully opened.
"My fins are kiiling ms)
What about a steep hill? The 1,390 c.c.
the engine started model off at the foot at m.p.hj was held 'to that- speed all the way up, then created it at 25 mph... Á scorching test
30;
But if this is utility then the average motorist will want more of it.
-ROAD LOG. COMFORT: Only real criti- clam is that tall persons in the front might find the seat-backs a trifle short.
CORNERING: Quite some SWAY, without budging the wheels sideways an incb.
STEERING: Easy for the
weakest arms. SPRINGE: Gentle pitching
over bad bumps. ENGINE: Get-up-and-go
and pounds like it with the throttle open: other- -wise, amlable and silent. BRAKING: Good stall speeds. Special praise for the Bat-on-the-floor right- haided handbrake' with Its vloe-grip, when park- Ing on stoen hina. VISION: #0
ver vent, re-
duood. Berily by thật
tiny mirror.
LUGGAGE: Plly the
DACO
wheel・ stand, up Insido the boot.
LOOKS: Pert
SIZE: Garageworthy: · 13th.
#836in. by "B/W, Tin.
==(Lanson · KIITMI KATYŃSKI,
The
Windsor Lad (1). Eanton (2) Colombo (3). S.P. 15-2, 100-0; 11-0.
A day
Lord Glanely did not take too kindly to losing at any time certainly not in the Derby though he was very fair in la public pronouncements, which were confined to the opinion that I was doubtless a good rider but Insufficiently experienced at Ep-
gom.
There Was no Immediate reference by him to my future as first jockey for the Glonely horses.
When I returned to Sandown to ride Foxmasque for "my" stable Lord Glanely made it clear-in his direct, uncompro- mising way, which I appreciated that there was no question of breaking the contract. But, he said, "I shall get Gordon | ride for me whenever I can.”
That, to me, was a clear in- vitation to call it a day, Which I did.
NEXT WEEK Aly Khan says 'What'll win?”-
SEMELTETT TAL-
BLACK
Ingles
SUCHANART
OLD SCOTE
40-YEAR-OLD blind telephone operator employed by Handley Page, the aircraft concern, al Radlett, Hertfordshire, spends much of his spare time on historical research, What he finds la preserved-on tape recording which are beard in many parts of the world. He is at present compiling a half-hour history of the Handley Page company which is his contribution to the firm's 1950 Jubilee your. When complete it will be sent to Africa, America and Korea. Mr Hall, who is married with six children, took up his tape recording hobby about four years ago. One of his recordings was an old houses and estates in the parish of Aldenham, Hertfordshire,
"P" BOTTLES NOW MUSEUM PIECES
Y articles that were in general use only thirty years ago pre now so rare that muscum experts are claiming them for their collection. Bicycle oil lamps, that it up with a wick and were used by hundreds of cyclists in the 1920s have been polished and put behind glass showcases at Ipswich Museum. "Pop" bottles with a marble in the neck, of the kind used by father whom he was a lad, are also in demand. The bottles disappeared from the English market when new screw-topped bottles come in any they were ex- ported in thousands..
NOT ENOUGH WOMEN FOR SEASIDE·
JOBS
LTHOUGH women form the larger part of the 50,500 popula-
tion of the Sussex town of Eastbourne few of them are avall.· able to nil the many jobs waiting for thein in the town. The has told the Labour Exchange manager, My W. Robertson, employment committee that 200 women are needed immediately for jobs in hotels, shops and offices and that he has only 13 on fila register. "Students have been applying in great numbers for attractive posts, but they are only just becoming avaliable,” he says, "and they will do little to offset the shortage of women.”
DISTINCTION. through blending
From a variety of ladividual whiskica
the blender selects those with the characteristics he desires. Carefully anti skill-Vy he blends them
in the corect proportions to achieve
the quality and flavour for which *Black & White" is famous
'BLACK & WHITE
SCOTCH WHISKY: "BUCHANAN'S “
Band Willky Diodes
The Scoret is in the Blonding
JAMES BUCHANAN & CO.LTD., OLAFÓJW, SCOTLAND
Sote Distributors: DODWELL & CO., LTD.