The Classic Drama of 1913

England,in the year 1913, was in turmoil. The news from the Balkans made many observers believe that the conflict dreaded by all Europe was imminent, whilst at home the activities of the Women's Social and Political Union was increasing in intesity.

In the course of the previous twelve months the nation had been shocked by the "Titanic" disaster, the death of Captain Scott in the Antarctic and the severe sentence of three years penal servitude imposed on Mrs Pankhurst at the Old Bailey.

Against such a background the 1913 Derby became the most sensational race in the history of the British turf. The bare facts are that a Suffragette dashed onto the course as the fifteen runners swept towards Tattenham Corner and brought down the King's horse, and that the favourite was adjudged the winner of a desperately close finish between four horses. Within half an hour came the dramatic announcement that the Stewards had taken the unprecedented step of disqualifying the Derby winner....

As the Derby contestants paraded in the paddock the sun was hidden behind clouds, making the atmosphere humid. Some of the runners, including the favourite Craganour, were sweating, and in the distance thunder could be heard.

On the Downs the huge crowds wagered their shillings and half crowns upon their fancies, but there were few knowledgeable punters who looked beyond Craganour for the winner. His form made him the obvious choice, and he started a clear favourite at 6-4.

As a two-year-old he had won the New Stakes at Ascot, the Exeter Stakes en Newmarket, the Prince of Wales's Plate at York and the Middle Park Plate at Newmarket to bring his earnings to more than 8,700 sterlings pounds. Bred in Ireland by Major Eustace Loder, he had been sold as a foal to Sir Tatton Sykes, and bought at the Doncaster Yearlings Sales for 3,200 guineas by Mr Charles Bower Ismay, who had sent him to be trained by W.T. Robinson at Foxhill.

Mr Ismay, born in January 1874, was the third son of Thomas Henry Ismay, the founder of the White Star Shipping Line. He served in the South African War and first registered his racing colours of 'Neapolitan violet and primrose hoop, violet cap' in 1898. He loved all sport, enjoyed big game shooting in East Africa, and every season rented a grouse moor in Scotland. One of the hills on the moors he leased at Dalnaspidal was called Craganour, and he chose to name the yearling by Desmond out of Veneration II after the hill.

Throughout the first decade of the 20th Century Mr Ismay had little success on the Turf, but in March 1912 his steeplechaser finished second to Jerry M. in the Grand National. Less than a fortnight after the Aintree race he became indirectly involved in the recriminations after the sinking of the Titanic.

His elder brother, Joseph Bruce Ismay, had succeeded his father as managing director of the White Star Shipping Line in 1899. When the Titanic made her ill-fated maiden voyage, Joseph Bruce Ismay and his American wife, together with his manservant, were aboard. The manservant was drowned when the Titanic sank, but both Mr ans Mrs Ismay were amongst those saved. Amidst the confusion and panic which surrounded the final hours of the Titanic, many passengers and crew behaved heroically whilst others did not show the same qualities of courage and self sacrifice.

In New York harsh words were spoken against Joseph Bruce Ismay, and rightly or wrongly one newspaper branded him a coward. Once the enquiries into the disaster were completed he retired to an estate in Western Ireland, with a stigma overshadowing him. Inevitably, but unfairly, the stigma caused other members of his family to be criticised.

Craganour opened his three-years-old campaign by competing for the Union Jack States at Liverpool in the first week of the season. Carrying 9st 4lbs and ridden by W.Saxby, he started at 5-2 and was beaten a length by Flippant ridden by F.Wootton. Paddock critics thought that Craganour had not grown perceptibly during the winter, but admitted that his astute trainer had left much to work on.

When he appeared for the Two Thousand Guineas three weeks later many of those who had seen him at Liverpool were astounded at the extra condition that Robinson had managed to put on him. Again ridden by W.Saxby, Craganour was quickly into his stride, and at the Bushes led the field by four lengths. Inside the final two furlongs Louvois, racing on the opposite side of the course, put in a determined challenge. As the two horses passed the winning post separated by the width of the course, few of the spectators had any doubts as to the verdict - which they anticipated as a victory for Craganour by about a neck. To their amazement the Judge gave his verdict to Louvois by a head.

Saxby and Robinson were dumbfounded, and Robinson did not hesitate to inform his jockey that in his opinion he had ridden an injudicious race by over-confidence and his failure to urge Craganour forward in the last few yards. He did not accept Saxby's rejoinder that he thought he had won the race by a comfortable margin and did not wish to subject his mount to too hard a race. This altercation was to have consequences on Derby Day.

Louvois and Craganour met again in the Newmarket Stakes a fortnight before the Derby; Craganour, ridden by Danny Maher, won impressively from Sun Yat with the Two Thousand Guineas winner toiling in their wake. On the strength of this victory Craganour returned to Foxhill the short priced favourite for the Derby.

For the next ten days he was under constant guard, for Robinson had received letters from the Women's Social and Political Union threating to burn down the stables and harm the Derby favourite. Despite these threats Craganour did everything asked of him in his trial gallops, and was thought to be unbeatable. The on eproblem was the question of a jockey.

Robinson had persuaded Mr Ismay not to give the mount to Saxby, much to the jockey's disgust. Danny Maher was not available for he was stead fastly loyal to Lord Rosebery and was determined to ride the filly Prue in the 'primrose and rose hoops' even though he thought next to nothing of her chance. Eventually it was decided to bring Johnny Reiff from France where he had been riding since his departure with his brother Lester from Newmarket at the end of 1901. It seemed a sensible decision for Johnny Reiff was no stranger to Epsom and had won the 1907 Derby on Orby, and the 1912 Derby on Tagalie in the colours of Mr Walter Raphael who also owned Louvois.

When the starter released the tapes for the Derby the 100-1 outsider, Aboyeur, dashed into the lead. Reiff was content to settle Craganour about four lengths behind him. As the runners came down the hill to Tattenham Corner, Aboyeur was still ahead of Craganour, with Day Comet, Shogun and Louvois in close attendance. At the rear of the field, the stragglers were tailed off when a Suffragette ducked under the rails, grabbed the reins of Anmer, owned by King George V, and brought horse and jockey crashing to the ground. This incident in no manner affected the outcome of the race for Anmer (named after a village on the Sandringham estate) had no chance of victory.

Meanwhile, Reiff had decided the moment had come to challenge Aboyeur. He delivered his challenged on the outside, leaving plenty of room for another challenger between Aboyeur and the rails - if any of the other runners had the ability to make such an effort. A furlong from home, Frank Wootton drove Shogun for this gap. As he did so Aboyeur swerved towards the rails, almost certainly resenting the presence of Craganour on the other side of him. The gap closed and in the ensuing scrimmage not only was Shogun's chance dissipated, but several of the other runners, including Day Comet, Louvois, Great Sport and Nimbus gained on the two faltering leaders.

Four horses flashed past the post locked stride for stride, and spectators waited with bated breath for the Judge's verdict. When the number '5' went into the frame a burst of cheering proclaimed the victory of Craganour. The Judge placed Aboyeur second, Louvois third and Great Sport fouth, giving as the distances a head, a neck and the same. In the opinion of many he had failed to notice Day Comet who was hidden by the others as the colt made his effort on the far side.

It is history that the Stewards, Lord Rosebery, Major Eustace Loder and Lord Wolverton disqualified Craganour on the grounds that he jostled Aboyeur, but there are still factors which have never been satisfactorily answered. No one has ever suggested that the three Stewards were other than men of complete integrity, and Major Loder had the added reason for hoping that Craganour would win the Derby as he had bred the dam but it seems extraordinary that they never issued any form of reprimand to Craganour's jockey.

As Lord Rosebery had a runner in the Derby he did not sit on the objection hearing, although he was present when the Stewards listened to the evidence of some of the jockeys, including Saxby whose version must have been coloured by the fact that he was indignant about being replaced by Reiff on Craganour.

It was obvious that there had been scrimmaging and jostling on an unprecedented scale, but one significant factor is that Mr A.P. Cunliffe, the owner of Aboyeur, made no effort to lodge an objection. As a member of the Druid's Lodge Confederacy and one of the most knowledgeable and astute owners of the era, it is likely that he would have lodged an objection if he thought it had any chance of success. Finally, although there were rumors that Craganour had been disqualified as a protest against the Ismay family and their association with the Titanic disaster, such rumours seem to be ludicrous, even though some of them appeared in print.

Those who were the central characters in the dramatic Derby soon departed from the racing scene. On the Saturday of Epsom week, Mr Ismay lodged an appeal against the disqualification with the Clerk of the Course, but the appeal was disallowed on the grounds that it had not been lodged within the prescribed time under Rule 166.

A month later, Craganour was sold to Senor Martinez de Hoz of the Chapadmatal Stud in the Argentine for 300,000 sterlings pounds. A condition of the sale was that Craganour should never race again. Mr Bower, who generously gave the Foxhill stable the presents that they would have received had Craganour not been disqualified, gradually gave up his Racing interests. His steeplechaser Jacobus, was second in the 1915 Grand National, and in the same year Steve Donoghue won the Chester Cup on Hare Hill in his colours. He died at his home, Haselbech Hall, Northamptonshire, in May 1924.

Robinson, heartbroken by Cragnour's misfortune, received hundreds of telegrams expressing sympathy and suggesting that the Stewards has acted in a scandalous manner. Most of these telegrams were from disgruntled punters who had backed the favourite. On the day after the Derby, he motored from Foxhill to Bournemouth to see his daughter at school. To her he seemed stunned and shocked. Before the end of the year, his health started to fail and he died of angina in 1918. In September, Aboyeur was sold to Russia. He was the third Derby winner to go there, the other two being Minoru and Galtee More.

To return to Anmer and the Suffragette, Miss Amily Davison. Although her fellow suffragettes claimed that "she did deliberately go out to stop the King's horse, to challenge the head of the country, the Government and the Press with an act that could not be kept out of the papers", this seems far fetched. Many of his contemporary jockeys agreed with Herbert Jones who rode Anmer, when he stated that he was convinced that the Suffragette could not possibly have singled out one particular horse. It was sheer chance that it was a horse in the Royal colours who was brought crashing to the ground.

What is far more conceivable is that Miss Davison intented to rush out in front of the leading horse but failed to realise until too late the speed at which the horses were approaching. The leaders had passed before she appreciated the situation. If she had moved onto the course more quickly and brought down Aboyeur or Craganour, she might have caused the death of several jockeys and horses. Taken to Epsom hospital she never regained consciousness and died of a fractured skull the following Sunday.

On the evening of the Derby, the Queen sent a messenger to hospital to enquire after her condition. A detective kept vigil at her bedside in the hope of learning the reasons for her actions - but to no avail. One of the leaders of the Suffragette movement, she had graduated at London University and had taken First Class Honours in English Language and Literature at Oxford, had suffered imprisonment and the misery and indignity of forcible feeding. A curious sidelight to her foolhardiness or martyrdom was the unexplained fact that in her pocket was part of a return ticket from Epsom to London.

After her death a telegram was sent to King George V by the Suffragettes:

"Constitutional methods of approaching our King having failed, Emily Davison has given her life to call attention to women's passionate demands. We call upon our King to give serious attention to this appeal of womanhood."

The King's feelings towards the cause of the Suffragettes cannot have improved when he heard that they had been responsible for burning down the Grandstand at Hurst Park less than twenty four hours after they had sent him the telegram.

Herbert Jones, bruised and battered, returned to his Newmarket home two days after the Derby, where he was greeted with a shoal of letters on the subject of Anmer's fall. One was from an influential member of the Church who suggested that if Miss Davison died he should attend her funeral. Jones, usually the kindest of men, was not amused by this proposal which he considered added insults to the injuries that he had received in the most sensational Derby in history.