Grand National

(British Commonwealth of Nations)

Grand National

Eight horses finished this year's Grand National Steeplechase, the world's most sporting race. The first five:

HORSE OWNER ODDS

1. Master Robert II Lord Airlie 100-4

2. Fly Mask T. K. Laidlaw 100-7

3. Silvo W. H. Midwood 100-7

4. Drifter S. Sanford 100-2

5. Sergt. Murphy S. Sanford 100-6

The Horse. Eleven years ago Master Robert II first touched hoof in Ireland. He promised well, but failed. Finally he was put to work and many was the furrow he ploughed. It is even told that he was several times seen drawing the laborious milkwagon. Still he maintained his aristocratic air and once, by chance, was led to the hunting field.

There he took the barriers so well that the Earl of Airlie bought him-- a horse for which -L-50 had been refused. The Race. For 4 miles and 856 yards, over fence and stone and water-jump, past Beecher's and Valentine's hazards, past the Canal turn and many a four-foot hedge, the course of the Grand National stretches. Thirty horses started for it. Conjuror II, the favorite, fell pitiably in the mud when a crazed and riderless horse struck him. Master Robert ran the kind of race that wins. He started easily, kept out of the early confusion, gathered speed when the course cleared, came in first, by four lengths. When Sergeant Murphy, owned by Stephen Sanford of Amsterdam, N. Y., won the Grand National last year, he was the first American-owned horse ever to capture the prize of princes. That Sanford's two horses both finished the race this year was no mean consolation to Americans. The Crowd consisted of English, Scotch, Welsh and Irish. Specifically, only 250,000 people saw the race (a crowd larger than any sporting crowd in the U. S. and larger than any sporting crowd in England with the possible exception of the June Derby). Specifically, too, a fair proportion of the imperial island population had "put up their bit" on this horse or that. Generally, every millhand, barmaid, yokel, householder, duke was a spectator null once removed. And as usual, there with his people was The King. George, son of Edward, son of Victoria, grandniece of George, became, by the Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India, 14 long years ago. And ever since the old Archbishop of Canterbury put the crown on his head, His Majesty has never ceased to go from one point of his dominions to another, doffing his black derby whenever its doffing seems to be desired. Never was his power greater than today. The Labor Government has attacked or threatened to attack nearly every institution in his empire--including the existing system of private property. The one institution they have not threatened is the Monarchy. The rumor that King George plays a dominant, though quiet part in all great questions of state is widely believed. And it is widely held that the stability of the Monarchy through all the frightful years of his reign, has been due not merely to its practical usefulness, not merely to its innocuousness, not merely to its value as a national spectacle, but also to the personal character and ability of the present George, Rex Imperatorque, Fidei Defensor. The Host. The race is run on land whose lord is Edward George Villiers Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby. He was public host to the crowd, and private host to the King. In the sporting world Lord Derby is a famous figure. He is said to make more out of horses than any other man. He cherishes two ambitions, which the aged Lord Roseberry long ago achieved: to be Prime Minister, to win the Derby.