Grand National

Sorley Boy, Southern Hero and two more went down at the first fence. At Becher's Brook for the first time in history, no one fell. Southern Hue, an outsider, was in front. Past the grandstand on the first time around, Gregalach, the Irish gelding who won in 1929, was leading, with Delaneige second, Forbra, 50-to-1 winner in 1932, a close third and Golden Miller, going easily, just behind. The field narrowed in the straightaway and made for the Canal Turn, the horses tiring now and their riders, in bright silks, holding them in for the high thorn hedge and water at Valentine's Brook. Unlike most Grand Nationals, last week's was run on a fair day: most of the crowd saw what happened at the jump--Really True, the favorite, bumped a loose horse and landed in the water. Delaneige came up to the front a mile from home, leading Golden Miller, Forbra and Thomond II. A girl in the crowd squealed "Here comes Golden Miller." Running easily, carrying his weight of 170 Ib. as lightly as a box of matches, Golden Miller passed Delaneige and the four of them took the last fence together. Delaneige landed ahead of the others but 50 yd. past the jump, Golden Miller caught him again. Delaneige faltered in his stride, and Golden Miller, with a burst of speed, won the race, at odds of 8 to 1, by five good lengths. Thomond II was third and Forbra fourth, with six others, from the field of 30, plunging slowly in behind them. For the hardest steeplechase in the world, the turf on Aintree's 4 1/2 mile brush-and-water course last week was firm and springy from a rain the day before. Golden Miller's time (9:20 2/5) was a record, nearly 8 sec. better than Kellsboro Jack's last year. Except for the failure of the favorite--which is almost an Aintree tradition --last week's race was run truer to form than any Grand National anyone could remember. The Hon. Dorothy Wyndham Paget, owner of Golden Miller, last year spent $200,000 for brood mares at the Newmarket sale. Two years before she had bought Golden Miller, who had brought only $500 as a yearling and had been resold four times since, for about $30,000. That her racing colors contain the same shade of blue as that of the foremost U. S. racing family, the Whitneys, is appropriate. Dorothy Paget's father. Lord Queenborough, met her mother, Pauline Whitney, when he had a ranch in the U. S. Pauline Whitney's father, William Collins Whitney, was Secretary of the Navy under President Cleveland. John Hay ("Jock" ) Whitney, who has not missed a Grand National in six years and who had better luck than usual when his Thomond II finished third last week, is William Collins Whitney's grandson. Delaneige, who led the field most of the way, is owned by John B. Snow, merchandise manager of Woolworth's in England. G. H. Wilson, Golden Miller's jockey, is a Canadian, champion British gentleman jockey with 61 victories last year.

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