England -- Social life and customs; Gambling -- Great Britain
Mr Cockburn now stated that Mr Wood was convinced that he had been
deceived, and gave up the case.
Mr Baron Alderson then briefly addressed the jury with much warmth, and
in a most emphatic manner; directing them to find a verdict for the
defendant, observing:
“Since the opening of the case, a most atrocious fraud has been proved
to have been practised; and I have seen, with great regret, gentlemen
associating themselves with persons much below themselves in station.
If gentlemen would associate with gentlemen, and race with gentlemen,
we should have no such practises. But, if gentlemen will condescend to
race with blackguards, they must expect to be cheated.”
The jury found for the defendant, and the effect of their verdict was
that the Derby Stakes went to Orlando, and that Crenoline should be
considered the winner of the Two-Year-Old Plate at Newmarket, run the
previous year.
This ought to have been sufficient roguery, one would think, for one
race, but it was not. A horse named Ratan was so evidently “nobbled,”
that two men connected with it, Rogers and Braham, were warned off all
the Jockey Club’s premises.
And yet another case. A horse named Leander ran in this race, and so
injured its leg that it was shot. Shortly afterwards, it was suspected
that it was four instead of three years old, and on its being exhumed,
_the lower jaw was missing_. The resurrectionists, however, cut off the
head, and veterinary experts confirmed the previous suspicions. For
this, the owners, Messrs Lichtwald, were for ever disqualified from
racing. This case occupied much time before the Select Committee of the
House of Lords.
The Select Committee on Gaming in the Commons in 1844 report
that “Your Committee have some evidence to show that frauds are,
occasionally, committed in Horse racing, and in Betting on the Turf;
but they feel difficulty in suggesting any remedy for this evil, more
stringent, or more likely to be effectual, than those already in
existence.”
The House of Lords reported in similar terms, but they added: “The
Committee have inquired into certain transactions which have, lately,
been brought before the Courts of Law, arising from the fraudulent
practices of Individuals substituting other horses for those named in
stakes which are limited to horses of a certain age, and thus obtaining
the advantages arising from running, at even weights, Three-year-olds
against Two-year-olds, and Four-year-olds against Three-year-olds. The
success, however, which has attended the prosecutions instituted for
the Recovery of the Stakes thus unjustly won, and the rules which the
Committee are led to believe will be, hereafter, strictly attended to,
as to the examination, by competent persons, of all horses which may be
objected to, render it unnecessary for them to make any further comment
upon this part of their inquiry.”
But the Commons Committee reported on another subject, the
Gaming-houses in race towns, and the Gaming-booths on the courses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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