Festivities after the victory of Maharaja Sir
Vijaysinhji of Rajpipla’s horse Windsor Lad in the Epsom Derby 1934
Many ambitions were fulfilled. It was a night of celebrations. Maharaja Vijaysinhji already had a dinner booking for twelve guests at London’s Savoy that evening. Now
there was a Derby triumph to celebrate. The delighted Maharaja simply changed
the booking to a hundred.
So it was a big
supper party at the Savoy that night. Maharaja Vijaysinhji was always
immaculate in the way he entertained his guests, and as The Evening News recounted, “He had gone to no small trouble to
find something new for last night. Each woman guest as she arrived was offered
an orchid which reproduced the purple in her host’s successful racing colours.”
Daily Mail focussed on
another scene: “A young elephant wearing a garland in the purple and cream
colours of Windsor Lad’s owner, the Maharaja of Rajpipla, played a prominent
part in last night’s Derby Night festivities in London. Shortly after midnight
the elephant and her trainer made their appearance on the rising floor of the
Savoy restaurant, where the Maharaja was entertaining guests to celebrate his
horse’s victory. Proceeding in solemn measure round the floor, the elephant
made obeisance opposite the table where the Indian Prince and his guests were
sitting, and then marched off, amid cheers.”
Also privy to
the celebrations was The Leader. In
an article entitled “What Prince ‘Pip’ Said After Derby Victory”, the
publication elaborated, “Last Wednesday night I had the honour of attending
H.H. The Maharajah of Rajpipla’s Derby dinner. The Savoy can never have
accommodated more people, and I have seldom seen more celebrities gathered
under one roof. Opposite me was His Highness, or ‘Pip’ as he is known to his
best friends, and on either side of him were his trainer, Marcus Marsh, and his
jockey, Charlie Smirke. A little further away was Steve (Donoghue) in just as
good form as if he had won the Derby himself, George Duller and his wife, Mrs.
Smirke, Mrs. Marsh (Marcus’s proud mother), and a host of others. It was a
memorable evening, and from time to time His Highness remarked: ‘Is it really
true or shall I wake up to find I’ve been dreaming?’ Never has the Derby been
won by an owner who more appreciated the honour of winning the greatest race in
the world. As he said to me before he left Epsom, ‘I have realised my life’s
ambition’.”
Nottingham
Guardian also had its say in its issue dated 7th
June 1934
Derby prophesy of 1868
fulfilled
Crowd cheer “Good old Pip”
after Windsor Lad’s win
Bookmakers hard hit
The Maharajah
of Rajpipla, who gave a party at a London hotel last night, said to a reporter:
“I am proud to have won the Derby with Windsor Lad, but I am prouder still that
I should have won this great race before such a sporting public. Windsor Lad is
a great horse and I hope he will add still further to the stable’s triumph this
summer, for he will run in the Eclipse Stakes and the St. Leger, all being
well. Don’t forget that he had a great little jockey riding him in Charlie
Smirke,” Smirke and his wife were guests at the Maharajah’s table at the party.
A film of the
race was already at hand at the Savoy, as The
Leader recounted: “You all know the story of the race, of how Colombo was
baulked, of how he failed to come down the hill, and, finally, most important
of all - of how he failed to stay. At the Savoy I watched the film with Charlie
Smirke, and how the film confirmed what Charlie had told me, that Colombo
actually headed him, and led the field for a few strides about a
furlong-and-a-half from home. His stamina then gave out, and Windsor Lad, a
dead stayer, ran him out of it, and withstood the challenge of Easton.”
“Directly he had
passed the post we made a mad rush from the stand to the unsaddling enclosure,”
The Leader went on, recalling the post-race
scene, “I find myself jammed on the staircase against Marcus Marsh, and we
shout, ‘Make way for the trainer,’ and somehow we find ourselves by the
unsaddling ring. In a minute or two a burst of cheering announces the arrival
of the winner, being led by his owner bare-headed, with a look of joy on his
face I have seldom seen on any man. ‘Smirkey’ too is, of course, all smiles,
and there is the usual amount of congratulatory pats on the back, until
Brig.-Gen. Tomkinson comes along and takes the Maharajah away to be presented
to the King. ‘His Majesty was charming,’ the Maharajah told me, ‘and insisted
on having a glass of champagne together. He told me how pleased he was my horse
had been trained by Marsh, the son of his own old trainer, who had trained
Derby winners for his father’.”
About the
victorious jockey Charlie Smirke, The
Leader had nothing but admiration: “What a wonderful day in the life of
this young man, even more wonderful when one realises that for five long years
Charlie was prevented from earning his living. No man ever paid more dearly for
the follies of his youth, and it was not until last autumn that he was allowed
back on the Turf he loves so well. It speaks volumes for his pluck, ability,
and general self-confidence that he should win the Derby, in his first year
back in the saddle. My remarks that not even Steve Donoghue himself had a finer
knowledge of the Epsom gradients than Smirke appear to be bang on the mark, for
never have I seen a better ridden Derby winner than Windsor Lad.”
Colombo’s
failure was as much a talking point and The
Leader appeared to assess the situation perfectly, “After the race a number
of people, talking through their pockets, blamed Johnstone, but save for the
fact that he went a little wide rounding Tattenham Corner I thought he rode a
perfect race. Colombo did not have the luck of the race, but the primary cause
of his failure was that he failed to stay as well as either Windsor Lad or
Easton. Hard-luck stories can always be anticipated after a hard-fought contest
over this most tricky and trying mile and a half, and certainly, had Colombo
met with the same good fortune in running as the winner, he would have given
the ‘Lad’ a hard race.”
Commending the
winning horse’s performance, The Leader
said, “Windsor Lad handsomely justified the strong recommendations given him as
the soundest each-way bet in the race. No colt could have run in gamer fashion
to stall off the desperate efforts of Easton and the favourite, Colombo, and it
was just that extra bit of sticking power that stood him in good stead when the
others were waning. To see a horse punch it out in that fashion and refuse to
be beaten is a never failing test of condition, and, whilst Smirke can well be
congratulated upon riding an admirable race, it should not be overlooked that
the colt’s trainer, Marcus Marsh, was responsible for sending the winner to the
post fit to run for his life.”
It had been a
memorable day, and night, for the jubilant Windsor team.
It was estimated
that more than 10,000 people of a score of nationalities celebrated Derby night
in the West End hotels of London.
The King gave
his usual Derby Day dinner at Buckingham Palace to members of the Jockey Club.
About fifty guests, all men, attended. The Prince of Wales, the Duke of York,
the Duke of Gloucester, Prince George, and the Earl of Harewood were among the
members of the royal family present. Lord Lonsdale, the steward of the Derby,
was present and felt no ill-effects from the mishap which occurred when he was
on his way to the race.
The Queen - who
in former years had dined at a friend’s house on Derby night - drove to the
Queen’s Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue to see “Old Folks at Home” accompanied by
her brother, the Earl of Athlone and Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone.
(Author
Indra Vikram Singh - grandson of Maharaja Vijaysinhji of Rajpipla - can be
contacted on email teddy.rajpipla@gmail.com and singh_iv@hotmail.com. His other
blog is singhiv.wordpress.com).
A
Maharaja’s Turf
Published by Sporting Links
ISBN 978-81-901668-3-6
Distributed in India by :
Variety Book Depot,
AVG Bhawan, M-3, Middle Circle,
Connaught Circus,
New Delhi - 110 001. Tel. +91 11
23417175, 23412567.
