Discussion Post: Silver Blaze

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

This week, the canon story we’re looking at is Silver Blaze, and the chosen topic is Horse Racing in Victorian England.

A few facts:

🏇 The Sporting Times was founded in 1865. It was a weekly newspaper devoted mainly to sport and particularly to horse racing, and was known as the Pink ‘Un as it was printed on pink paper. It does of course get a mention in BLUE: "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," said he. [Wikipedia]

🏇 In Victorian times the Epsom Derby was hugely popular, especially with Londoners: On the Derby morning all London wakes at cock-crow… The Derby is emphatically all England's day. It culminates in a result in which millions are keenly interested… We are told that Englishmen take delight in providing themselves with frequent chances of breaking their necks, and that this is a very strange trait in our character… For such a people this mad scamper of "a whole cityful" through the lovely sylvan scenes of our island to see two or three races, with the anticipation of a hundred accidents in the twilight on the way home, is a logical form of national holiday. [Victorian London - Publications - Social Investigation/Journalism - London : A pilgrimage, by Gustave Dore and Blanchard Jerrold, 1872, victorianlondon.org]

🏇 For many years the [Epsom] Derby was run on a Wednesday or a Thursday and on the day huge crowds would come from London, not only to see the race but to enjoy other entertainment… [Wikipedia] That is, the Epsom Derby Fair. When steam-driven rides were invented in the 1870s, the derby saw roundabouts, chairoplanes, switchback rides, walls of death, with every new marvel painted in bright fairground designs. [surreycomet.co.uk]

🏇 Off-track betting was made illegal in 1853. This was apparently an attempt by Parliament to save the working classes from themselves. The upper classes could bet in their private clubs though. (I’m beginning to see why Holmes might have locked up Watson’s chequebook…) [The Sporting Life: Victorian Sports and Games by Nancy Fix Anderson (2010)]


Some useful resources:

The Derby (1896) on YouTube. A 30 second film of the Epsom Derby that was filmed in 1895. (Going by what Wikipedia says, I think the “1896” in the title here refers to a reprint of the footage.)

The Sporting Times on Wikipedia.

Victorian London - Entertainment and Recreation - Sport - Racing on victorianlondon.org

The Derby Day (1856–8) An oil painting by William Powell Frith, which “presents a panorama of modern Victorian life”, on tate.org.uk


Please feel free to discuss this topic in the comments.

Please also feel free to comment about the canon story itself or any related aspects outside this week’s theme. For example, any reactions, thoughts, theories, fic recs, favourite adaptations of the canon story… Or any other contribution you wish to make. And if you have any suggestions for fic prompts springing from this week's story, please feel free to share those in the comments as well.

Comments

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Echoing Frankles - Ross was the owner, not the trainer or stable lads, who would certainly have recognised the horse.

Ross wasn't expecting to see his horse, so he wouldn't have been looking for him, unlike if you were looking in a room of painted kids for yours. At my son's wedding I turned up in my 'mother of the groom' outfit and my mother didn't recognise me at first.