CHAPTER X 



racing career 



By Finch Mason 



It will be generally admitted, I am sure, by all those who have 

 any knowledge on the subject, that there are two qualifica- 

 tions which are absolutely essential to the steeplechase rider, no 

 matter whether he be a professional or an amateur. One is, 

 unlimited pluck — or, as many would prefer to call it, nerve — 

 and the other skill. That there are a great many young 

 horsemen who possess the first-named goes without saying, 

 but unfortunately one is not much good without the other, and 

 there can be no question that the possession of both to an 

 eminent degree was the real secret of Maunsell Richardson's 

 extraordinary success in the career he had mapped out for 

 himself in early life. In his own introduction to the book 

 which he collaborated so successfully with myself a few years 

 ago, and, as in this case, published by Messrs. Vinton and Co., 

 entitled " Gentlemen Riders Past and Present," whilst saying 

 nothing about skill, he alludes to the question of nerve in 

 language there can be no mistaking. 



" One thing is, certain," he says, " which is, that unless an 

 aspirant to steeplechase honours thoroughly makes up his mind 

 beforehand to put his whole heart and soul into his work, with 

 his neck a secondary consideration, he may just as well leave 

 the game alone altogether for all the satisfaction he is likely to 

 get out of it." 



9i 



