As an Owner 



the " Liverpool," at the end of March he insisted on riding 

 Weathercock at Sandown Park the following November, with 

 the result that he got another bad fall at the fence going down 

 the hill ; Zero, strange to say, who had been bought in the 

 interim by Lord Charles Beresford, and ridden on this occasion 

 by his brother, Lord Marcus, falling by his side. 



Years afterwards Mr. " Roily " was at Catterick Bridge 

 races, and in the course of a chat with John Osborne, for whom 

 he had won several races on the flat on a horse named Vintner, 

 the latter remarked, " You remember getting that bad fall on 

 Zero in the Grand National of 1876, when Regal won, but did 

 you know the cause ? Because, if not, I can tell you." He 

 then added : " I was walking round the course in the morning, 

 and so were you, and you had got nearly as far as Becher's 

 Brook, when, catching sight of Mr. Richardson and one or two 

 other friends on ahead, you ran on and joined them looking 

 at Valentine's. I walked on, and on coming to Valentine's 

 Brook discovered an under drain close to the left-hand side, just 

 where you jumped it, and it was that into which Zero put his 

 feet on landing, and turned over." 



As Lord Minto remarked afterwards, " Fancy such a state 

 of things being allowed to pass unnoticed by the authorities on 

 a severe course like that of Liverpool ! " 



The accident, which in this case so nearly proved fatal, only 

 goes to show, as Maunsell Richardson never ceased to point 

 out, how necessary it is for the jockeys to go carefully over the 

 course — not only at Aintree, but anywhere else — before riding 

 over it. He invariably made a practice of doing so himself, 

 and no doubt saved himself many a " toss " in consequence. 

 So far as I am aware, though he occasionally ran a hunter in 

 the private sweepstakes at Croxton Park, Zero was the last race- 

 horse Maunsell Richardson ever owned. 



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