The Life of a Great Sportsman 



mind to steer her in the Grand National, with the result we all 

 know. 



Owing to a recent heavy rainfall, the going was excep- 

 tionally heavy that year, and there being more plough, and the 

 fences stiffer than usual, combined to make the victory all the 

 more meritorious ; and as, in addition, the winner had been 

 well backed by the general public, Zoedone and her rider met 

 with a great reception on their return to the weighing-room. 

 Prince Charles Kinsky comes of a Hungarian family of ancient 

 lineage, who from time immemorial have been noted for their 

 horsemanship and passion for sport, and have long been 

 known over here. Prince Charles's father, indeed, figures in 

 that well-known picture by Barraud of the Meet at Badminton, 

 the engraving of which is so familiar to most of us ; whilst he 

 himself, since his first arrival over here many years ago, in 

 attendance on the late Emperor of Austria, has entered so 

 heartily into all our outdoor sports, and — if I may be allowed to 

 say so — made himself so generally popular that it seems almost 

 an insult to refer to him as a foreigner. That he was as 

 pleased to win the Grand National as we all were to see him 

 do so may be gathered from the fact that on receiving the con- 

 gratulations of a brother sportsman, who had called at his 

 hotel for the purpose the morning after the race, the Prince, 

 after thanking him, exclaimed, in the fullness of his heart, 

 " What have I now to live for ? " 



That Prince Kinsky would have won the Liverpool for the 

 second time of asking with Zoedone in 1885, but f° r tne mar e 

 being "got at" on the course, only a few minutes before her 

 rider got into the saddle, is more than probable. The incident 

 naturally created a great stir at the time, and the details in 

 connection with it read more like a chapter of a sensational 

 novel than a happening in real life. The story, however, has 



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