i86 SOLDIER AND SPORTSMAN 



I would not be permitted to run the horse at 

 Punchestown. It required all my persuasive powers 

 to alter his decision and obtain permission. I was 

 not yet out of the wood, however, as the day before 

 the race an officers' ride (first chargers) was ordered, 

 no exception to be granted. Wellington, I need 

 not say, was not improved in steadiness after a few 

 gallops on the Curragh. However, I managed to 

 eet throuorh the ride. 



fc> o 



The entries were eiorhteen in number for the 

 Irish Military, and included at least two good 

 horses — viz. Chivalry and a mare ridden by Captain 

 Hughes Onslow (known as "Junks"), about the 

 best of the soldier jockeys of the time. These 

 two started first and second favourites, Wellington 

 at sixes, 



A new loop in the course had been made and 

 the first fence was an upstanding bank. We started 

 with our backs to the wall, and Wellington, a very 

 headstrong animal when extended, soon put a lead 

 of some lengths between him and the rest of the 

 field ; and without steadying himself one bit, took the 

 bank in his stride. The course then turned rather 

 sharply to the right, but before I could get a pull 

 he was well past the turn, and I just managed to 

 stop him by running into a big bullfinch fence. By 

 the time I eot back on the course the rest of the 

 horses were at least 250 yards away, and I did not 



