CHAPTER X 



THE GRAND NATIONAL 



IN discussing llat-racing and steeplechasing no 

 man of knowledge and experience can say the 

 latter is conducive in any way to the improve- 

 ment of the breed of horses. To begin with, mares 

 that have been used for racing for a long period are, 

 with very few exceptions, failures at the Stud ; this 

 is true more particularly of those that are proved 

 stayers and that have gone through the strenuous 

 work necessary to fit to cover long distances. 



I recall the successes of a great line of jumpers 

 bred by the late Mat Maher, for many years a 

 member of the Irish Jockey Club. Schooner, 

 Frigate and Shannon Lass, all admirable jumpers, 

 bred fairly good animals, but none that came up to 

 the standard of their own excellence. Then very 

 few entire horses have been successful. Grudon, 

 however, was an exception. Trained and owned 

 by Mr Bletsoe, at Elms Denton, Northampton, and 

 ridden by Arthur Nightingall, Grudon won in 1901, 

 with Drumcree, a subsequent hero, second, the 

 winner carrying ten stone. But I have not noticed 

 that Grudon at the Stud ever got stock as good as 

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