295 STEEPLE-CHASING. 



is a bad preparation for the jumper. At the best it causes 

 delay in putting him to what is to be the business of his life. 



The science of breeding the chaser is not at present even in 

 its infancy. It is unknown ; and to seek guidance from the 

 history of past winners would be an exceedingly perplexing task. 



One of the very last sires whose stock might have been ex- 

 pected to make Liverpool winners was Teddington ; yet, in two 

 successive years, his daughters Emblem and Emblematic w^on 

 the Grand National. It has been generally asserted that the 

 Trumpeters did not train on, and, as a three-year-old, Casse 

 Tete, a daughter of this sire, ran precisely a score of races with 

 only one win. At seven years old she carried off the Grand 

 National, in quick time, from twenty-four opponents. Com- 

 motion was a very moderate horse on the turf, and scarcely 

 saved himself from being written down a failure at the stud ; 

 but his son Disturbance, with a steadier of 1 1 st. 1 1 lbs. on his 

 back, was successful at Liverpool in a iield of twenty-eight. 

 Reugny's breeding made his chances of victory in great races 

 seem slight, yet he too won the great race at Aintree, and 

 many other examples might be adduced to show that there is 

 much haphazard in the selection of steeple-chase horses. 



The Irish chasers that have lately won races have been bred 

 from comparatively few sires. Solon, Xenophon, Uncas, Ascetic, 

 and The Lawyer have been the chief of them ; and surely 

 amongst English sires there are to be found better than these 

 (though with such a son as Barcaldine it is not quite easy to 

 say how good Solon may be), and fitter for the purpose of 

 breeding chasers. Xenophon's sons, Cyrus and Seaman, fought 

 out the Grand National of 1882. Tame Fox and Zitella are his 

 offspring. Mohican is a son of Uncas, the sire of such per- 

 formers as Too Good, Bacchus, Quadroon, &:c. Ascetic has, 

 amongst others. Cloister and Royal Meath to his credit. The 

 stock of these five horses, it may be said, have on numerous 

 courses held their own against the best English-bred animals 

 that could be brought against them. 



That horses must be thoroughbred to have a hope of success 



