340 STEEPLE-CHASING. 



* The chief merit of hurdle-racing is that it does not pretend 

 to have any raison d'etre except the encouragement of gambHng, 

 and it answers this purpose admirably,' a prominent member of 

 the Jockey Club and of the Grand National Hunt Committee 

 has remarked. The same authority continues that the chief 

 danger attending the pursuit is of the horse over-jumping him- 

 self, or, he playfully adds, 'being intentionally knocked over 

 by an Irishman,' risks which extreme care may mitigate, though 

 to be careful while galloping at the rate of some five-and-twenty 

 miles an hour is not easy. 



It is said that hurdle-racing had its origin some years ago, 

 when, in the absence of better sport, a royal hunting-party on 

 the Downs near Brighton, when George IV. was king, amused 

 themselves by racing over some flights of sheep-hurdles. The 

 fun was thought to be so good that regular races over hurdles 

 were organised ; the sport was by no means without excitement, 

 and it had the advantage over steeple-chasing that a course 

 could be readily and simply prepared. A trainer who w^as in 

 active practice in the days when steeple-chasing became gene- 

 rally popular — that is to say, about 1836 — claims, however, to 

 have run hurdle-races before George IV. failed to find a fox on 

 the South Downs. 



In the early days of the business, the close-wattled hurdle 

 made of hazel was always used. These were never less than 

 four feet, often a good deal nearer to five feet, in height, and 

 they wxre fixed firmly into the ground so that it was not easy 

 to knock them down. When nearly half a century ago Dick 

 Christian rode a horse belonging to Lord Euston, the hurdles, 

 he notes, were 4 fest 10 inches, driven eighteen inches into the 

 ground, and tied together with haybands. Until lately the open 

 ash flake some three feet high was the obstacle, and the new 

 style of hurdle is still used, though the height has been in- 

 creased. The custom was, and too often is, to fix them loosely 

 in the ground so that a mere tap will throw them down. 

 Sometimes the horse carries the hurdle away with him and 

 falls over it ; sometimes a hurdle which has been sent spinning 



