368 STEEPLE-CHASING. 



by what the reporter much under-estimated at thirty lengths. 

 ' A very bad third, nothing else passed the post,' is the record 

 of the race. 



The Grand National broke him down so badly that his 

 hind fetlock joint was right down on the ground, but by skill 

 and care, Jewitt, his trainer, brought him round so that at one 

 time hopes were entertained of his being .able to repeat in 1884 

 the victory of 1882. 



The Grand National of 1883 was won by Zoedone, the 

 property of a Hungarian nobleman, the Count Kinsky, who 

 rode his own horse to an easy victory. The animal was 

 unfashionably bred, a daughter of New Oswestry and Miss 

 Honiton, and her previous career had been inglorious. She 

 had won three races as a four-year-old, two of them under 

 5o/. in value, and the other under ioo/. She was a very slow 

 mare, but could gallop along untiringly at a poor pace, and 

 had the merit of being a safe and skilful fencer. She had 

 finished third in the Liverpool of 1882, and had she been gifted 

 with speed would have won, but this is another of those ' ifs,' 

 the consideration of which is so very misleading and unpro- 

 fitable. She muddled home in 1882 behind Seaman and Cyrus ; 

 but, as only four finished, the others having fallen, refused, 

 or run out, and as the fourth horse made no effort to gain 

 a place, the performance was very moderate a mere question, 

 indeed, of standing up. Her owner had, it is true, ridden her 

 to victory in the Great Sandown Steeple-chase, but of the three 

 competitors here one fell, and the other, an Irish mare named 

 Sugar Plum, ran as if not at her best, the consequence being 

 that Count Kinsky had only to sit still in order to be carried 

 home. He had frankly expressed an opinion before the race 

 that he should ' not win unless the other two fell down,' and 

 altogether the victory portended little. 



At Liverpool, however, to the surprise of most racegoers, 

 Zoedone was successful. Her owner was perfectly at home on 

 horseback, and sat admirably over his fences, which was all he 

 had to do. There was no question of racing, that is to say of 



