"THE LIVERPOOL" 



start ? ' and ' Which is the favourite ? ' assailed our ears 

 in every direction and in every possible variety of 

 dialect." All this seems strange, and one is forced to 

 judge that the newspapers of the period were, as it 

 seems to us, strangely lacking in information. For 

 many years past long before the day of the race fairly 

 accurate lists of starters have been compiled ; it has been 

 known at what hour the start would take place ; indeed, 

 the only one of the three questions quoted which had 

 not become obsolete was " Which is the favourite ? " 

 for though several horses would inevitably have been 

 prominent in the market for days or weeks prior to the 

 event, there have been many occasions when it was 

 difficult to say, even shortly before the start, which of 

 the runners would be absolutely in most demand. 



At this first Liverpool the authorities would not allow 

 any police to be engaged, in consequence of which a 

 body of special constables was organised, notwithstand- 

 ing which, however, there seems to have been some 

 trouble, for it is stated that one of the riders, Mr. 

 W. McDonough, on an animal named Rust, was so 

 hemmed in by the mob when he jumped into a lane 

 that any chance of his winning was at once destroyed. 

 An account of the fences then in existence will be read 

 with interest. There were three brooks, the first that 

 which has become so well known as Becher's, originally 

 a mere ditch five or six feet wide, which was made up 

 with a strong timber fence 3 feet high, placed about a 



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