THE NATIONAL HUNT 



In 1 901 the National Hunt Meeting took place at 

 Melton, and Mr. Bibby was not disposed to be without 

 a runner over that sporting course. On this occasion 

 seventeen went to the post, the colours about which I 

 am writing being carried by Colleger, a four-year-old 

 son of Narellan or The Penman, ridden by " Mr. Deer," 

 a name which disguised the identity of Mr. Harrison. 

 Considering that, as aforesaid, the runners were all 

 maidens, it is somewhat remarkable that out of the 

 seventeen the first and second favourites, Friar John and 

 Castleknock, both five-year-olds, should have finished 

 first and second. It may be noted that eleven of the 

 seventeen were of this age. About Friar John Colonel 

 Lort-Phillips has very kindly sent me an interesting 

 story, which I am the more inclined to give as it deals 

 with two other famous animals, Kirkland and Mr. 

 Quilp. I may quote from Mr. Phillips's letter. He 

 writes as follows — "I only wanted one horse, as Frank 

 Bibby and I had not launched out at that time. Barclay 

 Walker, with whom I was staying in Ireland, asked me 

 if I would buy him a couple of 'chasers and keep them 

 for him, which I consented to do if I could satisfy myself 

 that they were worth buying. I proceeded to Charle- 

 ville, which place I generally made a centre from which 

 to go and see various horses, and I generally took about 

 a week looking over from twenty to forty young ones 

 who seemed to show promise. The first horse I saw 

 was Kirkland, and oddly enough I had a letter in my 



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