M3 



last two obstacles perhaps, with very scant courtesy, 

 and there are times when it is necessary to ride at them 

 as if they were not there at all. This is all very well for 

 men, who have a bigger chance of getting clear in the 

 event of a fall ; but it is different when the ''jockeys" 

 happen to be ladies, and one recognises that a roll means 

 that the crutch of a side-saddle may play a very prominent 

 part in the damage department. And yet there have been 

 fortunately very few serious falls in this race and no fatal 

 ones. Lady Jenkins once broke a collar bone and Mrs. 

 Collin some ribs, and Mrs. Lamond Walker, if we re- 

 collect, has not come off scatheless ; Miss Hemingway 

 also was a victim one year, but no one has ever been 

 really seriously injured. This we think is a matter for 

 congratulation, for it has not been " for want of trying " ! 

 The first Ladies' Cup was, as we have already stated, 

 run on the 15th March 1893, and was inaugurated by Mr. 

 'G. W. Walker, who was the anonymous donor of the 

 trophy mentioned in the account of the race which we now 

 propose to set out, for it may be of more than passing 

 interest, and forms a convenient preamble to the short 

 history of the Cup and its winners which we have below 

 endeavoured to present to our readers. ''The Man on 

 the Bay," writing in the Asian of the 17th March 1893, 

 gives the following account of the race : — 



A LADIES' PAPERCHASE IN CALCUTTA. 



Calcutta may fairly claim to be original in this idea, as I do not know uf 

 any case in which a point to point race or a paperchase has been ridden by 

 a field entirely composed of ladies. Some time back one of the home papers 

 did chronicle some hunt races, in which a few ladits took part, but then it 

 was only in the wake of the sterner sex. In this instance the " inferior ? " 

 half of our hunt cut out their own work independent of any male assistance, 

 and right well they did it. 



The function was supposed to be a profound secret, so of course the 

 whole town turned out — the profounder the secret the greater the number of 

 people who know about it. It was originally fixed for Tuesday, but the rain 

 coming down necessitated a postponement till yesterday (Thursday). 

 I he prizes were a handsome gold bangle to the first lady up, and a very 

 smart riding whip to the second, the former presented by an unknown bene- 

 factor whose name cannot be divulged, and the latter by Mr. Justice Norris. 



