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been a starter for this event, who has not been very much 

 *^on an engagement." In 1894 ^ lady who was then a 

 stranger to Calcutta — Mrs. Sinclair Thomson — was 

 Diana Victrix, and she rode a mare named Polly, by no 

 means an ideal lady's hunter, very pluckily and well, and 

 scored her win against some very formidable rivals in Mes- 

 dames Barrow and Walker. Polly was a thorough-bred 

 black mare who, provided she got over the fences safely, 

 held her opponents safe enough on the flat. She jumped 

 the course without a fall and outpaced Flatcatcher, Dick, 

 etc., at the finish. In 1895, Mrs. Lamond Walker, one 

 of the hardest lady riders we have had and the best, 

 bar two, that India has ever seen, won her first Ladies*^ 

 Cup on Dick. He was not a clean-bred one, but just 

 an honest little hunter, clever and handy and of the 

 kind that does not know how to fall. This, however, 

 was only the first of several victories, for in 1900 Mrs. 

 Walker won it again on Lilac, a big brown mare, whom 

 she had to teach to jump, and who in the end proved herself 

 a really first-class huntress, and in 1904 and 1907 on a great 

 little customer named Detective, who has a pedigree 

 as long as Bend Or's and was full-brother to a horse 

 called Security, who w^as imported from Australia to win 

 the Viceroy's Cup, but never managed it, though he won 

 other races. Detective has carried Mrs. Walker for many 

 seasons and has also been the means of gaining her the 

 Average Cup as already in a previous chapter related. In 

 1896, Mrs. Barrow won it for the second time on Flatcatcher, 

 a horse whose name is famous in paperchasing annals, 

 and who was probably one of the best jumpers that ever 

 wore a shoe. He was a beautifully shaped little horse, as 

 thorough-bred as they are made, and although only a pony 

 in inches, for he was barely 15 hands, he showed both out 

 paperchasing, and in races between the flags, that he was 

 quite fast enough to hold his own against bigger rivals. 



