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LEAVES I'ROM A HUNTING DIARY 



The Point-to-Point Races came off on Saturday, March igth, at Stondon. 

 According to all accounts (I was not present myself), it was about the stiffest 

 course that had ever been chosen for a point-to-point race in Essex. This 

 may probably be partly accounted for by the fact that fences in the Stondon 

 country are more generally crept than flown over, when suitable places in 

 them can be more readily found ; but in a race they have to be taken pretty 

 well where you come at them with little time for pulling up at them. Again, 

 it was so foggy that the chance of picking out a good place in a fence 

 was further diminished, with the result that the winner in the light-weight 

 race (in which there were eighteen starters) flew four strands of wire with 

 the ditch on the take-oft' side. Mr. Seymour Caldwell was the bold indi- 

 vidual who took this line, and he won very easily on Mrs. Grossman's 

 " Ruth," Mr. Sheffield Neave coming in second. There were any number 

 of falls. 



William Dalton on the "Clown" 



The Welter Race, in which twelve started, was won by Mr. W. Dalton 

 on his grey horse, " The Clown," Mr. Dalton scored by being able to pull 

 up the quickest when they came to the wire and pop through a gap made 

 in it by the light weights in the previous race, Mr. Blyth was leading 

 up to that point. Mr. Crossman came in a good second on his bay. The 

 Farmers' Race was won by Captain Bruce on " Dairymaid." There was a 

 lot of grief in tliis race, for the competitors seemed to have picked out the 



