"bridegroom wins grand national hunt 'chase. iig 



second, and ran out straight for Laui^hton Hills and lost him ; 

 found at John Ball, and in about half-an-hour they killed him 

 in covert ; went to Jane Ball and ran to ground in the Gorse. 



Note. — This being my first day, and Gipsy being quiet, I enjoyed it 

 very much. There were some very stiff fences in the first run, 

 and five all came down at once at one jump. 



So runs the record of a little boy of eleven, of his first 

 day with Mr. Tailby's hounds. 



I remember some of the events of the year i860, far 

 more distinctly than many which occurred a month ago. 

 For example, who of those who had the good fortune to be 

 on the hill at Farndon on the i8th of April of that year, 

 will ever forget the memorable contest for the first Grand 

 National Hunt Steeplechase. It was my first visit to a 

 race course, and there have since been occasions when I 

 have sometimes wished it had been the last. The cold was 

 intense. Mr. Marshall and Mr. James Douglass, of 

 Harborough — of whom more anon, — had mapped out a 

 course of four miles long comprising some twenty obstacles, 

 many of which were appallingly stiff; real natural Leices- 

 tershire post and rails and oxers, to say nothing of a deep 

 and wide artificial brook that wanted a lot of jumping. 

 Thirty-one competitors, after an abnormal delay, faced 

 the starter ; victory resting with 'Bridegroom, admirably 

 ridden by the late Mr. E. C. Burton, of Daventry, who 

 died in 1907, rightly described by Sir John Astley in his 

 "Recollections" as "The best all-round athlete and 

 sportsman in England." Mr. Symonds, of Oxford, got 

 second with the Freshman, ridden by Mr. Lington, and 

 Alec Goodman was third on the Liberator. What a 

 splendid lot of horsemen rode in that chase : Mr. Edwards 

 (George Ede, who was killed at Liverpool), Mr. Thomas 

 (Tom Pickernell), Mr. Ekard (Mr. E. T. Drake), Frank 

 Gordon, Major Painter, Mr. Bevill, and Captain Jonas 

 Hunt — all, alas ! dead and gone ! ! Bridegroom belonged 

 to ' Cherry ' Angell, who lived close by at Lubbenham, so 



