86 A BRILLIANT EXCEPTION. 



withers, a strong neck, and ' rather plain head. His 

 back ribs were very light, and his loins very slack, set 

 into very wide hips and haunches. He was a coward 

 on the flat, but nevertheless a horse of immense capa- 

 bilities, which will readily be accepted when I say that 

 his trainer (and there are few better judges) always 

 held that he was as good as that great horse Defiance, 

 and actually beat him in a trial on the flat at home. It 

 therefore may be reasonably doubted whether in any 

 age we shall see a match for this prince of steeple- 

 chasers : for, owing to his immense length and fine 

 action, any ordinary fence was no obstacle of import- 

 ance to him, and his fine turn of speed always reduced 

 the racing part of the performance to a certainty ; and 

 I have heard good judges assert that when he carried 

 off the Grand National Steeplechase, with the heavy 

 impost of list. 121b., he could have won it, in their 

 opinion, with 3st. more on his back. 



It is rarely ever that a horse of his size has the 

 activity and speed to render him first-class ; but, as is 

 frequently the case, the exception comes in with great 

 brilliancy in the case of our hero. I may further 

 remark, as another of his peculiarities in formation, 

 that the fore legs were excessively arched, or what is 

 called l over at the knees,' and is another proof of the 

 correctness of Lord George Bentinck's theory of the 

 superiority of this formation. 



It is very often objected with some degree of plausi- 

 bility, i If there are all these magnificent horses, why 

 are they not more readily procured ? ' 



