THE STEEPLECHASER 



and at a slower rate of speed, finds his opportu- 

 nity and develops into the crack 'chaser we ail 

 admire. In other words, he is a high-class horse ; 

 but even as a colt can hardly win the Futurity if 

 he has but three legs, so the animal in question 

 can only go a certain distance at top speed, be- 

 fore fatigue compels him to give up, and he is 

 called a " quitter " and a " mere sprinter." If 

 such a horse turns out well over jumps, we pro- 

 claim ourselves as wizards for selecting him ; but 

 we are blind to the fact that, if put at the same 

 tasks on the flat racing over a distance of two 

 miles or more he might have developed pre- 

 cisely similar ability ; and if we give him the 

 chance, and the needful preparation, we not im- 

 probably find that our 'chaser is fairly shifty at 

 the " legitimate " game. It would be interesting 

 to see one of our best cross-country horses spec- 

 ially prepared for one of the fall long-distance 

 flat races ; he would, not improbably, give a re- 

 markably good account of himself. 



Was it Whyte-Melville who called attention 

 to the fact that in every case, after a long and 

 exhausting run with hounds, the men "present 

 or accounted for" were invariably mounted upon 

 little horses, old horses, and thoroughbred horses ? 



183 



