i8 STEEPLECHASING 



Coleman learned his business in the stables of a 

 Yorkshireman named Wetheral, who trained horses at 

 Cherry Down Lodge, near Ascot. When King George 

 III. was on the throne he used to give Plates to be 

 run for at Ascot by horses which had been fairly hunted 

 with his stag-hounds, and in order that they might 

 be qualified to start at Ascot it was necessary for the 

 owners to obtain a ticket, or a certificate as we 

 should call it now, and it was a condition precedent to 

 securing a ticket that the horse should have been in at 

 the capture of a certain number of deer during the 

 season,^ Wetheral, who appears to have trained not 

 a few of these Ascot race-horses, used to put up 

 Coleman to ride them in order to procure the tickets. 

 At that time the master was Lord Cornwallis, and the 

 huntsman David Johnson. 



Having acquired some knowledge of training, 

 "Tommy" Coleman, as he was usually called, set up 

 on his own account in 1815, and was soon put in charge 

 of a few horses belonging to Mr. Law,^ and Mr. (after- 

 wards Sir Charles) Williams, Brocket Hall Park being 

 his training-ground. With these not particularly valuable 

 studs Coleman went about the country plating, picking 

 up plenty of small prizes, some of which, there is reason 

 to fear, were gained by rather sharp practice. The races 

 at that time were almost invariably run in heats, and on 

 one occasion when one of Mr. Williams' horses was beaten 



^ On one occasion a follower of the pack being desirous of having 

 a ticket allotted to him, asked George Gosden, the chief of the Yeomen 

 Prickers, for one, but that official replied that he had not noticed the horse 

 that day at the finish of the run. The applicant replied that he had ridden 

 with the King during the whole of the run, whereupon George Gosden, 

 who was what was accounted a hard rider in those days, said, " I daresay 

 you have, sir. If you ride for place you may ride with the King, but if 

 you ride for a ticket you must ride with vie" from which speech we may 

 infer that Gosden did not think much of his Royal Master's riding. 



^ There were three brothers Law. The clergyman was known as 

 Canon Law, the lawyer was Common Law, and the squire (for whom Cole- 

 man trained, and who lived near Windsor Forest) Forest Law. 



