24 STEEPLECHASING 



he offered to run his horse against anything in. the race, 

 a challenge which was accepted by Mr. Wombwell, 

 owner of Rockingham, and Lord Ranelagh, the owner 

 of Wonder (the winner of the original race). There- 

 upon a sweepstakes of a hundred guineas each was at 

 once arranged, the three horses being entered. The 

 event came off about a fortnight later near Bushey, and 

 the correctness of the form displayed in the first race 

 was confirmed in the second, as Wonder was again 

 victorious. Challenges consequent upon dissatisfaction 

 with defeat do not always turn out in a manner favour- 

 able to the challenger, but there was an amusing in- 

 stance of the tables being turned in the thirties. 

 Colonel Thomas Rait of the 15th Hussars was quartered 

 at Hampton Court, and one day entered a new purchase 

 of his in an impromptu military steeplechase. By the 

 time he had crashed through two or three fences, Colonel 

 Rait became alive to the fact that he was riding a blind 

 horse, and was unmercifully chaffed, as may be supposed. 

 The Colonel, however, offered to meet the same held 

 aofain if he were allowed to select the course. This 

 having been agreed to, the Colonel chose the Thames. 

 The same field of horses started again, and into the 

 river they went amidst shouts of laughter. The blind 

 horse was naturally first into the water, and, as he 

 could see nothing, went straight ahead and beat all the 

 others who tried to reach the other bank. 



1831 



What I have called the first St. Albans steeplechase 

 was really not the first of the series, but a sort of pre- 

 liminary affair suggested by the soldiers. The under- 

 taking, however, appears to have whetted the appetite 

 of Coleman and his supporters, and so a regular meeting 

 was held on the ist of March 1831, under the name of 



