54 STEEPLECHASING 



Storr and Mortimer's." This liberal act on the part of 

 Prince Esterhazy settled the question for the year. 

 Coleman set to work and organised a race, the conditions 

 being : — 



" A sweepstakes of fifteen sovereigns each, with a gold Cup added, 

 free for any horse carrying twelve stones, about three miles across a line 

 of country in the neighbourhood of St. Albans, to be marked out with 

 flags ; a winner of two steeplechases to carry seven pounds extra (matches 

 excepted). No person to ride more than one hundred yards on any 

 road or lane in the race ; ten subscribers, or no race, and if more than 

 ten the second to receive back his stake. The first and second horse 

 to be weighed at the winning-post. Gentlemen riders ; post entrance, 

 five sovereigns extra. The winner to pay five sovereigns for expenses, 

 and all disputes to be settled on the evening of the race by the umpire, 

 and his decision to be final." 



The following sixteen horses were entered : Captain 

 Gardner's Conrad (J. Mason), Captain Fairlie's Spicey 

 (Captain Becher), Mr. J. Elmore's Lottery, Mr. Foster's 

 Rector, Mr. Angerstein's Laura, Mr. Drake's Specula- 

 tion, Mr. Bean's Beanstalk, Captain Bisdee's Boy Blue, 

 Mr. C. Turner's Pilot, Mr. Bryan's The Flyer (7 lb. 

 extra), Mr. Land's Prediction, Mr. Jackson's Cinderella, 

 Mr. Thompson's Coxswain, Mr. Anderson's Splendour, 

 Mr. Smith's Curate, and Mr. Lambden's Jerry. 



On the last day of February 1837 the town filled 

 early. Prince Esterhazy, who had before attended the 

 races, arriving a little after twelve o'clock, in an open 

 carriage and four, accompanied by Count Waldsteine, 

 Lord Claude Hamilton, and others. 



The line selected for the race was a trifle over three 

 miles in length, and until within half a mile of home, 

 almost entirely over light ploughed fields. It began at 

 the top of the hill in a grass field on Townsend Farm, 

 close to Barnet Heath, and not such a very long way 

 from the town of St. Albans. To get out of this field 

 it was necessary to charge a tremendous bullfinch, the 

 next fence to it being a stiff blackthorn hedge, with 



