62 STEEPLECHASING 



"The Blazer," and " Ould Muck," and was regarded as 

 next to Tom Ferguson, Ireland's finest horseman. The 

 winning field was deep ridge and furrow, and Jem 

 Mason's quick eye for a country at a glance appreciated 

 the fact that if he went away to the right — it involved 

 jumping some big timber ; but that, on such a fencer as 

 Lottery, was a mere detail — he would be enabled to ride 

 home along the top of a ridge. The Nun was a some- 

 what slovenly fencer, and William McDonough did not 

 care about following Jem Mason. He therefore steered 

 straight for the winning field, and so at the finish had to 

 go floundering up and down the deep ridge and furrow. 

 Jem Mason and Lottery had to face a ploughed field 

 towards the end of the course ; but this Jem trotted 

 over, and cantering easily along the firmer ridge, beat 

 The Nun with great ease, causing the famous Allan 

 McDonough to exclaim : " Lottery must be the best 

 horse in the world, for he could trot faster than the rest 

 of us could gallop." 



Lottery meantime continued his successful career, 

 and won at Cheltenham over a light soil and stone walls 

 carrying seventeen pounds extra ; indeed, Mrs. Elmore, 

 who seems all along to have been her husband's collector, 

 used to declare that she sometimes felt quite ashamed 

 of going about and carrying away money from every 

 place. Lottery had made such a name for himself that 

 at Horncastle, where there was a sweepstake of loo 

 sovereigns each, the conditions expressly stipulated that 

 it was open for all horses except Mr. Elmore's Lottery! 

 — another and a very practical manner of saying that 

 "The Stewards reserve to themselves the right of 

 refusing any entry." 



Lottery's repeated successes led to the imposition of 

 very heavy weights upon him, and this was the begin- 

 ning of the handicapping system. Consequently during 

 the next two seasons he could win twice only — at 



