74 



STEEPLECHASING 



It was partly in the immediate vicinity of and partly 

 on the original Aintree course. The horses were to 

 start at the bottom of the course near the stables ; to 

 cross the lane which led over the canal ; the second 

 fence, i.e. that out of the lane, was abolished to save a 

 double jump, and then, after turning to the left, the 

 direction of the canal was to be followed till reachincr the 

 bridge near the bottom of the course ; then, going up 

 the straight, two hurdles were to be jumped. This took 

 the horses past the grand stand, and to the starting 

 point, after which the circuit had to be traversed a 

 second time, the winning-post being opposite the grand 

 stand. There were about twenty fences, in addition 

 to the hurdles in each circuit, and nearly the whole 

 of the race could be viewed from the grand stand. 



There were two races on the 29th February 1836, 

 and the first has been regarded as the first Grand 

 National ; but such is not the case. The conditions of 

 the race were : — 



A sweepstake of to sovereigns each with So sovereigns added, for 

 horses of all denominations, 1 2 stone each ; gentlemen riders ; second 

 horse received back his stake; winner to be sold for 200 sovereigns 

 if demanded. 



The ten horses entered for this race were : — 



Mr. Sirdefield's " The Duke " . . 



,, Aspinall's b. g. " Polyanthus " . 

 Sir Thomas Stanley's " Laurie Todd " 

 Mr. Oswald's "Gulliver" . . . 



„ Kershaw's "The Baronet" . 



„ Ward's bl. h. "The Sweep" 



„ Thomas's " Cock-a-hoop " . 



„ Webster's " Derry " . . . 



„ Speed's " Percy " . ... 



,, Devine's "Cowslip " . . 



Betting : — 2 to i against Laurie Todd, 3 to i against The Duke, 

 9 to 2 against Polyanthus, 6 to i against Percy, the others standing at 

 from 8 to I to 12 to I. 



