8o STEEPLECHASING 



cation, while numbers of people congregated at the more 

 difficult fences. 



Race-goers grumble nowadays if strict punctuality 

 be not observed ; but time was not considered so impor- 

 tant in 1839 as it is in 1899, ^^^ although it was stated 

 that the race would be started at one o'clock, it was 

 nearly three o'clock before the eighteen competitors 

 were paraded in front of the grand stand, and then, for 

 the first time, it appears that the public knew which 

 horses were going to start. Betting then began in 

 earnest, and although The Nun, ridden by that brilliant 

 horseman Alan McDonough, was much admired for her 

 style of going, she was voted too fat ; while the amount 

 of galloping to which she was subjected shortly before 

 the race did not make her friends more hopeful. 



There were seventeen starters, a capital field, when 

 it is remembered that all the horses carried the same 

 weight, and at a quarter-past three the following were 

 under the starters' orders, the figures denoting the order 

 of the placed horses : — 



Mr. Elmore's " Lottery " .... Jem Mason . . i 



Sir E. Mostyn's " Seventy-Four " . . Tom Olliver . . 2 



Mr. Theobald's " Paulina " . . . . Mr. Martin . . . 3 



,, Stephenson's " True Blue " . . „ Barker. . . 4 



There also ran Railroad (Mr. Powell) ; Cannon Ball 

 (Mr. Newcombe); Jack (Wadlow); Charity (Mr. Hardy); 

 Dictator (Mr. Carlin) ; Conrad (Captain Becher) ; Cramp 

 (Mr. Wilmot) ; Rambler (Mr. Morgan); Daxon (Mr. 

 Ferguson) ; Barkston (Mr. Byrne) ; Rust (Mr. W. M. 

 McDonough) ; The Nun (Mr. Alan McDonough) ; 

 Pioneer (Mr. Walker). 



Captain Becher on Conrad led the way over the 

 first fence — a high bank, partly railed and partly topped 

 with gorse and hawthorn. The succeeding three or 

 four fences were not particularly formidable, and were 



