84 STEEPLECHASING 



mentioned, he, on Seventy- Four, finished second to Jem 

 Mason on the famous Lottery. Seventy-Four, though a 

 good horse in a race, was, it was asserted, a poor hunter, 

 being very fidgety, and given to refusing, unless he 

 was allowed to stride along. He was an unlucky horse, 

 however, nearly always running second, and Lottery 

 beat him by half a head. In the Grand National 

 fortune on the whole smiled upon Tom Olliver, as he 

 won the race thrice: in 1842 on Gaylad, in 1843 on 

 Vanguard, and in 1853 on Peter Simple. 



Tom Olliver did not begin to ride early enough to 

 take part in the Vale of Aylesbury steeplechases, or the 

 earlier contests at St. Albans, but during his riding 

 career he rode about seventy-seven different winning 

 horses, some of them being victorious on several occa- 

 sions, and from the time of " Lottery and Liverpool " 

 there was hardly a race of any importance in which he 

 did not participate. Olliver figures in Herring's picture 

 "Steeplechase Cracks" mounted on the chestnut Dis- 

 count, who had cleared the wall and is forcing the pace. 



In or out of the saddle "Black Tom" was a uni- 

 versal favourite. He was always cheery, possessed a 

 ready wit, and was a kindly hearted man, but not being 

 very particular as to his personal appearance he pre- 

 sented a strong contrast to the always well-dressed and 

 somewhat foppish Jem Mason, while his high spirits stood 

 out strongly against the grim melancholy of William 

 McDonough. Of Tom's many encounters with limbs 

 of the law many anecdotes have been related. He was 

 confined in Oxford gaol for debt, and one of his friends 

 wrote to ask if he could send him anything which 

 would be of service to him. Tom Olliver's reply was 

 characteristic : " Send me a d d good wall jumper." 



Olliver, just at the end of his brilliant steeplechase 

 riding, had sued the executors of a deceased patron for 

 a considerable amount, being his bill for training several 



