LIVERPOOL 99 



Lacy for the Hunt Cup at Tipperary. He then weighed 

 five stone only, and a successful career was inaugurated 

 by his winning. His father died when Alan McDonough 

 was eight years of age, and when he was sixteen he 

 is said to have owned a mare named Gulnare, but 

 whether she was his property or belonged to a member 

 of his family he won on her at Loughrea. Then he 

 bought Rakeaway, and by winning £60 at Athlone 

 secured some of the purchase money. This race was 

 run in four-mile heats, and the stakes were only secured 

 after a desperate finish. In the "thirties" he won the 

 Ormond Hunt Cup four years in succession, and his 

 name then became known in England. 



One of his best horses was Sir William, a grand- 

 looking chestnut by Welcome, but he was one of the 

 most erratic horses that ever looked through a bridle. 

 McDonough brought him over to England in 1837 and 

 won several good steeplechases with him, though on 

 one occasion he nearly killed his rider, as, when running 

 in a steeplechase in Cheshire, he fell and dragged 

 McDonough nearly a hundred yards. On the horse 

 being stopped, however, he remounted and won the 

 race. There were not then so many Irish jockeys 

 riding in England as at present, and his success over 

 here caused no little jealousy, which culminated when 

 not long afterwards he rode Sir William at Dunchurch, 

 and was going well when, at the end of the second mile, 

 a man named Ball deliberately rode on to the course 

 and knocked the pair oven Captain Lamb, owner 

 of the famous steeplechaser Vivian, chanced to be 

 on horseback at the spot where the interference took 

 place, and he at once pursued Ball for nearly a 

 mile and administered a sound thrashing. This 

 accident led to the sale of Sir William, for while 

 McDonough was lying in bed suffering from a broken 

 collar-bone and two or three fractured ribs, John 



