ii6 STEEPLECHASING 



given as 9 minutes 59 seconds, and the value of the 

 stakes was ^695. 



Bourton's end was traoic. Whilst running in the 

 Grand Annual Steeplechase Handicap, at the Warwick 

 spring meeting in 1858, he broke one of his pasterns 

 "short oft" at the water jump just opposite the stand. 

 Sam Darling, who was riding him, dismounted, but the 

 poor animal, who is said to have literally "stamped with 

 pain," at first would not let any one come near him, 

 though of course in the end he was led away to be 

 destroyed. The incident gave rise to a recriminatory 

 correspondence in the columns q>{ Beir s Life between Mr. 

 Mosley, the former owner, and Mr. Campbell of Menzie 

 (a resident of Leamington), the owner of Bourton at the 

 time of his death, and the following letters from these 

 gentlemen throw a little interesting light upon steeple- 

 chasing life in the " fifties," and it may also be mentioned 

 that in his account of the accident the Racing Cor- 

 respondent of Bell's Life wrote : "We could not avoid 

 expressing our surprise beforehand at the horse being 

 started when our attention was drawn to the awful state 

 of his legs whilst walking in the enclosure." It is a 

 curious coincidence that Tasker, Bourton's rider, was 

 killed at the Warwick autumn meeting in 1855. The 

 letters referred to read as follows : — 



"Wolverhampton, Mai-ch 22, 1858. 



" Sir, — When I sold Bourton to Mr. Campbell it was with a firm 

 conviction that I had secured for him a comfortable asylum for life, 

 and with a positive assurance 'that his racing career was at an end.' 

 As the case will shortly have to be argued in a court of law, it is un- 

 necessary for me to observe more, my only desire being to remove the 

 impression that I parted with an old and much valued servant for a 

 trifling consideration, regardless of his future fate. Had Mr. Campbell 

 kept faith with me, we should have been spared the melancholy spectacle 

 of seeing Bourton in a state in which I venture to affirm the oldest Turfite 

 never before saw a horse brought out to contest a four-mile steeplechase. 



"Wm. Mosley, Jr." 



