126 STEEPLECHASING 



number was by a great many attributed to the lightness 

 of the weights. There was a delay of half an hour 

 before a start could be effected, and then Xanthus as 

 before went to the front. The second fence proved fatal 

 to The Poet, and Thomastown, refusing the post and 

 rails, returned to the paddock. No material change 

 occurred until the horses rounded the flaof at the bottom, 

 where Bridegroom joined Xanthus, the pair being side 

 by side as they jumped the rails before Becher's Brook, 

 Bridegroom clearing the water two or three lengths 

 in front of Harry, who was followed by Xanthus, 

 Willoughby, Romeo, Playman, and Huntsman, all in a 

 cluster. On coming on to the race-course for the first 

 time Bridegroom increased his lead, but at the hurdles 

 Playman came down heavily through striking them hard, 

 and while horse and rider were on the ground Willoughby 

 and O'Connell cannoned at the obstacle and fell, the 

 latter rolling over poor James Wynne, inflicting fatal 

 injuries. Bridegroom's lead was not challenged until 

 Romeo raced up to him on the far side, where Anatis was 

 outpaced and tiring at every stride. At the fence after 

 Becher's Brook Romeo took the lead, and then Bennett 

 finding that he had jumped on the wrong side of a flag 

 had to go back and take the fence again. Almost directly 

 afterwards Huntsman drew up to Bridegroom, the 

 pair rounding the turn close together about twenty 

 lengths ahead of the other surviving competitors, but as 

 the horses approached the hurdles near the distance 

 Lamplugh, Huntsman's jockey, brought him out, the 

 favourite easily beating Bridegroom by four lengths. 

 Romeo, ridden out to the end, was third, about a score of 

 lengths away from the second. The unfortunate jockey, 

 James Wynne, who died the same evening, was the son 

 of "Denny" Wynne who steered Mathew to victory in 

 1847, and was by no means strong and robust. He had 

 been apprised on the morning of the race of the death 



