LIVERPOOL 127 



of his sister, and Lord de Freyne who owned O'Connell 

 kindly advised him to give up the mount. This, how- 

 ever, the lad was reluctant to do, having come so far to 

 ride the horse, and Lord de Freyne knowing he would do 

 his best, let him have his way, with the above-mentioned 

 result. 



1863 



Lord Coventry's "Emblem," aged, 10 st. 10 lb. G. Stevens . i 

 Mr. J. Astley's " Arbury," aged, 1 1 st. 2 lb. . Mr. Goodman 2 

 ,, Briscoe's " Yaller Gal," aged, 10 st. 131b. Dixon ... 3 

 Sixteen starters. Betting : — 4 to i Emblem ; 20 to i Arbury and 

 Yaller Gal. 



Has the Liverpool course ever undergone anymaterial 

 alteration in point of the size of its fences? In this 

 year there was an outcry against them on the ground 

 of their want of size. " It almost requires a micro- 

 scope," wrote one critic, "to discover the fences in 

 walking over the ground, and with the exception of the 

 three brooks and the made fence at the distance, the 

 spectators on the stand would not know that any jump- 

 ing was going on if they were not so informed by a 

 reference to the back of the card." The question asked 

 above, however, may probably be answered in the nega- 

 tive. This year the race was started near the stables, 

 thereby adding nearly half a mile to the length of the 

 course ; yet it was complained that the diagram on the 

 back of the card took no notice of the alteration ; the 

 fence at the turn before Becher's Brook which had been 

 abolished was still indicated, while the critic noticed that 

 this jump was represented as being about the width of 

 a good sized river. Each of the eleven fields comprising 

 the course was traversed twice, and were nearly all fallow, 

 wheat, and seeds, the race-course and common being 

 almost the only grass. The going, however, was ex- 



