LIVERPOOL 147 



interests of the good brown horse which he had pre- 

 viously ridden in some hurdle races at Bromyard and 

 Worcester, and then they arranged that eminently 

 business-like piece of country at Richard's Castle, Salop, 

 and there, with Mr. Roberts to train, George Stevens to 

 ride, and Mr. Evans to manage, the education of The 

 Colonel was completed. 



George Stevens, they say, was intended by his father 

 for a calling very different from that of a jockey, but 

 report has it that George ran away from the business in 

 which he was originally placed, and entered Shepherd's 

 stables at Hednesford. After a short time there he went 

 to Mr. Vevers, a Herefordshire sportsman, mention of 

 whom is made on another page, and as that gentleman 

 kept several steeplechasers, Stevens had the mount on a 

 good many, and when no more than about 16 or 17 years 

 old had his first mount in public on Mr. Vevers's 

 Volatile at Slough ; but his first winning mount was on 

 Gipsy Bess at Leominster. Stevens' first important 

 win, however, was on Hardwick in the Grand Annual at 

 Wolverhampton, in 1851, while in the same year he ran 

 second on Bourton for the Leamington Grand Annual. 



When Mr. Vevers gave up steeplechasing in the 

 early "fifties" George Stevens returned to Cheltenham ; 

 but he appears never to have formed any connection with 

 Holman's stable there, and over different courses in 

 England and Wales did a fair amount of riding, though 

 considering his credentials and the excellence of some of 

 his performances he was not as much sought after as 

 might have been expected. His fine judgment and 

 knowledge of pace, however, stood him in good stead 

 when he won the Grand National for a Cheltenham 

 master on Free Trader in 1856, and in 1863 and then 

 1864 1''^ rivalled Tom Olliver's success in winning the 

 Grand National in two successive years on Lord 

 Coventry's Emblem and Emblematic. 



