



'■■-■V%'-"t'P&ry2p^ 





COVERING A STRONG BULLOCK-FENCE — DOWN FOR A HUNDRED 

 WITHOUT ANY ODDS ON WHITE 



CHAPTER V 



THE GRAND NATIONAL HUNT 

 STEEPLECHASE 



REGULARLY organised annual meetings were, 

 as we have seen, the outcome of Coleman's St. 

 Albans venture, and between 1839 and 1859 the regular 

 steeplechase horse effectually established himself in cross 

 country contests to the total exclusion of the "cock-tail" 

 and every horse which could even by courtesy be termed 

 a "hunter." In the late "fifties" and early "sixties," 

 when a spirited correspondence on steeplechasing was 

 going on, the "thirties" were referred to as being the 

 golden age of steeplechasing, and the decadence of the 

 sport was attributed to light-weight handicapping, which, 

 it was alleged, tended to the keeping in training of a 

 set of weeds useful only for betting purposes. It was 



thought, therefore, that something might be accomplished 



197 



