NATIONAL HUNT STEEPLECHASE 199 



and waited to see what kind of course was selected, they 

 would have discovered that the flat racer and hurdle 

 jumper were virtually disqualified, as nothing but a hunter 

 would be able to jump the country. Then with the excep- 

 tion of the Vale of White Horse, not a single Hunt, Mr. 

 Rowlands declared, made a contribution ;^ others declined 

 to subscribe upon the plea that they did not approve of 

 steeplechases. The experimental race took place at 

 Market Harborough in 1859, the added money, ^250, 

 being guaranteed by Mr. Fothergill Rowlands and some 

 friends, who had to put their hands into their pockets to 

 make up the amount. 



i860 



By this time plans had matured, and there took place 

 at Market Harborough what is given in the Steeplechase 

 Calendar as the first Grand National Hunt Steeplechase. 

 On this occasion the Hunts appear to have come to the 

 fore with their contributions and the race was a great 

 success. The subscribino- Hunts were : the Duke of 

 Beaufort's, Lord Stamford's, Lord Fitzwilliam's, Lord 

 Dacre's, Lord Tredegar's, Mr. Drake's, The Monmouth- 

 shire, Hertfordshire, Oakley, Cambridgeshire, Heythrop, 

 and both Warwickshire packs. The conditions were: — 



Grand National Hunt Steeplechase of 10 sovereigns each, with 

 500 added ; for horses that have never won before the day of starting. 

 Twelve stone each. Four miles. 



Mr. B. J. Angell's b. h. "Bridegroom," 



aged, 



,, C. Symonds' "The Freshman," . 

 ,, Garden's "Liberator," aged, . . 

 ,, Briscoe's " The Nigger," . . 

 „ F. Rowlands' " Medora," aged, . 

 The competitors numbered thirty-one. 

 groom ; lo to i The Freshman; 12 to i Liberator. 



^ Mr. Charles Edward Prince subsequently wrote to say that he, on behalf 

 of Lord Dacre's Hunt (the Old Berkeley), sent ;{^io, and that " though the fox 

 was found at once, he had not time to break before the money was collected." 



