NATIONAL HUNT STEEPLECHASE 205 



" Take that bridle off, and put a plain snaffle on " 

 were the first words he spoke. " You can't ride her 

 in a snaffle, sir," said the groom. " I won't ride her in 

 anything else," was Mr. Skipworth's reply, and in the 

 snafile he handled the mare over a very big country. 



Mr. Skipworth, who was a fine judge of a horse, 

 died on Tuesday, the 7th of December 1897. He was 

 huntinof with the Holderness Hounds ; his horse fell 

 with him on the road, and when assistance arrived he 

 was found to be dead. He was fifty-five years of age. 



1863 



The race of this year entered upon a new phase and 

 another step was taken by founding the Grand National 

 Hunt Committee, a body which had been suggested in the 

 Field newspaper a year or two before, and in accordance 

 with another suggestion made by that journal it was re- 

 solved to hold the race at a different place in each year. 



Though the race was to be a peripatetic function, 

 there was no harm in the newly established authority 

 once more fixing upon Market Harborough, where three 

 races had already been held, as for that reason arrange- 

 ments could be the more easily made. Considering the 

 ^clat attaching to the new body it was looked at as a 

 foregone conclusion that the first steeplechase under the 

 new management would be a great success ; and when 

 out of forty-three entries there were thirty-four accept- 

 ances, it was thought that at least a fair field would be 

 found at the post, yet five owners only thought fit to 

 run their horses. The line of country was nearly the 

 same as that previously selected in i860, but in order to 

 get rid of some of the worst ridge and furrow fields, a 

 slight change was made for the better in one part of the 

 course. The fences were very formidable and the water 



