NATIONAL HUNT STEEPLECHASE 209 



across a couple of horses so suddenly that they were 

 seriously inconvenienced, but it was perhaps due to the 

 fact that Lord George was rather a handful for his jockey, 

 and, when making the bend for home, he put his head 

 up and bolted away to the right, running some distance 

 before he could be stopped. Towards the end of the 

 race Sir Robert, followed by Sir Stephen, Princess 

 Royal, Game Chicken, and Cooksboro' were prominent : 

 but Mr. Bevill sustained a fall with Princess Royal 

 through his mount collidino- with a loose horse. As the 

 others crossed a ploughed field to the water jump for 

 the last time Cooksboro' appeared full of running, and 

 when half way across the last field his rider, Mr, 

 Loton, took him to the front, and eventually won in a 

 canter by five lengths, a length separating second and 

 third. 



After the race, however, Mr. Behrens, the owner of 

 the second horse, lodged an objection against the 

 winner on the ground of Mr. Loton not being 

 qualified according to the conditions of the race. The 

 case was referred to the stewards of the Jockey 

 Club, who decided against Mr. Loton on the ground 

 of his having: ridden for hire. Cooksboro' therefore 

 was disqualified, and Game Chicken, who came in 

 second, claimed the stakes. 



1865 



This year the Grand National Hunt moved to York- 

 shire, the course being at Wetherby Ings, over land 

 belonging to Lord Londesborough, and where, according 

 to tradition, the Emperor Severus raced real Arabs 

 in the dim past. The fences, forty-four in number, 

 were quite big enough to test the powers of a hunter 



without being in any way unfair. 



o 



