NATIONAL HUNT STEEPLECHASE 215 



reaching the enclosures, where Blairquorn held the 

 lead for a short distance, but gave way on enter- 

 ing the straight, from which point Tathwell kept well 

 in advance and won easily by six lengths, four lengths 

 dividing second and third. 



1869 



There was no race this year. Wetherby would 

 have been the place visited, as in 1865 ; but in 

 consequence of the terrible tragedy in the York 

 and Ainsty country whereby Sir Charles Slingsby, 

 Charles Orvis, and others lost their lives, the fix- 

 ture was abandoned. 



1870 



From some points of view no better course could 

 have been found than that at Cottenham in Cambridge- 

 shire, where the steeplechase was held this year. It 

 was a course as level as a billiard - table, there was 

 no ridge and furrow, no heavy plough, seeds, or 

 turnips ; it was a good hunting course, and the most 

 difficult fences in it were the water jump, the fences 

 following it, and the posts and rails. There were 

 those, however, who thought that in selecting Cotten- 

 ham the Grand National Hunt Committee had not 

 exercised a wise choice, as they were of opinion that 

 a race of this kind, primarily intended for horses 

 which were not ordinary steeplechasers, should have 

 been run over a severer track ; though the critics 

 were probably not riding men. 



Considerable dclat was given to the meeting by the 

 presence of the Prince and Princess of Wales, who 



