234 STEEPLECHASING 



with no very difficult fences. Eight runners for the 

 Grand National Hunt was a different state of things 

 from that which prevailed one-and-twenty years before, 

 when twenty-nine faced the starter in the valley of 

 the Wharfe. None of the stewards of the Grand 

 National Hunt were present it was said. 



Mr. D. J. Jardine's " Why Not," 5 yrs., 



12 St. I lb. (car. 12 st. 5 lb.) . Mr. C. J. Cunningham i 

 " J. H. Stock's "Canteen," 5 yrs. 



12 St. I lb ,, J.C. Wilmot-Smith 2 



„ W. Wilkins's "Corny Black," 



aged, 12 St. 10 lb Capt. J. R. Scott . . 3 



Betting : — 3 to i Why Not ; 8 to i against any other. 



Why Not came out soon after leaving the stand for 

 the second time and led into the straight for home. 

 Arcadian fell at the last fence and left Why Not to 

 win by a distance ; a very bad third. 



Why Not who, eight years later, that is to say 

 in 1894, won the Grand National Steeplechase, was 

 shot at Tetbury in January 1897. Years before 

 his Grand National success he won races all over 

 the country. His final appearance was in the great 

 Liverpool race of 1896, when, backed at 100 to 7, 

 he was beaten out of a place, while his stable com- 

 panion, The Soarer, starting at 40 to i, was the 

 v^^inner. Why Not was sixteen years old at the 

 time of his death, and he was bred in Ireland, being 

 by Castlereagh — Twitter. 



1887 



Once aeain the Grand National Hunt visited 

 Derby, a steeplechase course perhaps second to 

 none. Two new fences had been made for this 

 occasion, and an alteration in the fence at the top 

 of the hill, which has brought grief to many, had 



