278 STEEPLECHASING 



and took their stations. Whether it was owing to the 

 suggestions made by the guides, one does not know ; 

 but the jockeys took widely different lines to reach the 

 winning place. 



Mr. Price started off in the direction of Heckfield 

 Heath, by the residence of Mr. Lefevre, M.P., thence 

 steering a course towards Swallowfield, through a covert 

 and on to Motley Farm, where Mr. Price found himself 

 in an exceedingly stiffly-fenced country, and after jump- 

 ing a number of formidable obstacles, refused to liave 

 anything to do with a dozen feet of open water which 

 came in the line. Mr, O'Connor's mount, though not so 

 fast as Mr. Price's mare, was ridden in the direction of 

 Turgis, Strathfieldsaye being skirted on the west. The 

 horse jumped faultlessly during the whole of this long 

 journey, is said to have covered the distance in an hour 

 and ten minutes, and won easily. 



1822 



On Tuesday, the 29th January 1822, Messrs. Bartle- 

 man, Howard, and Gibson rode for a sweepstake of 25 

 guineas each, from Bradford Hall, Herts, then the resi- 

 dence of Mr. Standish, to Elston, a distance of no less 

 than twenty-three miles. Mr. Bartleman's mare fell at 

 a high fence, but the other two kept close together 

 until half a mile from the finish, when Mr. Howard 

 came away and won rather cleverly, leaving far in the 

 rear those who had been riding with the competitors. 



Prior to All Fools' Day, 1822, a report was industri- 

 ously circulated in the neighbourhood of Rochester that 

 Mr. Comfort's fine pack of foxhounds would meet at six 

 o'clock on the morning of the ist of April, and proceed 

 to draw the Elms covert in the neighbourhood of Upnor. 

 A large number of people, including several officers of 



