296 STEEPLECHASING 



Thompson's The Farrier got over the second time, 

 but fell on landing, while The Grenadier easily cleared 

 both the fallen horse and the brook, and led for three 

 miles, when The Farrier came up and would probably 

 have won, had he not refused the last fence, over which 

 The Grenadier managed to stagger and so won by 

 fifty yards. 



■ 837 



A steeplechase which took place in Yorkshire on 

 Valentine's Day 1837 deserves notice, if only from the 

 fact that, on being started, the horses walked as far as 

 the first fence, and having cleared it they then walked 

 over two other fields, until they came to Hutton Drain, 

 which constituted the first brook. Into this they walked 

 and out the other side, and then began to gallop, getting 

 on very well until they reached Rufforth Cut, a some- 

 what wide drain, with a fence on one side. The horses 

 were local hunters, and the winner was the Hon. Mr. 

 Harbord's Wildgoose, ridden by Captain Blackhall, 

 whose riding was highly spoken of. Not one of the 

 horses escaped a fall. It may be mentioned that 

 Mr. Harbord, the owner of the winner, belonged to 

 the loth Hussars, and was brother-in-law to Lord 

 Suffield, who hunted the Ouorn during the season 

 of 1838-39. 



From the description of steeplechasing as it existed 

 up to this time, it may be readily understood that the 

 courses were like veritable point-to-point races. Flags 

 were gradually brought into use at other points than the 

 start and finish, but Ireland appears to have been in 

 advance of us in her steeplechase arrangements, as may 

 be gathered from a letter from an Irishman, in which he 

 compared the sport in the two countries. He objected 

 that in England the horses had never been on the 



