2l8 THE MERRY GEE-GEE 



gambling, and I question if I have ever 

 seen one to beat Cloister at the game; 

 but there is so much difference between 

 a chaser who can just get two miles 

 brilliantly and one who can with safety 

 negotiate and stay at full speed the Grand 

 National course, that comparisons (without 

 being odious) are difficult to make and 

 of small account. Although Cloister by 

 no means filled the eye as the stayer and 

 weight-carrier he was, being not over-well 

 ribbed up, and with a moderate back and 

 rather split up, a more brilliant perform- 

 ance could not be imagined than the way in 

 which he cut up his Liverpool field, carry- 

 ing the biggest weight on record, making 

 the whole of the running, and winning by 

 forty lengths. That was a capital illustra- 

 tion of what I advocated further back as 

 to letting top weights stride along, thus 

 giving them an opportunity to bring their 



