THE DEVELOPMENT OF STEEPLECHASING 165 



Stamina ; riders had to pick their places at the fences, 

 and one great requisite of the good man to hounds, an 

 eye for a country, was a primary essential. There 

 was an element of true sport about the early "steeple- 

 chases," and though it would be absurd to say that the 

 modern 'chase contains nothing of the kind, the whole 

 nature of the thing has completely altered. A good 

 idea of the old-fashioned business may be gained from 

 the description of the match between Mr. Flintoff and 

 Jean Rougier in Ask Mama, by the author of Handley 

 Cross, the creator of Jorrocks. Spectators there were 

 told that they would be able to see everything from 

 the road, and so would do well to save their own 

 necks and the farmers' crops, by following the jockeys 

 field by field, sticking to the highway. Here is the 

 point which has so greatly tended to alter the character 

 of the steeplechase. Spectators have increased in 

 numbers immeasurably ; they naturally desire to see 

 as much as they can of the race, the whole contest, in 

 fact ; and so courses have had to be made so that the 

 stands command a more or less complete view. The 

 cry for natural fences is reasonable enough. The idea 

 of the steeplechase course is that it should be a repro- 

 duction of a fairly difficult hunting country ; but made- 

 up fences are unavoidable, because as a very general 

 rule some of the best riders will inevitably go the 

 shortest way round ; they will therefore jump the 

 obstacles time after time in the same places ; a pro- 

 portion of the horses will " chance " the fences, take 



