CHAPTER X 



FAMOUS 'chasers RIDERS QUALIFICATIONS STEEPLE- 

 CHASE COURSES 



FAMOUS 'chasers. 



As was remarked in discussing past and present 

 horses of high reputation on the flat, opinions vary 

 altogether about the relative merits of the animals of 

 to-day and of former periods, though there are pro- 

 bably more eulogists of the 'chasers of thirty or forty 

 years ago than there are of the flat race horses of the 

 same epoch. There is, however, of course no means 

 of proving the accuracy of the opinions that are held. 

 It is absolutely impossible to say what would have 

 happened, for instance, if Emblem, The Lamb, The 

 Colonel, Disturbance and Cloister had gone to the post 

 for the Grand National, supposing they had been con- 

 temporaries. The truth is that most people who are 

 interested in the subject have their own private ideas 

 as to the capacity of horses and are greatly governed 

 by prejudices for and against. 



It is certain that until 1893 a very general opinion 

 was held by persons who had given a good deal of 



