COMMONS STEEPLECHASES 23 



one of my own horses. Thrice I never 

 finished, and of the other times I won it 

 once on a thoroughbred belonging to that 

 excellent sportsman, Mr. W. H. Garforth, 

 of Gilling, and once on a black hireling, 

 appropriately named Satan. 



The first time I got through this Drag 

 it was won by Lord Binning. It was a 

 ludicrous finish. Lawley broke his girth 

 over a stile into the last field but one ; 

 the next fence was a bullfinch with a great 

 black fen ditch beyond, a regular death-trap. 

 Lawley and Binning were neck and neck 

 across the field, and I was just behind. 

 Girths or no girths, Gingertail had to do 

 it, but the peck on landing left him a clean 

 back. Binning's horse fell on landing, and 

 the two raced in on foot ; my horse fell, and 



