PUnL IC CO URSING 



139 



was (and is yet) all upon downs, and for more than a 

 hundred years the ground has enjoyed an extra- 

 ordinary reputation, the breed of hares being famous, 

 and the ' going ' so soft that greyhounds recover from 

 the effects of a long course far more quickly than at 

 many other places. Indeed, Ashdown has been tlie 

 scene of some of the most important coursing matches 

 ever held ; and notably, in i860, the Ashdown Club 

 challenged the world to run sixteen greyhounds in the 

 Traven (iip against sixteen greyhounds, entered l)y 

 members of the Club, which might be drawn from 

 any source. 



This match was won by the Club ; for though two 

 representatives of each division were left in the fourth 

 ties, both of the ' world ' greyhounds went down, the 

 deciding course being fought out by Mr. C. Randell's 

 Rosy Morn and Lord Sefton's Sweetbriar (with victory 

 to the former), both owners being members of the 

 Ashdown Club, notwithstanding that Lord Sefton was 

 emphatically a Lancashire courser, while Mr. Randell 

 was a representative of the South of England. 



If I go on with the history of the various clubs I 

 shall soon have exhausted my space, so I must turn 

 to other subjects, remarking before I take leave of 

 Ashdown that slipping from horseback was customary 

 there at the beginning of the century. Goodlake tells 



