OTHER COUNTRY MEETINGS 167 



distance makes it difficult to recognise the colours hereabouts 

 except through very strong glasses. Alongside the canal 

 they begin to turn left-handed again, and they reach the 

 racecourse six furlongs from home, the Steeplechase Course 

 lying inside the flat-racing track. There are in all thirty- 

 seven fences to be jumped, the water — which is only taken 

 once — being opposite the stands. Other well-known fences 

 are called " Beecher's " and " Valentine's " brooks, but when- 

 ever I have inspected these I found a couple of dry ditches, 

 each on the far side of a thick fence so big and formidable 

 that if a horse clears it he is almost bound to land well over 

 the " brook " beyond. The explanation lies in the fact that 

 the water of the brook runs underneath in pipes. Take 

 them all round the fences are quite the most formidable I 

 ever saw. They are stronger, thicker, and much higher than 

 those at any of the Park meetings, and from the take-off 

 side only a tall man can see over. The "country" is a 

 real country, in that the course winds through a series of 

 fields, but of course the old natural fences have disappeared 

 in favour of " regulation " obstacles. Still, it is a difficult 

 matter for a horse to run out, there being no temptation in 

 the shape of fences standing in an open field, with no con- 

 tinuation outside the flags, A curious thing about these 

 Liverpool fences is that many horses who are in the habit 

 of chancing their jumps elsewhere, or, in other words, 

 brushing through the twigs at the top of the fence, stand 

 up and jump at Aintree in a totally different manner. They 

 seem to understand that the obstacles are not to be trifled 

 with, and some who appear to be slovens at the Parks jump 

 faultlessly in the Grand National. 



In this race a few years ago the whole field were standing 

 up when they passed the stands, i.e. had gone half-way, and 

 in 1898 twenty out of twenty-five jumped the water. Falls 

 in the second round of the race are very common, but most 

 of the horses then come down because they are pumped out, 

 and not on account of the size of the fences. I am in- 

 clined to think, indeed, that well-schooled horses fall less 

 frequently at Aintree than elsewhere, and it must be re- 

 membered of the Grand National that the field is always 



