THE GRAND NATIONAL. 243 



The weather on this occasion was of about as dis- 

 aoreeable a description as could well he imagined, 

 rain, sleet and snow ialling almost without 

 intermission during the day. Nevertheless the 

 course and stands were crowded in all parts, a 

 state of things attributable in a great measure to 

 the presence of the Empress of Austria, who had 

 been hunting in Cheshire all through the winter, and 

 who, no doubt, took a special interest in the race 

 owing to the tact that some time previously, when 

 over in Ireland, she had paid a visit to Mr. Linde 

 at the Curragh, and witnessed the jumping of the 

 horses under his charge. 



Another interesting feature of the day's pro- 

 ceedings was the fact that Fred Webb, the well- 

 known flat race jockey, made his debut as a steeple- 

 chase rider, on the back of Captain Machell's second 

 string, The Scot, whom he succeeded in getting fifth. 



The race proved a one-horse affair all through, 

 Wooclbrook taking the lead before a quarter of the 

 distance had been traversed, and never afterwards 

 being headed. The winner was bred in 1874 by 

 Captain Kirkwood of Woodbrook. from which 

 place the horse took his name. 



He first ran in 1878, and the next year won the 

 Sefton Steeplechase at the Liverpool Autumn 



212 



