STEEPLE-CHASING.— The Start. 



THOUGH the start for a great cross-country event has been given as one of our illustra- 

 tions, in reality here getting ■well off is not nearly of so much consequence as on the flat, 

 and a length or two lost in getting away is generally equalised by the falls and refusals 

 that occur in the course of most spins across coimtry. To get well off is an advantage, 

 all must admit, but over a steeplechase course taking the lead and keeping it are quite 

 separate affairs, and though the man on a good-tempered, kind fencer may do well to keep 

 clear of the ruck, with an uncertain one or a horse that refuses, it will often prove wisdom 

 to wait and let something give him a lead, when all bxit the most determined brutes will 

 follow. The crowd and bustle of a lot of horses will also often cheer u^ and excite a 

 faint-hearted one, so that he may be induced to take fences in companj^ that singly he 

 would certainly reftise. False starts even in steeplechasrng will occur, but there can be no 

 necessity for them, and nothing is more ridicidous than when four miles and even more of 

 deep country have to be traversed, to see men stop their horses because another may have 

 gained a length or two of them in getting away. With a lot of quick ones around 

 him, and only half a mile ere the post is reached, we can quite understand how a jockey 

 may be anxious to get off in fi'ont, as a chance lost then is scarcely to be regained, and 

 unless the leaders are ridden to a standstill, and " come back,'' there is little chance of 

 making up lost ground. But in the steeplechase it is altogether different, and a good 

 selection of groimd and making use of a horse at the right moment are of far more 

 importance than a length or two to begin with. Xevertheless, a start of some kind there 

 must be, and even when Jim Hills and Mr. H — rode then- match over the A'ale of Wliite 

 Horse, and after the word " go " was given, quietly sat and arranged who should have a 

 shy at the first fence, there was some one to give them " the office." Under these cir- 

 cumstances, the drawing, though it would have been more appropriate amongst oiu* racing 

 sketches, is certainly not out of place in the delineation of cross-country sports ; and 

 when a scorc-and-a-half of Grand National competitors come together to face the flag 

 their positions are as eagerly scanned as the dismissal of a lot from the Derby post. 

 Many a heart has beat anxiously as its owner has drawn his horse in line behind the 

 starter, and surveyed the white flags that pointed out the country to be traversed, 

 and many a one has ere now cursed the moment in which he imdertook a task for M'hich 

 he had neither pluck nor skill. But if there are a few who find themselves out of place 

 when the moment of trial comes, there are also those good men and true to whom a stiff 

 coimtry causes no more uneasiness than a ride in the Kow. 



