*Ubc Doctor' 279 



and ' The Doctor,' " as Captain Elmhirst says in his 

 book, " The Cream of Leicestershire." Before 

 entering on his performances as a hunter, it will be 

 as well to say something about his career on the 

 turf. ' The Doctor' started by winning the Horton 

 Stakes at Chester — then an important two-year-old 

 race — and afterwards ran three other races. He was 

 at that time the property of the late Mr. H. Owen, 

 and was trained by Henry Goater at Littleton, near 

 Winchester. So much was he thought of at one 

 time, that he was backed for the next year's Derby, 

 but he turned out a bad-tempered one. Not think- 

 ing that he would ever get big enough for stud 

 purposes, he was gelded, and sent to Mr. Mytton, in 

 Worcestershire, who taught him to jump. After- 

 wards he was sent to Mr. Holman, of Cheltenham, 

 to train for cross-country work, and a real good chaser 

 he turned out to be. It is not necessary for me to 

 go through the whole of his performances as a 

 steeplechase horse, but to show that he was con- 

 sidered quite at the top of the tree, I may mention that 

 he was allotted top weight two years in succession 

 for the Grand National at Liverpool, but he did not 

 start. What caused the handicapper to place him in 

 that position was an extraordinary performance he 

 accomplished at Bedford in 1867, the same year that 



