STEEPLECHASTNG. 583 



Forester (a forward rider of the day), who came in second ; and Sir Gilbert 

 Heathcote, who was third. 



No chapter professing to give merely an outline history of steeplechasing would 

 be complete without a passing mention of what has erroneously been called " The 

 First Steeplechase on Record." This was supposed to have taken place just before 

 Christmas, 1803, and to have been the outcome of a challenge given in the mess- 

 room of the Ipswich barracks by a Lieutenant Hansum to ride one of his horses 

 over a country against any horse in the regiment. The cartel was taken up, and 

 as the moon was shining brightly it was suggested that the race should take place 

 then and there, and the horses are supposed to have finished at Nacton. Every 

 one must have seen Alken's picture of this race, the men with nightshirts over 

 their regimentals and wearing nightcaps. Nothing whatever was said about the 

 race at the time, but a detailed account was given many years later in the New 

 Sporting Magazine. The truth probably is that the affair never took place at all. 



Annual steeplechase meetings began in the year 1831, when Thomas Coleman 

 established the St. Albans gatherings, which were the forerunners of all other 

 meetings. Coleman was originally in the racing stables of Wetheral, who trained 

 a good many of the horses which used to compete at Ascot for the Plates, given 

 by George III., for horses which had been hunted with his hounds. About 

 the date of Waterloo Coleman set up for himself in Hertfordshire, trained for 

 several owners, and took the Chequers Tavern at St. Albans, which he afterwards 

 pulled down to make way for the Turf Hotel, which contained the then almost 

 unheard-of luxury of several bath-rooms supplied with hot and cold water. 



The first steeplechase at St. Albans took place in 1830, and was suggested 

 by some officers of the Household Cavalry who were dining at the Turf Hotel. 

 They left the details to Coleman, who was a successful organiser, and the result 

 was a steeplechase from Harlington Hill, where the church now stands, to the 

 obelisk in West Park. The winner was a grey horse belonging to Lord Ranelagh, 

 ridden by Captain MacDowall, the second being a little Irish horse called Nailer, 

 belonging to and ridden by Lord Clanricarde, who was one of the first amateurs 

 to be captivated by the "steeplechase craze," as it was termed. He succeeded 

 his father as fourth earl in 1808, and was made a marquis in 1825. He was born 

 in 1802, and twenty years later donned a silk jacket for the first time at the Curragh, 

 winning the first Corinthian race ever run in Ireland on Penguin, by Waxy Pope, 

 repeating his success in the next year on the same horse. He, however, cared 



