A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH TURF. 



was, of course, overruled. Colonel Charretie was another of the old school of 

 steeplechase patrons who appeared at St. Albans and elsewhere. An Irishman, he 

 was born in 1794, and fought at Waterloo in the Life Guards. He took part 

 in several duels, but was never hurt. He was an intimate friend of Colonel 

 Berkeley, and was invariably at the Castle when the owner was keeping open 

 house. Although his horse, Gorhambiiry, ran second to Cothcrstone for the Derby 

 of 1843, he really cared more about match-making than for entering his horses 

 in steeplechases. The Colonel died at his house in Bryanston Square on the 

 1 2th of January, 1866, at the age of 84. 



Soon after the St. Albans Steeplechases had been organised, there arose, in 

 1834, at Crockford's Club in St. James's Street, an argument about the difficulty 

 of crossing Aylesbury Vale. Mr. Henry Peyton, son of the Sir Henry Peyton 

 of the time (both father and son were famed as coachmen and riders to hounds), 

 undertook to find a fair four-mile course over which he stated he had often ridden, 

 and which was regularly faced by those who fairly rode to hounds in the Vale. 

 The offer was accepted. Mr. Peyton consulted his friend Captain Lamb, who 

 provided a 2O-guinea cup ; the entrance was 20 guineas, p.p., each horse carried 

 i2st. ;lb. ; second saved stake. Twenty-one entries were received. The following 

 particulars are partly extracted from "Echoes of Old Country Life," "Reminiscences 

 of Old Country Life," and " Records of Old Times," by Mr. J. K. Fowler, who was 

 for many years the tenant of the Prebendal Farm over which the steeplechases were 

 held. The course was from Waddesdon Windmill, about four miles and a half from 

 Aylesbury, to a field in front of the church. The fences were absolutely untrimmed. 

 " The course was most severe, and comprised several doubles, tall bullfinches, 

 ox-fences with posts and rails, big singles, one cross-road, one deeply rutted lane, one 

 fair-sized brook, one thick spinney, and the river Thame, about twenty-eight feet 

 wide ! " 



There were no flags, and until the morning of the race, the line was kept a 

 profound secret. The Marquess of Waterford was one of the competitors on his 

 cocktail Lancet, and with characteristic impulsiveness essayed to jump the river at 

 a fly. The horse did get his fore feet on the further bank, but was so much injured 

 that he died about a fortnight later. Twenty horses started, and after Mr. Allnutt 

 (father to the late Lady Brassey, who retained the original purple-and-green jacket 

 in which he rode) had led nearly all the way, Laurestina fell from exhaustion, 

 when Captain Martin Becher on Vivian, slipping through, just won. Among the 



