STEEPLECHASING. 593 



sped through space, measured the distance, which Captain Peel declared to be 

 thirty-seven feet. Archer made it thirty-five feet ; but from the best accounts it 

 may be taken at thirty-seven, though some asserted that it was thirty-nine feet. 

 The Chandler, by Dr. Faustus, was at this time eleven years old, having been 

 foaled in 1836. He was bred by Sir Edward Scott, by whom he was sold to 

 a Mr. Wilkinson, a chandler of Sutton Coldfield ; the horse's next owner was 

 Mr. Garnett, who used The Chandler for harness work alone, and it was a pure 

 accident that Captain Peel had a mount on the horse, liked him, and bought him. 

 The Chandler continued to be Captain Peel's best hunter for three or four years, 

 and it was not until he was ten years old that he ran his first steeplechase at 

 Birmingham in 1846, for which he was second. His next race was that just 

 described. In ordinary course Captain Peel would himself have ridden the horse, 

 but as he had just lost a relative, Captain Broadley had the mount. Not long 

 afterwards a half-share was sold to Captain Little, by whom the horse was almost 

 invariably ridden afterwards, and this combination in the next year (1848) won 

 the Grand National, though the victory was attended by great good luck. For a 

 year or two Leamington fared better, but it lost its prestige. 



The fact that the Liverpool Grand National is in the programme of the Liver- 

 pool Spring Meeting is an enormous help to the undertaking, as it is certainly the 

 foremost steeplechase of the year. Its history is worth tracing. By the time the 

 year 1836 dawned, the St. Albans meeting was six years old, and the example set 

 by Coleman had been more or less followed by others. For some years before 

 steeplechases had ever been dreamed of at Liverpool, flat races had taken place under 

 the auspices of Mr. W. Lynn, proprietor of the Waterloo Hotel, and it is curious 

 to note how close in early times had been the connection between the Turf and 

 the licensed victualler. Mr. Lynn, feeling assured that he had hit the popular 

 taste, so far as his arrangements for flat-racing were concerned, conceived the 

 idea that steeplechasing would pay its way at Liverpool, as it appeared to be so 

 popular everywhere else. Captain Becher and Mr. Powell were among Mr. Lynn's 

 friends, with them he took counsel, and, after haggling with sundry landowners and 

 occupiers, the three succeeded in laying out a course, partly over the old flat-race 

 course and partly over some adjoining land. Having succeeded in finding a home 

 for his undertaking, Mr. Lynn advertised his steeplechases to take place on the 2gth 

 of February, 1836. There were two races, in which the well-known horses of the 

 day took part ; and the first year's experience appears to have been sufficient to 



