Mr. Alan McDonough 



Alan McDonough was only eight years old when his father 

 died, and he was evidently not long in making up his mind as 

 to the path he should pursue in the future, for at sixteen we 

 find him not only owning, but winning on a mare called 

 Gulnare at Loughrea — a Steeplechase meeting made famous 

 by his gifted countryman Charles Lever, in his rollicking novel 

 "Jack Hinton the Guardsman." 



Later on he won the Ormond Cup four years in succession, 

 •' and then," as a sporting writer of the period remarked, " they 

 began to talk about him in England." 



In the Liverpool of 1839, won by Lottery and the first 

 which ever took place, Alan McDonough's mount, The Nun, 

 was heavily backed, and though palpably out of condition, ran 

 well up to a certain point. 



The following year he was second on Arthur, and the 

 next, occupied the same position on Cigar, after a good race 

 with Charity, who won by a length. 



One of the best horses Mr. Alan McDonough ever 

 possessed was a chestnut son of Welcome named Sir William, 

 a handsome savage that nobody could do anything with but 

 his owner. The latter brought him over to England in 1837, 

 and won several good steeplechases with him, being nearly 

 killed in one of them, the horse falling and dragging his 

 rider upwards of a hundred yards before he could be stopped. 

 In spite of this Mr. McDonough, though naturally much shaken, 

 pluckily remounted and managed to win the race. 



Irish jockeys were not so much en evidence over here 

 in those days as they are now, and, as a consequence, Alan 

 McDonough's repeated successes caused a considerable amount 

 of jealousy in the hearts of his English rivals, which culminated 

 not long afterwards when, riding Sir William at Dunchurch, 

 and going strong, a man named Ball, at the end of the second 



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