Gentlemen Riders 



accordance with the practice of the time, however, he was bled, 

 afterwards dining at the Race Ordinary, where he was as 

 cheery as usual, and two days later went on to Brecknock- 

 shire. His injuries, however, must have been far more 

 serious than was supposed, for he was taken ill that same 

 night, and found dead in his room the following day. 



Mr. POWELL 



A NAME which crops up in every event of importance at the 

 period when steeplechasing first became the fashion is that of 

 Mr. Powell, who seems to have been not only an accomplished 

 horseman, but a " bruiser " of the most pronounced type. 



The first mention of him we can find is in the account of 

 the St. Albans Steeplechase of 1836, which, successfully 

 inaugurated by Mr. Thomas Coleman in 1830, seems to have 

 gradually declined in public favour, the field on this particular 

 occasion having dwindled down to the miserable proportions 

 of five, all of them being old friends, viz. Red Deer, Grimaldi, 

 Prospero, Laurestina, and Billiard Ball (late Metheglin). 



In the four-mile course there were between forty and fifty 

 fences, but they appear to have been less formidable than 

 usual ; three or four brooks came in the line, also the river, 

 which, however, was fordable where the horses had to cross. 

 In spite of the presence of Grimaldi, Red Deer was backed 

 against the field, but there really was no betting to speak of. 



They began quite slowly, with Red Deer and Prospero a 

 little in advance of the others, until at the end of a mile the 

 favourite refused a fence into a lane, leaving the lead to 



46 



