Gentlemen Riders 



Challenge Whip to be competed for by undergraduates over 

 three miles of hunting country, 1 1 st. 7 lbs. each. It was run 

 for the first time that year, and the following year the latter 

 became the proud holder, winning it with a mare named 

 Bribery, by Ratcatcher. 



In 1863 a Steeplechase Match was got up between Oxford 

 and Cambridge, to be run over a course in the vale of Ayles- 

 bury. Three horses were to run for each side, the horses for 

 Cambridge being selected by a committee, and also the riders 

 of the horses. Two of them belonged to Mr. Fitzwilliam, and 

 the third to the present Lord Carrington, and the race resulted 

 in a great success for Cambridge, that University being first, 

 second, and third. Conqueror, by Hero out of Result, ridden 

 by the late Mr. T. Ashton, was first ; The Clown, ridden by 

 Mr. Fitzwilliam, second ; and Lord Carrington's Grey Horse, 

 ridden by the late Honourable Henry L. Wood, third. 

 Though the first and second belonged to himself, their owner, 

 in consequence of a refusal when near home, had to put up 

 with second place. The Gold Cup, then won, is now at 

 Wigganthorpe. 



Soon after leaving Cambridge, Mr. Fitzwilliam went as 

 private secretary to Lord Strathnairn, then commander of the 

 forces in Ireland, and there he rode a good many races across 

 country and on the flat at the Curragh, adopting, as was 

 customary in those days, the assumed name of " Mr. Went- 

 worth." He had a few horses of his own, but rode mainly 

 for his friends, among whom were the late Lord Howth, Mr. 

 James Chaine, Mr. Archibald Peel, and others, winning several 

 races for the last-named with a horse named Baldongan. It 

 was at Punchestown in 1867 that the subject of this chapter 

 performed the remarkable feat already referred to. He was 

 riding a horse called Red Man, belonging to Captain Butler, 



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