Captain Wentworth Hope-Johnstone 



Astley's, he was badly knocked out for the time. Peter Craw- 

 shaw, who rode another for the same stable and owner, on 

 hearing somebody ask, who jumped on Hope-Johnstone ? 

 remarked, " I'm afraid I did for one." 



After riding the Liverpool disappointment Revirescat at 

 Birmingham, Captain Hope-Johnstone suggested to Mr. Ned 

 Maxwell that he should give him to his son Johnnie, then in 

 the 14th Hussars, with a view to the Grand Military, for which 

 he thought he had a great chance, a piece of advice which was 

 promptly acted upon, with the best results, the horse, with his 

 old pilot in the saddle, winning the much-coveted prize in the 

 easiest possible manner. 



Maunsell Richardson now jumps in with the following 

 amusing experience : "I think it was in 1872 that my friend 

 Ned Maxwell wrote word 'that he had entered a big — very 

 big — and long chestnut horse, called Revirescat, in the Hunt 

 Steeplechase at Lincoln, and would I ride him ? ' When I 

 got in the saddling paddock, I found the biggest horse I ever 

 saw, with the smallest bridle — a tiny snaffle, with the thinnest 

 rein imaginable, which his Scottish groom had bought in the 

 town that morning, because he thought it looked like racing. 



"Just imagine my feelings seeing this enormous horse — it 

 stood seventeen hands — with a one rein pony snaffle on him and 

 nothing else, to ride over a course made up of ridge and furrow, 

 small fields and trappy fences, with ditches on the take-off side, 

 a narrow road to cross — quite a difficult country in fact. Susan, 

 who had won several races, was favourite, with Tom Spence in 

 the saddle. When I was getting up, several of my friends 

 wanted to know if I was insured, as my mount looked such an 

 underbred hunter. 



** Well, off we started, and to my surprise, not to say delight, 

 instead of Revirescat going badly over the ridge and furrow, or 



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