Gentlemen Riders 



hurdle race on the Continent ; Baden, Frankfurt, and Aix being 

 all familiar to him. 



Thornfield was supposed to possess more than an outside 

 chance for the Grand Steeplechase of Paris, and Mr. Owen 

 much fancied his mount ; but owing to a mistake at the start, 

 he went the wrong way about when the flag fell, and was in 

 consequence hopelessly left. 



On Mr. Coventry's retirement from the post of official 

 starter to the Jockey Club, Mr. Hugh Owen, acting on that 

 gentleman's suggestion, at once applied for the post, with the 

 success we all know. 



He still, however, clung to his old love whenever his duties 

 permitted, and as recently as the spring of 1907 he rode in and 

 won the private sweepstakes at Croxton Park, on Cassiobury 

 Park, a horse of his own, beating a large field, including a 

 hunter owned and ridden by Mr. J. M. Richardson, whose 

 first appearance it was in the once familiar white jacket and 

 blue cap since his victory in the Grand National on Reugny 

 in 1874. 



For many years Mr. Hugh Owen had made Melton his 

 headquarters, and it was whilst hunting from there in the spring 

 of last year that he met his death, which, tragic though its 

 suddenness, was perhaps the one of all others he himself would 

 have chosen. 



264 



