Gentlemen Riders 



previous day ! " Lord Marky " it is, though, and no other ; 

 and, by Jove ! he's down again at the farmhouse fence. Ah ! 

 they've caught his horse for him and he's up again, and send- 

 ing his mount along for all his worth, in hot pursuit of the rest. 



" Go along, Marky ! " yell his friends in the stand ; " you'll 

 catch 'em yet ! " 



And he does, too, and to some tune, for at the foot of the 

 hill he's once more on terms with his field, and, what is more, 

 is going as well as anything in the race. See ! the lot are 

 together as they rise the hill towards the last lot of hurdles ! It's 

 anybody's race apparently, and a bookie in the enclosure, being 

 impressed with the fact, is offering in loud tones his readiness 

 to bet a level pony that no one names the winner, when a sky- 

 blue jacket is suddenly seen to shoot out from the rest and top 

 the hurdles with apparently the race in hand. 



" It's Lord Marcus, God love him ! " yells a compatriot, 

 delirious with joy, as he throws his hat up in the air. 



And, sure enough, the next instant his gallant countryman 

 gallops past the post amidst a hurricane of cheers from all 

 sides of the course, as a reward for his pluck and energy. 



In 1866, for the first time in its history, the National Hunt 

 Steeplechase was run in Scotland at the Bogside (Irvine) 

 meeting. 



The course, which is about one hour's journey by rail from 

 Glasgow, had a coal pit in the middle of it, and seeing that 

 the famous Marquis of Waterford, familiarly known as the 

 mad Marquis, once distinguished himself by riding three 

 winners in the same afternoon there, it was quite in the order 

 of things that a member of the Beresford family, in the shape 

 of Lord Marcus, should win the principal event of the day on 

 that occasion. 



This he accomplished on Mr. G. Ballard's Burford (12 st. 



352 



