Gentlemen Riders 



the farmers to lunch, and there were eighteen starters, consisting 

 of six picked riders from each of the three regiments, Grenadiers, 

 Coldstreams, and Scots Guards ; the Grenadiers wearing red 

 coats, the Coldstreams black, and the Scots Guards red coats 

 with a white band on the left arm. Since then, the race has 

 taken place nearly every year and is decided by points. On 

 this occasion the Scots Guards won, and riding for the regiment 

 were Seymour Vandeleur (Mr. Fosters nephew), afterwards 

 a most distinguished soldier, and unfortunately killed in South 

 Africa ; the late Sir Cuthbert Slade, one of the best horsemen 

 in the Army ; their surgeon, W. Beevor, well known later as 

 a steeplechase rider of repute ; and last, but not least, Lord 

 Annaly, always a fine rider and first-class man to hounds, 

 and now the Master of the Pytchley. The latter made all the 

 running, and going wide at the second flag, cleared what was 

 supposed to be an unjumpable bottom ; the first half-dozen also 

 getting over in safety after him before they discovered the 

 mistake their leader had made. Lord Annaly continued with 

 the lead till the last two fields, when he was passed by Heywood 

 Lonsdale (Grenadiers), who eventually won by two lengths ; 

 Mr. Lawson, as he then was, being second, and Lord Annaly 

 third. Mr. Lawson rode Dundalk, a five-year-old grey horse 

 by Brown Prince, bought from Macmahon of Castleblayney, 

 Ireland, a fourteen-stone hunter on short legs, and a really 

 first-class horse, that gave him many a good ride subsequently 

 in Leicestershire. The weights in this race were always 

 "catch weights" over (12 st. 7 lbs.), and it took place each 

 year in different countries. On one occasion when it was run 

 close to Mr. Leopold de Rothschild's house in the Whaddon 

 Chase country, the snow lay so deep on the ground that it 

 had to be swept away where the fences were jumped. The 

 going was necessarily bad, and there were many falls at the 



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