90 GOOD SPORT 



much hunting as any two other horses. For nine 

 seasons he was a brilhant performer in the field, 

 with all three of the Leicestershire packs, often 

 carrying Mrs. Lowther. A horse of exceptional 

 quality, standing on short legs, he was a big, bold 

 jumper; on one occasion, when ridden by Mr. Lowther, 

 clearing the brook below Hambleton, which measured 

 25 feet. His owner refused £700 for him, and the 

 late Mr. Henry Custance, in his book of " Racing 

 and Hunting Reminiscences," pronounced The Rake 

 to be one of the three best hunters he ever saw in 

 the field, the other two being Lord Lonsdale's Quirk 

 and his own horse The Doctor. When The Rake's 

 hunting career came to an end in 1893, Mr. Lowther 

 said, "He gave me three falls running the first day 

 I rode him, but never put a foot wrong afterwards." 



Another famous grey of the past was Top Bar, 

 a horse with a funny temper, ridden at the top of 

 many a stirring gallop across Leicestershire by his 

 resolute owner the Rev. J. P. Seabrooke, then vicar 

 of Stonesby. On a memorable occasion in 1892, 

 Top Bar carried his reverence in the Red Coat race 

 at the Melton Steeplechases, a scarlet being borrowed 

 for the race, and although he showed the way for 

 half the journey, he was not up at the finish, Mr. 

 Grenfell winning on Mr. C. D. Rose's Carnation. 

 Poor Top Bar dropped down dead in a grass field 

 during the following summer. 



Amongst the seventy hunters that have occupied 

 the boxes at Woolsthorpe since Sir Gilbert Greenall 

 undertook the mastership of the Belvoir, fourteen 

 seasons ago, many grey horses of beautiful outline 

 have been seen. Probably the highest-priced grey 

 was Fox-catcher, a fast good hunter and beautiful 

 mover, bought for a large sum at Captain 

 Steed's sale, when he left the Rugby country, where 



