168 THE ENGLISH TURF 



a large one, and that in consequence many of those who do 

 come to grief have been the victims of a cannon, or have 

 been unable to clear something which has fallen in front of 

 them. I am of opinion that I never saw the race won in 

 such style as when Cloister carried 12 st. 7 Ibs. to victory 

 in 1893. It has been repeatedly urged that this grand 

 chaser beat nothing of note, and some of the old writers 

 have declared that he would not have been in it with such 

 as Alcibiade, The Colonel, Disturbance, or even that wonder- 

 ful grey The Lamb, of whose sad end at Baden-Baden in 

 1872 I was an eye-witness. Nevertheless, I submit the 

 opinion that Cloister stands out among steeplechasers, and 

 not only does he still hold the record in company with 

 Manifesto for having won with 8 Ibs. more than anything 

 else (since the race was a handicap), but he won by forty 

 lengths in a canter, and in November of the following 

 year he won the Sefton Steeplechase over the same ground 

 with the hunting weight of 13 st. 3 Ibs. in the saddle. This 

 race he won by twenty lengths. Another grand horse who 

 ought to have won had not luck been against him was Usna, 

 but when at his best Cloister could probably have given 

 weight to anything, and it will be remembered that in 1891, 

 when carrying n st. 7 Ibs., and only half trained (I believe 

 the decision to start him was only made about ten days 

 before the race), he was beaten just half a length by Come- 

 away, and that had not Cloister's jockey been more beaten 

 than the horse, the half-length would certainly have been 

 the other way. On the occasion just referred to the field 

 was probably the best which has ever gone to the post. It 

 included no fewer than four past winners of the race, viz. 

 Ilex, Roquefort, Gamecock, and Voluptuary, the actual 

 winner, Comeaway, and two which were to win in the future, 

 Cloister and Why Not to wit, and five of the Grand National 

 winners filled the first four places and the sixth. A notable 

 thing about these Liverpool steeplechase winners is that 

 nearly all of them are bred in Ireland. We have to go back 

 to 1888, when Playfair, by Ripponden, won, to find an 

 English -bred horse a winner. The winner is always a 

 gelding, unless a mare happens to do the trick ; and another 



