176 The Pytchley Hunt^ Past and Present, 



througli the hands of Colonel Anstrutlier Thomson, he 

 would probably award the palm to Eainbow as the most 

 accomplished animal of the lot. Many a " P.H/' man 

 of to-day, remembers the wall-ejred Iris — Valeria, most 

 confidential of mounts — Borderer — Harold — Hypothec — 

 Wanderer — Man of the Age — and Rainbow ; but the 

 greatest of these was Rainbow. 



..." every sportsman, they say, 

 In his lifetime has one that outrivals the rest ; 

 So the pearl of my casket I've shown you to-day ; 

 The gentlest, the gamest, the boldest, the best." 



His owner thought ^^Iris ^^ badly sold at three hundred 

 and seventy guineas, but he was not every man's horse 

 out of the show-ring, and his purchaser, Mr. Padwick, 

 soon found that in his latest acquisition to his hunting- 

 stud he had furnished himself with a master and some- 

 thing to spare. When Iris again went to the hammer 

 he fetched exactly the same sum as before, viz., 370 

 guineas ; though at a later date he again became the 

 property of his original owner at 500L In point of 

 money-value, no horse of Mr. Thomson's ever equalled 

 his famous '^ Maximus," for whom, after his performance 

 in the memorable run from Claydon Woods, Lord Stam- 

 ford gave 680 guineas.. This took place during his 

 Mastership of the Bicester Hounds, and was full six- 

 teen mil-es from point to point over the heavy Marsh 

 Gibbon country, up Brill Hill to '"'^ the Quarters^' in 

 Oxfordshire. The Master and five others saw the best of 

 it, but no one was up at the finish. 



Standing six feet three in his shoes, and riding rather 

 over than under sixteen stone, Mr. Thomson found it 

 ex23edient to crash through, rather than fly, the big 



