As I have expressed myself elsewhere, give me the man who breeds 

 his own horse, trains him, and then wins his race on him — but such a 

 man is not easily found. With Liberator, his own property and 

 trained by himself, Mr. John Hubert Moore won the National in 1879, 

 his son Garrett being the jockey — a fine performance, and the best 

 record of the sort which I know of connected with that race, save and 

 except that of Mr. John "Widger in March last. Wild Man from 

 Borneo (such a name ! ) was purchased by the eldest brother of the 

 Widger family for the purpose of winning the Grand National, with 

 his brother Joe in the saddle, after having been trained by his other 

 brother Michael. That praiseworthy ambition was achieved to the 

 letter, and thus was realised the day-dream of that happy band of 

 brothers, whose history, written by me, appeared in The Sportsman of 

 Apiil 13th, 1895. 



Cloister. — CI aster's time was put down at 9 minutes 32 seconds 

 immediately after the race, but 9 minutes 42f sees, were afterwards 

 recorded, and so it now stands at : but giving him even 10 minutes 

 to have won in with such a weight, although the going was perfection, 

 I adhere to what I stated at the time, and is related at p. 152. That 

 Cloister, over the Grand National course, was one of the best horses ever 

 seen there is no manner of doubt, but I think there is a doubt whether 

 he was better than The Colonel, Congress, Comeaway, or Royal Meath, 

 while little Seaman, if he could have been trained to concert pitch, 

 or perhaps St. Marnock, who was killed at Manchester, might have 

 stretched his neck over the selfsame course. Anyway I hope to see 

 Cloister win for Mr. Duff the Sefton in November and the National 

 again in March, prepared, as he no doubt will be, by Harry Linde, at 

 Eyrefield. 



Father Mathew.— The first Irish horse that won the Grand 

 National is recorded in the calendars as Matthew, and sometimes 

 Mathew (p 131), but his right name was Father Mathew, called after 

 that "apostle of temperance " who did for Ireland more real good than 

 perhaps any other man tint ever lived, be he clergyman or layman, ia 

 that he converted from drunkenness to sobriety tens of thousiuds, very 

 few of whom ever "broke the pledge " they had voluntarily given to 

 that paragon priest. 



PUNCHESTOWN. 

 Chapter IX. 



PuNCHESTOWN DouBLE. — Like many other things, the old double at 

 Panchestown when looked at on paper, as a section of it can be done 

 at page 147, is very different to what it is in reality ; so in case any of 

 my readers might take the shadow for the substance, I may tell them 

 that that fence, while it is both safe and fair, is one of the stiffest to 

 be found in any course in the world, notwithstanding its apparently 



