between the flags, and upon the flat. In the hunting-field he was a 

 particularly good man on an untrained horse. In one of the runs 

 from Knockbrack to Woodstock just alluded to, he got several falls, 

 yet he contrived to see the run as well as anyone who rode it and 

 was well up at the finish. Afterwards Sir Robert Paul was asked 

 by some of the 8oth how Peel went, and replied, "Peel went very 

 well, but his horse went very badly." He was for years the favourite 

 Corinthian jockey of Lord Waterford and Lord Howth, but, to 

 prevent the attention of the military authorities being drawn to his 

 riding, rode under different names, as well as his own. 



These were the days at Curraghmore of such horses as Sir John 

 by Windfall, the Hero by Welcome, Lord George by Economist, Duc- 

 an-dhurras by Molyneux, and Sir Arthur by Arthur, all belonging to 

 Lord Waterford. Upon these horses and many others Capt. Peel rode 

 races in public and trials over the private course at Curraghmore. 

 I' Anson, afterwards of Blink Bonny and Caller Ou celebrity, was then 

 trainer to his lordship ; Johnny Ryan was first jockey, with John 

 and Denny Doyle apprentices— the latter is living now at the 

 Curragh, but scdly crippled with rheumatism. Old Racing Calendars 

 record the performances of all these horses, which were quite the 

 best of their day— some being equally good over a country as on the 

 flat. On Duc-an-dhurras, carrying 1.3st. lOlbs., Peel won the Corin- 

 thian at the Curragh in 1848, the race being 1^ mile heats. 



One of the severest steeplechases of its day was that between 

 Capt. Peel's Shinrone, ridden by himself, and Lord Waterford's Sir 

 Arthur, ridden by Capt. Little. It was over that terrible course, 

 Whitefields, on Coppenagh Hill, near Thomastown in co. Kilkenny, 

 a weight-for-age race, Sir Arthur, a four-year-old, receiving lOlbs. 

 For the last half-mile the horses raced head and head at a terrific 

 pace, and Shinrone only just won by a head. 



I will here remark that I am very sure there is not a stable in the 

 kingdom at present which has in it four or five horses possessed of 

 the shapes, with like powers of endurance and pace, which characterised 

 the horses I have named (not to speak of the others referred to later 

 on), all of which belonged at the same time to the same man. 



I often heard Capt. Peel describe Waterford as being the best place 

 the 85th was ever quartered in ; plenty of fun of all sorts, the best of 

 foxhunting, good cheery fellows, and any amount of hospitality. 

 The oflScers were constant visitors at Curraghmore, and theirs was 

 considered by the Marquis about the most sporting regiment then 

 in the service. 



Peel retains the love of sport which characterised him all through 

 life. He is passionately fond of breeding thoroughbred horses, and 

 generally has a few good ones in training. His mare Plying Column, 

 ridden by the late lamented and accomplished Willie Beasley, made 

 most of the running in the last (1892) Liverpool Grand National, and 

 finished fifth out of five-and-twenty starters. 



