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heard them described when I was a boy. The diversion consisted in 

 two men riding a match against each other over some terribly stiff 

 country until one was brought to a standstill. The rules were simple. 

 One man was to follow the other wherever he went. Lots were drawn 

 to decide which was to take the lead at starting. This the rider 

 retained until his horse fell or baulked. In case of a fall the other 

 man was bound to follow in the same place, but when a baulk gave 

 him the lead, it was optional for him to go at another place. Thus the 

 match continued until one pounded the other. Large sums usually 

 changed hands over these matches, and as the most difficult country 

 was chosen, terrible accidents often occurred. Matches of this sort 

 were known to have decided which of two rivals was to claim the hand 

 of the lady they were in love with — the fair one agreeing to abide the 

 result and take for better or worse the winner ! 



Necessarily this pounding business was done at a very slow pace and 

 without any line of country being laid out. Eventually the idea was 

 conceived, in the middle of the last century, to ride at best pace across 

 country from one point to another, the winning post being near to 

 some tower or steeple which could be seen from the start, perhaps five 

 or six miles away, and no other guide or beacon was allowed, hence 

 was derived the name steeplechase. 



There appeared in an English magazine not long ago an article 

 giving interesting records of Irish steeplechasing when in its infancy, 

 and from it I learn that the oldest record Avhich is authentic is a 

 MS. in the possession of the O'Briens of Dromoland, County Limerick, 

 which gives particulars of a match in 1752, between Mr. O'Callaghan 

 and Mr. Edmund Blake, over four and a half miles of country. The 

 course was from the Church of Buttevant, with the spire of St. Leger 

 Church for a winning-post. 



Perhaps the earliest reference found in print is in the first volume 

 of the old Sporting Magazine, where it records an appeal made to the 

 Turf Club to determine a dispute upon a race at Ballyshannon, held 

 on January .3, 1793. The report runs thus : "Four horses started for 

 one hundred guineas, twenty-five guineas a side; one of the horses 

 was to carry a featherweight — that is, the lightest weight procurable — 

 and was ridden by a small boy. In the race each was to leap a wall 

 six feet high. The first from the post was the horse carrying the 

 featherweight. When he came to the wall he was stopped by the boy, 

 who, with great dexterity, alighted, turned the horse over, climbed 

 the wall himself to the other side, mounted again, and came in first to 

 the winning post. Another horse and his rider got over clear ^ but the 

 other two baulked the wall. On it being contended that the boy lost 

 because he dismounted at the wall, it was decided that as the horse 

 which he rode had only to carry featherweight, the saddle was sufficient, 

 and the race was awarded to him." 



It appears also to have been the practice about this time in " all 

 hunters' plates run for in Ireland to have a four-foot fence, with a 



