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chase, and surely some of them are appalling. John Dennis on 

 Alhambra did marvels, and so did the famous Giles Eyre, who first 

 started the " Galway Blazers." 



These and others of "The Tribes," together with the Marquis of 

 Clanricarde, were the men at the head of Irish steeplechasing up till 

 the forties, when Henry Lord Waterford came to Curraghmore and 

 taking the lead of everyone, brought the sport under a proper system. 

 Lord Clanricarde, like Lord Sligo, is, miserahile dictu, succeeded by an 

 absentee, and Portumna Castle is also teuantless ! 



After making this short reference to the infant days of steeple- 

 chasing, and before dealing with the sport as it has existed during my 

 own time, I must say something about the English. 



In 1819 the sport was in full swing in England, and was described in 

 a magazine of the day as " a sort of racing for which the Paddies are 

 particularly famous, and in which, unless the rider has pluck and his 

 nag goodness, they cannot expect to get home." 



Another Englishman of that period writes that "steeplechasing, 

 a system of horsemanship dangerous in the extreme, has become a 

 favourite amusement with the young fox-hunters of the day." 



At the Derby of 1825 Lord Kennedy betted Captain Horatio Ross 

 £1,000 level that he would find a man in Scotland who would beat him 

 in a steeplechase. Horses were not named at all ! Subsequently his 

 lordship laid Ross £2,000 to £1,000 on the event, which bets were 

 vastly added to as the day approached. The match came off on 30th 

 March, 1826. The course was from Barkly Holt to Billesden Coplow, 

 in the Quorn country, just four miles. Terms : Not to go more than a 

 hundred yards on a road or through a gateway. Captain Douglas was 

 the man Lord Kennedy selected, and his lordship went to enormous 

 expense in purchasing horses for the match. At last he fixed upon 

 Radical, a famous hunter, belonging to Mr. Thomas Assheton 

 Smith, for which he paid 400gs. Captain Ross had no horse of 

 his own sufficiently good, but he was so popular that every stud in 

 Melton was placed at his disposal to choose from. He selected Clinker, 

 a thoroughbred by Clinker, dam by Clasher out of Lily of the Valley, 

 by Eclipse (I can't resist the temptation of showing that he had 

 Irish blood in his veins !), and he belonged to Mr. Francis Holyoake. 

 Clinker won the match by half a mile, and did the journey, as taken 

 by stop-watch, in 11^ minutes — a great performance, as the country 

 was very hilly. 



Before the race Lord Kennedy proposed to Captain Ross that, " as 

 such an enormous sum was pending on the match, both between them- 

 selves and others, he thought it advisable that they should start with 

 as few openings for a wrangle as possible ; that in a flat- race crossing 

 or jostling was not allowed, but that in this match he thought it would 

 be best that the riders should do just as they pleased." To this Ross 

 replied, " In short, I understand that we may ride over each other and 

 kill each other if we can." " Just so," responded his lordship. 



