135 



There were tents, as there are now, but in much greater numbers, and 

 in them was very bad drink sold — liquor so adulterated and pernicious 

 that those who partook of it were rendered simply mad. Shocking 

 scenes resulted and terrible fights took place. At times when faction 

 met faction a regular battle was fought, particularly at races in the 

 counties Limerick and Tipperary, within which, by the way, most of the 

 Southern meetings were held. 



Long ago a £50 plate was considered a biggish affair, and for it we 

 had often fifteen or twenty of the best horses in Ireland competing — 

 ay, and journeying 100 miles by road for the purpose. No horse-boxes 

 on railways theo. Except the Tradesmen's at Newcastle, the Rock 

 Stakes at Cashel, and the Barronstown Plate at Tipperary, which were 

 the most important events in Ireland, there were then very few worth 

 £100. Neither had we flat or hurdle races at our steeplechase meetings. 



Men who raced in those days did so for sport, for honour and for 

 glory. As a rule they were well-to-do, and did not seek to supplement 

 their incomes by either the stakes or gambling on the Turf. 



I well remember the Limerick Drag Hunt, run April 23, 1860, when 

 thirty-seven of us, on hand fide hunters, started for fifty sovereigns, 

 five miles, over the beautiful country of Fedamore and Boherard in that 

 county, in full fox-hunting costume, 12 stone each. Some of us came 

 over one hundred miles for the gallop, and we considered ourselves 

 well repaid, for it was a clinker and no mistake ! By some means the 

 line to be run over became known to some of the local people, and they 

 having horses entered, and there being no other as suitable, the stewards 

 considered it fairest to show it to all of us. As this was a "line," 

 indeed, just five miles, straight as a ruler from start to finish, we were 

 shown over it backwards, from the winning to the starting post. We 

 got permission that, should the hounds check, or not go fast enough 

 before us, we were to make the best of our way to the winning-post ; 

 therefore, I need not say the unlucky hounds were overridden in the 

 first half-mile (I remember my horse landing over a high stone wall 

 on one — he never moved after !), and we made a downright steeplechase 

 of it to the finish. Almost all our gentlemen riders took part in this 

 scurry ; and racing men like Captains Shaw, Trocke, and M'Craith, 

 with Sir Richard de Burgho and sporting Pat Russell, rode steeple- 

 chasers, but they carried penalties. I, in the name of " Mr. Thomas," 

 rode a very good horse, called the Blind Vet, belonging to poor Larry 

 Dobbyn, V.S., of Waterford, and he had only three before him when 

 Mr. Ivers won on The Knight. Happy, and yet sad, recollection ! Ego- 

 tistical though it be, I can't help relating the event. 



There were very few races for gentlemen in the days I speak of. 

 Occasionally we had one, usually called the Corinthian Cup, but no 

 horse except a regular hunter was qualified, and he was, as often as not, 

 ridden by his owner. We had only some five or six " gentlemen jockeys " 

 in Ireland then — I mean those who rode regular races— but it was 

 customary for them to pay a professional for standing down when 



