140 



I am well aware it was the late Mr. Thomas G. Waters who laid 

 out these new courses and remodelled the old. In doing so he was 

 actuated by the purest motive — viz., a Mdsh to prevent the accidents 

 which, just about that time, were of unusual frequency. ^Ir. Waters 

 was a man of peculiarly tender heart, and could never bear to see 

 anything hurt, much less the horse, of which he was so fond, or the 

 Irish steeplechase rider, of whom he was so proud. He was there- 

 fore, the more easily convinced in his own mind that our old courses 

 were too stiff. He was partly right in this, for some of them were — 

 notably Newcastle, where that famous mare Kate Fisher, and, I think, 

 three other horses were killed at one meeting alone, a series of disasters 

 which brought about an outburst of abuse of Irish 'chasing in the 

 English Press. It would have been better, however, had he adopted 

 less drastic measures ; and had he foreseen the effects his wholesale 

 cutting-down was destined to have upon our steeplechasing, he would 

 have been more sparing with the spade and pickaxe, while equally 

 merciful to horse and jockey, for never was there a better sportsman m 

 Ireland than my old friend Tom Waters. 



It is, however, fair to his memory to state that the sporting press of 

 Ireland were silent during the remodelling of the courses ; nor did we 

 hear a word of complaint from owners, trainers, or jockeys. On the 

 contrary, the last-named three, as a rule, approved of the reformation. 

 I should also mention that heavy betting began just at the time Mr. 

 Waters commenced work, and who knows but there might have been 

 some who were very glad to look on and see courses made the 

 -easier 1 To bring off " a good thing " over the old natural courses 

 was very uncertain ; perhaps therefore, they thought it the best 

 policy not to express the opinions they really held on the subject as 

 regards $,port. 



Although Waters cut the fences down, it was he who built up the 

 stand-houses and introduced all the improvements we now enjoy ; for 

 which ladies, jockeys, owners, pressmen, and all others connected with 

 racing owe him a debt of gratitude. 



Eight glad am I to see that our Irish National Hunt Steeplechase 

 Committee has at last taken action in the matter, and has issued mandates 

 that the size of the jumps must be increased. It is a pity such a step 

 was not taken long ago. It is a greater pity that it did not veto the 

 wholesale cutting-down system directly they saw Cork Park — which 

 was the first circus of the kind — and forbid laying out courses on such 

 lines. 



In their recent action I think a mistake was made in laying down a 

 hard-and-fast rule for all steeplechase courses. I am thoroughly in 

 accord with their idea of having one somewhat formidable jump, such 

 as the so-called "regulation fence," in every two miles, but I would have 

 the formation of every course dictated by the natural lie of the country, 

 utilising every safe fence, thus giving diversitj'- of jumps with artificials 

 as few as possible. The position for the regulation fence should be 



