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STEEPLE-CHASING 



There is something so manly, so English as we English- 

 men are pleased to understand it, about the sport of 

 steeple-chasing, that its decadence would be a matter 

 for much regret. Chasing has just that sort of danger 

 about it that Englishmen like to encounter, a danger 

 which skill and courage, as a rule — except in the case of 

 untoward accidents, wiiich ma}^ happen to the most 

 peaceful of men while stepping into a hansom cab — will 

 surmount ; and one may permissibly talk of Englishmen 

 in this connection, because the sport has never been 

 really popularised abroad, though it has keen adherents 

 in France. It very frequently happens that a man 

 not only owns a chaser, but rides him. On the telegraph - 

 boards at meetings where cross-country events are 

 being decided, ' Owaier ' is a famihar adjunct to the 

 number of the horse on the card ; and in this respect 

 chasing appeals to the sportsman more directly than 

 racing on the flat. 



After all, what has the owner of a racehorse to do 

 with his property, at least in a very great many cases ? 

 Mr. Saddlington or Lord Cropper is congratulated on the 

 victory of his chesnut colt, or the gallant struggle of 

 his bay filly ; but what has Saddlington or his lordship 

 done to achieve these gratifying results '? Very often 

 just nothing at all, except, indeed, writing an occasional 



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