5 TEEPLE- ChA sing 2g 1 



ones. At the present time there are more good horses 

 rmming in hurdle-races than was ever the case before, and 

 fields for chases are as a rule very small, for the hurdle- 

 racer is an immature chaser, and if in his immaturity he 

 pays best, why go on with him '? Chasing is the nobler 

 game, but much schooling over a country destroys a 

 horse's speed, and speed is wanted for hurdle-races, in 

 which the perfect competitor gallops, taking his hurdles, 

 in his stride, and, as it were, disregarding the flights 

 altogether. 



Of late, for various reasons, steeple-chasing has 

 somewhat languished ; but the spectacle is too picturesque 

 and popular, the sport too characteristically English, to 

 make reasonable the fear that it can ever die out. 



u 2 



