A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Liverpool meetings are held at Aintree, near 

 Liverpool. When the Queen's plates were 

 reduced in number and increased in value to 

 two hundred sovs. notice was given by the 

 Master of the Horse, that until further orders 

 they would be given in alternate years at Liver- 

 pool and Manchester. 



The course at Aintree is a left-hand oval of 

 one mile three furlongs and one hundred yards 

 — on the far side of the course the ground 

 gently declines, and on the near side rises from 

 the canal to the winning post. The cup course 

 is one mile and three furlongs in length, and 

 there is a straight run-in of about one thousand 

 yards. The Anchor Bridge course is six fur- 

 longs ; and a new five-furlong course was opened 

 in November 1907. 



The Liverpool meetings are famous for the 

 cups which are run for in spring, summer, and 

 autumn. The oldest is the Summer Cup, insti- 

 tuted in 1828, in which year it was won by 

 Jupiter from seven other runners. The Spring 

 Cup, first offered in 1848, when it was won by 

 Mr. Blades' Ballinaford, is a handicap sweep- 

 stake of fifteen sovs. each — ten forfeit, and five 

 only if declared, with a cup or j^ioo added at 

 the option of winner, and subscribed by the 

 licensed victuallers of Liverpool and their 

 friends. The Autumn Cup was instituted in 

 1856, and was won by Maid of Derwent. 



Lord Derby's stable always lays itself out to 

 win these cups, and very well it has succeeded, 

 the stable having carried off no fewer than eleven 

 cups in the last eleven years. Once in that 

 period only has Lord Derby won the Autumn 

 Cup, when in 1898 he did so with Alt Mark. 

 Lord Stanley and Lord Farquhar however won 

 it in 1897 with Chislehampton ; in 1898 the 

 stable won both the Spring and Summer Cups, 

 and in 1902 repeated the performance. Since 

 the year 1893 they have won seventy-four 

 races on this course, the smallest number for the 

 year being two in 1899, and the greatest nine 

 in 1 90 1. 



STEEPLECHASING 



In the year 1836 Mr. Lynn, the proprietor of 

 the Waterloo Hotel and a keen sportsman, con- 

 ceived the idea that steeplechasing in Liverpool 

 would be a good speculation financially. After 

 consultation with some friends Mr. Lynn laid 

 out a course partly over the flat race-course at 

 Maghull (some 2^ miles from the present 

 course) and partly over some adjoining land. 

 The first great steeplechase in Lancashire was 

 advertised to take place on 29 February 1836. 

 There were two jump races, and the big race, 

 which was then unnamed, was won by The 

 Duke ridden by Captain Becher. This race was 

 twice round a two-mile course, and was a sweep- 

 stake of 10 sovs. each with 80 sovs. added ; the 

 winner to be sold for 200 sovs. 



In 1837 the race was won again by The 

 Duke, ridden by Mr. Potts. There were only 

 six starters, and the favourite, an Irish horse by 

 name Dan O'Connel, started an odds-on chance. 

 He did not however complete the course. In 

 1838 the race was still run on the course at 

 Maghull, but 1839 saw great changes. The 

 meeting passed out of the private ownership of 

 Mr. Lynn, and the present Aintree course was 

 instituted. 



A syndicate was formed, with a property of 

 one thousand shares,* the trustees being Lord 

 Stanley, Sir T. M. Stanley, Messrs. W. Blundell, 

 J. Aspinall, and Earle, with a ;^25 share each ; 

 the committee of the syndicate was comprised as 

 follows : — the Earls of Derby, Sefton and Eglin- 

 ton and Winton, Lord Grosvenor, Lord Stanley, 

 and Lord George Bentinck, Sir John Gerard, 

 Sir T. Massey Stanley and Sir R. W. Bulkeley, 

 the Hon. E. N. Lloyd-Mostyn, and Mr. E. G. 

 Hornby. These gentlemen had the fixing of all 

 races, while a third body, called the directors, 

 elected from a general meeting of the subscribers, 

 managed the race-course and its finance. 



The first great steeplechase took place on the 

 present course on 24 February 1839, and was 

 won by Mr. Elinore's Lottery, ridden by 

 J. Mason. There were seventeen starters. 



In 1840 Lord Sefton was begged to make one 

 of the obstacles on the course a stone wall, so as 

 to encourage the Irish owners. This his lordship 

 consented to do on condition that an ox-fence were 

 put up to give the Leicestershire horses a chance. 



In I 842 the winner was Gay Lad, ridden by 

 T. Oliver. In this race not one of the fifteen 

 starters fell, a record which never yet has been 

 beaten, nor is it likely that it ever will be. 



After this race one of the jumps became known 

 as ' Becher's Brook.' It is the sixth and thirty- 

 second obstacle, and consists of a thorn fence 

 spruced 4 ft. 11 in. high, and 3 ft. wide, and a 

 breast rail 2 ft. high, with a ditch on the far side 

 6 ft. wide and 3 ft, deep. Captain Becher was 

 riding Conrad, and seems to have made the run- 

 ning from the start. However the first time 

 round, his mount never rose at this jump, which 

 he broke through and tumbled into the ditch ; 

 Lottery and two or three other horses jumped 

 over the horse and his jockey, luckily missing 

 them. The weight for the race had, up to this 

 date, been fixed at 12 St., but in 1843 it 

 became a handicap, and was called * The Lan- 

 cashire and National Steeplechase.' In that year 

 T. Oliver again rode the winner. Vanguard, 

 carrying list. 10 lb. In 1847 Mathew, the 

 favourite, was the first Irish horse to win the 

 race. The starters for the Grand National have 

 never fallen below ten, except in 1883, Zoedone's 

 year. In 1850, to take the other extreme, no 

 less than thirty-two faced the flag. 



' This is an interesting fact to note, because it was 

 the first proprietary race-course to be organized. 



480 



