wm XW-AW \\W,\\y( .^•sa- \ nni'/ j.iE(:oV.Tii^ct]:oKs mimWMmswau} |!)i\M' w ■- JOHNA.SEAVERNS Compliments of SPORT ON LAND AND WATER RECOLLECTIONS OF FRANK GRAY GRISWOLD PRIVATELY PRINTED 1913 COPYRIGHT, I913 BY FRANK GRAY GRISWOLD THE'PLIMPTON-PRESS NORWOOD'MASS'U'S-A Dedicated to The ''Cubr 1880 ROBERT CENTER F. GEBHARD J. O. GREEN N. G. LORILLARD C. G. PETERS LLOYD BRYCE H. OELRICHS P. LORILLARD, Jr. C. HITCHCOCK E. ZBOROWSKI C. O. ISELIN By a Fellow Member CONTENTS I PAGE Hunting 3 The Queens County. By "Brooksby" .... 15 The Meadow Brook. By "Brooksby" .... 43 n How THE Derby was Won 67 How THE Derby was Lost 78 III Sea Fishing 91 Tarpon Fishing 96 Tuna Fishing 107 Salmon Fishing at Campbell River 119 IV The International Polo Cup 127 V The Evolution of the English Foxhound . . . 139 The Kerry Beagles 147 The American Foxhound 153 I HUNTING A SOUTHERLY WIND AND A CLOUDY SKY PEOCLAIMS A HUNTING MOKNING " HUNTING WHEN a child, before I could read, I used to stand on the sofa and gaze with the greatest interest at a hunting-print which hung on the nursery wall, and it was with much pleasure that I first was able to spell out the motto below the picture, "A South- erty Wind and a Cloudy Sky," and wonder what that had to do with it. It was not long before I found out, for I hunted in England as a boy, and passed one winter at Pau in the early days when they hunted a drag and a bagged fox. They would have a hunting-drag of thirty minutes, with a bagman at the end, and we enjoyed many a good day's sport in that way. In 1875-76 a few of us used to go to Hackensack, N. J., to join old Joe Dono- hue, who had a few hounds Avith which he hunted foxes in the woodland. He was very keen, hunted on foot until the hounds 4 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER found a fox, and then attempted to follow them in a buggy. He could find a fox more readily than any one I ever hunted with; but the woods were very thick, and it was impossible to ride to hounds. At that time fox-hunting was impossible near New York, so I proposed to introduce the Pau form of sport. In the spring of 1877, Robert Center, Wilham E. Peet, and Belmont Purdy joined me in forming a committee to purchase a pack of hounds and to hunt them on Long Island. I went to England, and bought the hounds with the kind assistance of Thomas Turbett of Scribblestown, and we established them at Meadow Brook as a subscription pack. In those days Long Island was a grazing country, mostly grass and strongly fenced with post-and-rail and zigzag fences. There were two toll-gates between Jerico and Jamaica. No garden-truck was grown east of Jamaica. It was an ideal country for drag-hunting, and was chosen for that reason. The fences would have been too HUNTING 5 big to jump if the turf had not been sound. The soil is so Hght that it drains quickly, and it is seldom that the going is not perfect even in the early spring. It is the very worst scenting country in the world for fox-hunting, and carries little scent except on the snow or when the frost is coming out of the ground. The difficulty was to obtain hunters. There were no horses to be found that could jump, and the fences were big and strong. We bought green horses, and schooled them ourselves. In fact, we began from the beginning in every way, having much enthusiasm and little money. We personally did everything, even to clean- ing our own boots and breeches, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was not long before we had a con- siderable following and large fields. At the end of the first season Messrs. Purdy and Peet retired from the committee, and Eliot Zborowski, C. G. Peters, and J. O. Green were elected. We all lived at the 6 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER Meadow Brook farmhouse. I hunted the hounds, and Robert Center and Eliot Zborowski were the whips during the first three seasons ; after that I had professionals as whips. I hunted the Queens County Hounds, as the hunt was named, from 1877 to 1893, and the Meadow Brook Hounds, which were established in 1881, from 1893 to the end of the spring season of 1895. I also hunted the Orange County Hounds during their first season. Drag-hunting, as I understand it, and as I practised it, is a science. I always drew a covert, and hounds were taught to hunt, and the drag was laid to represent as nearly as possible the run of a fox. The drag was lifted from time to time and the hounds allowed to puzzle it out and pick up the scent again, thus giving the field a chance to see hounds work and to enjoy the sport. At the end of forty or fifty minutes we had a bagman; and as the foxes were generally strong ones from the mountains, they often gave us good sport. z* is ^ z ^ T) HUNTING 7 Those that escaped were the founders of the fox family we hunt in Nassau County today. I always hunted fifteen couple of hounds, and as I never walked the line myself, but simply gave the drag-man orders to go in a certain direction and to keep on the grass as much as possible, it was at times a difficult matter to find him, for he would have to lift his drag on account of crops or for other reasons. As drag-hunting is carried on today, there is really no reason for the three or four couples of hounds that race to the check, and then lie down until laid on again. A man in a pink coat could lead the field just as well without any hounds. As it is, you have a good ride ; but it is not drag- hunting. I admit it is much easier for the master and the so-called huntsman; but a man must be young, in good condition, and a light weight to ride such a drag, and he must be mounted on a thoroughbred. Thomas Gibbons ran the drag for me for thirteen years, and was the best man 8 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER I ever knew. He could travel fast across a country, thought quickly in an emergency, and was always on good terms with the farmers. An intelligent drag-man, and one that you can rely on, is absolutely neces- sary. If the drag-man had started, I never failed to hunt, no matter how bad the weather might be ; for if you disappoint a drag-man once, he is likely to become too good a judge of the weather and to inter- fere with sport. I was the pioneer on Long Island, in Westchester County, where we hunted in 1880 and 1881, and at Newport, where we were five seasons, and I never had any trouble with the farmers. With a drag you can avoid those who object, and they were few in number. I found that if damages were promptly paid and broken fences mended, the American farmer, not- withstanding that he owns his land, seldom objects to hunting. The Quakers on Long Island at first thought it an ungodly sport; but as every Quaker loves a horse, they HUNTING 9 could not resist the pleasure of seeing us jump fences, and often would beg us to cross their farms. In midwinter I used to hunt foxes with the full pack of hounds. I found that hunting a drag did not interfere with their ability to hunt foxes. I hunted the wood- lands surrounding Lake Ronkonkoma for several seasons, and later on the home country. We used to have great sport hunting on the snow in a wild country where there were few fences, the pack being handy and under perfect control. An old fox, known as Gray Beard, lived for years in the Guinea woods just north of my house and for several winters I often hunted him on the snow. The hounds learned to know just where to find him on the sunny side of the covert. He would usually run over the same route, and go to ground when he had had enough. It was good exercise for the hounds and horses. Another cun- ning fox lived on Rockaway Beach for several winters. He had an earth in the 10 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER bushes high up on the beach, and lived on the fish and shell-fish that were washed ashore. There was absolutely no scent on the sandy beach except after a fall of snow. At such times I used to hunt him up and down the beach, and as we never disturbed his earth, he always had a refuge. When pressed, he would run along the beach, following the waves as they rose and fell, and baffle the hounds. In this manner he often saved his brush in full view of the field. At other times he would escape by running out on the thin ice, where the pack could not follow him. I bought a wonderful hunter in Canada the first season, a gray horse called Hail- stone. He was up to any weight, as light on his feet as a pony, could jump any fence from a trot, and could beat most thorough- breds for half a mile on the flat. He showed the field what a horse could do and encouraged many who were badly mounted. He never made a mistake, and was, I believe, the greatest timber- jumping horse HUNTING 11 I have ever known, for even to this day I have never seen his equal. The most brilHant fencer I ever rode was Leo, belong- ing to Mr. Frederic Gebhard. He could jump any timber fence in his stride, no matter how formidable it might be. He was a difficult horse to ride, having a very strong will of his own, and had to be ridden with a very light hand; but we became friends, and I hunted hounds on him for two seasons with great satisfaction. After winning the high jump at the New York Horse Show one year, he bolted, cleared not only the boundary fence, but also the railbirds who were watching the per- formance, and landed safely on the prom- enade. The other horses that carried me well were Sir Charles, Shandygaff, Hempstead, the Countess, Orion, the Clipper, Leap Year, and Lochinvar. In later years the Irishman was my best hunter, and never made a mistake for eight seasons. I won two Championships at the New York Horse 12 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER Show on Countess, and one each on Orion and Hempstead. It was no child's play hunting hounds in Queens County for more than nineteen years, as the fences in those days were very big and strong, and there were many of them. I had many falls, but not nearly so many as most followers of the hunt, owing, I think to the fact that I always rode horses well over my weight, which I could do, as I rode at 154 pounds. A horse barely up to one's weight can jump a few flights of rails, but he cannot go on jumping big fences unless he has power in reserve; the exertion is too great. It is seldom, therefore, that a thoroughbred is suited for such a country; yet Orion, by Glenelg out of Lark by Lexington, carried me brilliantly for eight seasons and seldom fell. He was a great horse. During my mastership the two most amusing hunt servants we had were Joe Townley and Charhe Sait. The former, an Irishman past middle age, was a wonder- --'i^ li ^ . MR. FREDERICK GEBHARD'S HUNTER LEO HEMPSTEAD HUNTING 13 ful man with horses. He had a comfort- ing way of encouraging any lad who seemed nervous when schooHng horses over strong timber, saying to him : ** Go on, boy ! go on ! What are you afraid of? Do you want to Hve forever?" Charles Sait came to the hunt from Canada as whip. He arrived with the reputation of being the only man in Canada who could ride Jack the Barber, a specially vicious steeplechaser of renown. He certainly could ride and ride well, but his love for whisky was his undoing. He had a ready tongue and used it to great advantage. At one time he had charge of the training of a horse of mine for a hunt race, and both disappeared for two days. On the evening of the second day, as we were sitting after dinner with the remains of the feast still on the table, one of the grooms came in to inform me that Sait had returned on foot without the horse. I sent for him to find out what had become of his charge. I read him the riot act, and told him that a man in my employ 14 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER who drank had to be sober enough to go to work the next day or leave. He poUtely touched his forehead, looked well at the empty bottles on the table, and said, much to the delight of the assembled sportsmen, "It is not as I drinks more than you does, sir, but I carries it less well." There was nothing more to say. Peter Smith, Pat Horey, Stonebridge, and Joe Murphy were all good men to ride. It takes a man with a stout heart to whip hounds in such a country, for after jump- ing a strong flight of rails it is not always pleasant to be sent back again after a stray hound or two. The last time I saw Murphy he was in the employ of our ambassador in Paris, and he informed me that he was very homesick. He insisted that more went on in Westbury, Long Island, in a day than happened in Paris in a week! The term "aniseed bag" was invented by the newspapers — a mixture of aniseed drag and a bagman. The difference be- tween the two was beyond them. THE QUEENS COUNTY, NEW YORK From "The Field," October 22, 1892, by Captain E. Peanell-Elmhirst (" Brooksby "). A RIDE WITH HOUNDS UPON LONG ISLAND I DELIGHT in a new scene, and welcome heartily a new experience. Of a truth I found them both on Friday, October 7 — the eve of my sailing for the hunting grounds of the Old Country. Hear me out, and believe me, gentlemen of England and of Ireland who may read these notes. You will shake your heads, I warn you; and you will scatter many a needless grain of salt upon my story — as is your manner of dealing with travelers' tales from across the Atlantic. Take my plain record and impressions as you may — here they are, as set down shortly after the day's occurrence. Know, then, that in immediate prox- imity to the city of New York is the flat, narrow strip of land known as Long Island, 16 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER stretching some hundred and fifty miles or so eastward. The greater part of its in- terior is farming land and grassy plain — the former divided everywhere into fields of ten to twenty acres, or thereabouts, by means of strong timber-fences; the latter dotted here and there with villas, or boxes (as we might term them in the Old Country), belonging to the opulent citizens of New York, who thus in their leisure hours attain country air and some country pursuits. For, as you may or may not know, almost every man in America is in business; every man continues to make money if he can; few of them — in contrast to the custom so freely in vogue on our side of the water — being wholly employed in spending it. Perhaps it is due to this fact that so many among the upper class of Americans are to all appearance as lavish in their personal expenditure as they are certainly generous, almost unbounded, in their hospitahty. Let that be as it may, a strong taste for country life has of late years set in — THE QUEENS COUNTY 17 especially on the part of the younger generation, whose leaning is towards the development of active, outdoor sport. Con- sequently, many picturesque residences have been erected in the district aforesaid, clubs have been formed for hunting and polo, and no less than three smartly equipped packs of foxhounds take the field upon Long Island, as soon as the crops are cut and the heat of summer has given place to the pleasant coolness of autumn. These three are known respectively as The Rock- away, The Meadowbrook, and The Queens County or Mr. Oris wold's — the hounds of the last-named kennel having been almost entirely imported, or bred from stock imported, by that gentleman. Saturday being essentially the recognized day on which the hunting men of New York take the field, and Saturday at early morning being the time of departure for the outgoing steamer, I feared that once again no chance remained of my joining in a gallop across the timber-fenced plains 18 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER of Long Island — occasion that I had for many a day coveted, and for which I had received many a kindly invitation. But at Chicago a telegram hurried me on — "Griswold will give you a run on Friday morning." The mount, I knew, was cer- tain to be capable and trusty; and forward I traveled delightedly, to reach Long Island overnight. Ten-thirty at Westbury Forge was the arrangement; and thither we drove in the cool morning sunlight — a team (i.e., a pair, in transatlantic rendering) of lusty trotters making the dust fly handsomely. None of the country roads of America are macadamized, or in any way built or hardened — a fact that I mention now as having an important bearing not only on the aspect of the day's proceedings, but upon the feasibility of crossing the enclosed country at all. Let me not be misunder- stood. Roads are in Long Island of little or no use in the light in which we, the great body of English foxhunters, are accustomed THE QUEENS COUNTY 19 to regard them, viz., as safe channels for facihtating progress in pursuit of hounds. There they come rather as intercepting barriers, crossing the hne of route every half mile or mile at least. They run at right angles one to another and at short distances, as possible streets and highways of the future. They may occur only as section boundaries (a section being sixteen hundred acres, if my memory serves me), or they may come thickly as the dream of a someday populous town. Such at least is my impression; and from today's experi- ence I can aver that they have to be jumped into and jumped out of; also that, though their inner surface is sound and reasonably soft, their aspect to the stranger is as uninviting as it is frequent and exacting. Our route to the meet ran alongside the Hempstead plain, on whose broad bosom (as enticing for a gallop almost as New- market Heath) the Meadowbrook Club have planted their house, kennels, and polo ground. On our right lay farmland of 20 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER the usual Long Island type — fields of somewhat rugged grass, now browned and scorched by the outgoing heat-season, and stubble and dust garden remaining from lately gathered harvest. The whole is upon a sandy, light loamy soil that never bakes hard, and so never rebels obstinately against a horse's footfall. Thus concus- sion is minimized; and horses can go jump- ing freely year after year. On the other hand, it is never very deep or spongy with wet — the descending rain finding its way rapidly to the water level, some six feet only below the surface. *' Surely you don't ride at a flight of rails like that.f^" I inquired, pointing to a first barricade that met my troubled gaze — to wit, a morticed erection of oaken bars, each of them as thick as a man's thigh and the lot carried considerabty higher than an ordinary Leicestershire gate. "Why, yes! That's nothing much. The farmers aim at setting their fences at four feet eight, to keep their stock in." I asked no THE QUEENS COUNTY 21 more; but held my peace while the horrid parallel intruded itself upon my mind, of the condemned man in the prison cart catching a first view of the gallows await- ing him. But I gazed and gazed, as each successive bone trap hove in view; and, you may depend upon it, the longer I looked the less I liked them. And I wondered who would ride the horses at home in Old England. ^ But at the rendezvous were those we were now to ride. For me a tried and proven hunter — a brown gelding, Ship- mate by name, up to fully fourteen stone, and with shoulders good enough to allay at least some of the qualms engendered during my recent drive. For my host, Mr. Roby (I shall make no apology for decorat- ing my little tale with the names that belong to it, and that may mark it with its due imprint of veracity) — for him was a ^ " It is all very well for a man to boast that, in all his life, he has never been frightened, and believes that he never could be so. There may be men of that nature — I will not dare to deny it ; only I have never known them." — Lorxa Doone. 22 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER neat but powerful thoroughbred, of lesser height, and more often the mount of his sister; though how Miss Roby (even on Brunette) or how any lady is to be carried in safety day by day over this ghastly country will, I take leave to remark, be a subject of wonderment to me for many a day. Scarcely had we mounted, than up rode Mr. Frank Griswold with a most useful- looking pack of about seventeen couple, with his young Irish whipper-in, and with the small field of a by-day that had been so hastily and kindly improvised. Fault- less is a word that would do scant justice to the equipment of master and man. It was as workmanlike as it was fashionable; complete in every attribute; and did my eyes good, at three thousand miles from home. Of the others, Mr. Collier alone (to ^hom yet another pack of foxhounds is on its way from the Old Country) was in pink; and he bestrode a grand gray horse known as Majestic, fully equal to THE QUEENS COUNTY 23 the fourteen-stone task imposed upon him. By the way, it seems to me, as far as casual opportunity allowed me to form impres- sions before quitting the sporting sphere of Long Island, that here the little hunting world learn to know most horses by name and history as systematically as the thrust- ers of Meath tabulate their more important fences, till they become, as it were, house- hold words. Perhaps no two names are more familiar to the hunting and horse-loving commu- nity of New York than those of the two bays which Mr. Griswold and his man bestrode. And they serve as admirably to illustrate my subject as they did subsequently to show me how such country could be crossed. The Master, then, was upon Hempstead — of whom I soon became fairly entitled to assert that if "a rum 'un to look at, he was a devil to go." A more ornate, or even less inelegant, description would be inapplicable to Hempstead. He has, appropriately, a large knowledge-box. 24 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER and inappropriately a wasp-like waist. Like Mercury he carries his wings on his heels; and very good use he makes of them — though they make it impossible for him to conceal that he is what is termed in America a "cold-blooded horse." Hem- stead's credentials, however, include the fact that he has jumped not less than six feet three inches over the timber at the New York Annual Horse Show. Add to this that he is fifteen years old, that he has for a full proportion of this time been going to hounds upon Long Island, that his legs are clean as they were when he was five — and you will allow that Hempstead has a reasonable right to assume the character of a great hunter and wonderful conveyance. The Clipper, carrying the whip, is also no small marvel. He is the oldest horse now taking part in the chase upon Long Island — his age being only so far known that in 1883 he cleared six feet at the New York Show. The high jumping competi- tion was only then in its infancy. Two THE QUEENS COUNTY 25 years ago the record rose to seven feet two inches. Since then the contest has been discontinued — the sole cause being the danger involved, in the fact that the bar was nearly solidly fixed, being held in its place by ropes in the hands of three or four stalwart Irishmen. The competition used to take place by electric light, the horses rose off tan, laid upon sand or earth, and some ten thousand people would assemble to witness the struggle. The horses them- selves of their own keen accord would gallop hard at the jump; and, so far from getting under it and lobbing over, as a stone-wall jumper more often does, would fling themselves from afar and take it in their stride. It is this faculty of *' stand- ing off" at his jump that makes the flying of a high post and rails on the part of an accomplished hunter so thrilling and pleas- urable a sensation, as I was yet to learn. Clipper, it remains to be added, is a blood- like bay, about 15.3 inches in height; and his legs, beyond bearing one trifling callous 26 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER enlargement obtained in early youth, show no sign whatever of the almost incessant galloping and jumping he has been called upon to perform. No time was lost at the meet; but hounds were trotted on at once northward, till they reached a small roadside covert known, I beheve, as Old Westbury Wood. Here everything was ready for them, and they darted into the wood in full clamor. For a moment it struck me that the sudden break must be riot — till I remembered that of course Fox et prceterea nihil was, by force of circumstances, barred from being the motto of Long Island and its venery (and if I may be forgiven that the old jest rises up unawares). No, they make no secret of it. "As much fox as possible" is their creed. But hunting any- how, and "a run" in any case. Thus direction is controlled, damages are less- ened, a ride is insured — and, as I take it, today, a sample of country is exhibited according to requirement. Safe and intact THE QUEENS COUNTY 27 upon board ship, it is surely allowed me to lighten a weary hour with the strange and merry memory. Adown the thicket, then, hounds threw their tongues heartily, while I drew my old timekeeper from its fob and wondered what might come next. The fire of chase was kindled, and the glow of expectation and excitement fairly lit within us. Now the pack had overshot the line, and the master drew them gently back along the outer edge of the wood — towards which the balance of possibilities pointed as direction. Yoi-over! and they were away — huntsman and whip leaping forth from the leafy branches, as through a paper hoop, in order to gain the stubble field in their wake. I believe it was an old snake fence that they jumped; but I was far too eager to push my face through the over- hanging branches to do more than give Shipmate the ofiice to follow, and sit tight as he rose. Forrard they stream! Now, if there is one sight upon earth that has 28 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER power to lift me several heavens above it, to bid heart and spirit spring forward as if with no dragging clay attached, to thrust out of thought all else in the world (aye, even groveling fear), it is a pack of hounds flying to a head — while a good horse indorses their glad appeal. Is it not so with you? If not, then cast me aside, for this brief story is only of myself, who imagine that you would have felt and thought as I did. In my place you would have followed almost automatically over the sturdy post-and-rail beyond the wood, well content, then, to have got beyond them, and right thankful that your host's good mount apparently deserved his reputation — wondering also, possibly, as you glanced forward, what proportion, or if even a substratum, of truth had lain in the com- forting words of the Master as he rode from the meet. "Very big and gaunt these fences look!" we had remarked; adding, with a jauntiness we were far from feeling, *'But they say the horses here THE QUEENS COUNTY 29 jump them well enough." "Oh, you'll find some rails down, or a gap, in almost every one," he had answered. And we had believed him, as the artless miner believed the Heathen Chinee. See! What is he doing now.^^ Where are the rails down, and where is the gap.^^ Six foot of timber, surely — and he is within three strides — both ears cocked and both spurs in! Nay, I will lower six inches — but never another inch, an' I have to prove it at pistol point. Well, it was death or degradation now — and no time to balance the account. So I gave the old horse a strong pull, gripped him tight between my nervous knees, chose my panel some three lengths from my insti- gator, and sat still for the result. Rugged and awful loomed the ponderous top-rail, on a level with my horse's ears — one of which (ill omen) was twinkling towards the exemplar on our right. A moment more, and we seemed right under the frowning barricade — then a hoist, a bang, a pro. 30 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER longed quiver, but no fall, though a yard of turf was ploughed up, and the demon- strator turned quietly in his saddle for a smile and a word of encouragement. They have a habit, it seems, with the Hunt in question — and a habit not alto- gether unwarranted, of leaving to the Mas- ter, in his capacity as huntsman, the responsibility of showing the way to his field. As here, as elsewhere, his is the duty and business of obtaining room for his hounds, and as here he is likely to know as much about the probable line as any one, the etiquette is justifiable from every point of view. At the same time it is a high trial to put upon him who plays second, or third, or minor fiddle that he has to play exactly the same tune as the professor whose first fiddle is an instru- ment of exceptional merit. Were it my fortune to become a habitual member of this gallant orchestra, fain would I bargain that the leader should occasionally, if not usually, wield his powerful bow upon THE QUEENS COUNTY SI a fiddle of less exemplary tone. As it is, however, whither he leads the others invari- ably follow, resining their bows manfully, and picking themselves up undauntedly when for the moment knocked out of time or tune. And horse as well as man adapt themselves to the custom, and so almost involuntarily attach themselves to his lead. Meanwhile old Straduarius — I mean Hempstead — had swung quickly to the right in the track of hounds, and cantered easily over another such hair-raiser as the post and rails preceding. Shipmate this time was well in his wake; and, feeling himself now duly authorized, bounded over with a rollicking spring that seemed never- ending for height and distance. Indeed, from this moment he never laid iron to wood, nor trifled with a stick. *' Stick" did I say.? Our newest ox rails in the Shires are sticks by comparison: these were, every one of them, half as thick through as a railway sleeper. 32 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER But even yet, though gathering con- fidence with each swish into the air, and grateful courage with each quiet return to terra firma, I had by no means brought myself to believe in immunity in store. The next question asked was in the form of the snake or zigzag, the old-time fence of the country, built at a period when men merely piled up split rails in twelve feet lengths and to a sufficient height (four feet and upwards) — keeping them to- gether as we can zigzag cards on their edges across a table, and supporting them at the angles with two or three other split rails stuck upwards. At this description of fence you have to ride either sideways, or by turning in the last few strides as you ride. And, stalwart as they are, the snake fences are neither so lofty as the cham- pions among their morticed brethren, nor — being more closely built and so in a measure resembling a wall — are they so deterrent, to the eye of one whose collar- bones have already been knotted and THE QUEENS COUNTY 33 spliced amid the rail-guarded pastures of Leicestershire. Now the chase was following a lane. '*This is as it should be," thought I, as I thundered down the hard-beaten cattle track after my cicerone. ''Wonder if they have any gates in these parts .^" The answer came soon, with the end of the "lane" (as I had deemed it for a short hundred yards). Two rails alone blocked the outlet — at a height no whit below the average of the obstacles just reasoned with. Hempstead was already being quietly squeezed — as the moment de- manded or measurement suggested — and in a few seconds more the pink back was gliding onward, with the black rail outlined as it were a belt against his waist. (I remember Custance on The Doctor served me just such a trick — ah, how many years ago ! — in a lane beyond Lowesby : only that it was not quite so much so, except that the ground was just as hard. And yet now nobody stopped, and nobody. 34 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER as far as I know, was down. We should one and all have done the former, had the scene been laid in the Merry Midlands. Then some good man would have jumped off to pull it down — and then, like enough, many of us would have ridden through without thanking him, or even catching his horse? But I shall weary you. For so engrossed was I with my own task, my own diffi- culties, wonderments, and, I may add, keen enjoyment, that with one eye given to the pack, and the other divided between the artistic back in front of me and the next-coming complication in front of him, I had no leisure to note much of what others might be doing. Now and then Mr. Roby on Brunette would land over a fence beside me, or glance lightly over the next one ahead — the little mare bound- ing into space like a springbok — or Mr. Cottenet (huntsman of The Meadowbrook) would race by upon a gray thoroughbred, said to be almost new to the game now being THE QUEENS COUNTY 35 played. A natural faculty, truly — and superadded to a liberal development thereof at home — should a horse possess before essaying the unbreakable country in ques- tion. Many a green young one have I pushed over — or through — the varied hinderments of our green Midlands; and derived great fun and sport from the process. But nothing short of a pension should induce me to ride a novice upon Long Island. My one visit has enabled me to realize that a horse of great jumping power, complete education, and unswerv- ing courage may be a very safe conveyance, and may treat you, moreover, to a sensa- tion as delightful as it is novel. But five- foot timber that is no more likely to break than the mainmast of this good ship — my present mount over a yet rougher country — is about the last form of exercise I should set for the schooling of the young- ster, with any hope of his carrying himself and me through — i.e., to the end of a run. What say you.^^ And what say you if 36 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER those five-foot rails be into a road, with a drop of a couple of feet on landing? And how would you expect a young one to recover himself in time to go out again, by doubling over a trench by the road side, and striking off a weed-grown bank to clear timber of nearly equal height beyond — and the whole width of the road being little more than three horses' lengths? He didn't ! But it was the gray's only mistake — beyond rapping his legs raw in half a dozen places. All this had taken place in about a quarter of an hour — during which we had been galloping steadily, and jumping, it seemed to me, incessantly. "Titus' fences," I am told, is the Hunt designation of the district — or rather of Mr. Titus' system of subdivision. Whether Titus be emperor, farmer, republican, or democrat, I had no opportunity of inquiring; but his style of fence-making is, I make bold to assert, nothing less than imperial — and I commend it, with all respect, to every THE QUEENS COUNTY 37 agriculturist who, while entertaining a proper hatred of wire, is yet averse to hav- ing his fences knocked down. I warrant you that friend Titus seldom, if ever, finds a panel broken. By this time I had assumed sufficient confidence to consider myself justified in once more attempting a line of my own, rather than continue to follow blindly in the footsteps of a guide, however talented and trustworthy. Accordingly, as the pack hit the line after a brief check, I cut myself loose as it were from my lead- ing strings, and set forth to walk alone: that is to say, I left the Master riding on the left of his pack while I strode forth on the right — riding "wide of hounds" as His Lordship might forcibly recommend, that thus on hounds swinging to fault one may be pretty sure to find oneself among some of them and be . I soon dis- covered, however, that to an arrangement of this kind there must be two consenting parties. No sooner had I topped the 38 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER boundary of the next ten-acre pasture, than I found myself confronted by another roadway, with hounds just diving through the fence beyond. This land, too, was flaked by the same uncompromising timber, and this land also held out a drop to the coming "lepper." However, we had man- aged such before: so I hardened my heart, and imagined myself already half over. Not so old Shipmate. He had no idea of being fooled thus by an ignorant Britisher. **No Sir!" he said plainer than words, "I guess the Master's lead is good enough for me": and therewith he stuck his head against one of the middle bars, and pulled up dead short. I turned him still further from hounds; and sent him with both spurs in his ribs, full tilt at the barrier at right angles to us. More determinedly than ever he stopped in the last stride. The situation became appalling. Here was I, as completely penned as a steer in a stockyard. Desperately I twisted him round; and, setting his head for the fourth THE QUEENS COUNTY 39 side of the great corral, brought arms and legs and tongue to assist in a final despair- ing charge. Whether it was the strange sting of the last-named implement — sharpened on many a foreign whetstone — or whether, as is more likely, the present course exactly chimed in with his own pre- conceived ideas, I cannot say. But, hesi- tating no longer, the old horse flicked out of the enclosure like a brick, wheeled to the rein immediately, and was in and out of the road ere you could have clapped your hands. Two fields further the pack were at momentary fault; and henceforth Shipmate behaved as faultlessly as a girl at her chaperon's elbow. The sun was now blazing warmly; the dust lay hot and thick where till recently had been heavy cornfields. Thus pace slackened as we passed the woodlands to the northward of Westbury, and adjacent to the sea (the name of those woodlands I failed to catch: but they are '*full of foxes," quoth the Master, "though the foxes are 40 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER difficult to drive into the open"). The heat was beginning still further to tell its tale as hounds hunted by Hone's Wood, and by the Queens County Kennels at East Williston — our fox mercifully choos- ing an easier line, wherein many a bar was prone and gaps were to be found at last. So, nearly to Mineola town or village, within sight of which, and by the side of some standing corn, hounds caught a view, dashed into their fox, and tore him up so quickly that barely a head was left to be given to the stranger. Forty-five minutes the run, from start to finish — a jolly ride, and a stirring experience such as for novelty and for brisk sensation I commend to who- ever shall have found Leicestershire slow, Meath pedantic, or the Badminton short of foxes and sport. For my part, if the yawning ditches of Meath frightened me last October, the frowning timber of Long Island has this month scared me consider- ably more. A few more such autumn THE QUEENS COUNTY 41 episodes, and I shall have no nerve remain- ing even for gentle Northamptonshire. The naked wire of Australia would seem to be the only terror left to sample — and that I am certainly content to leave un- tried. By the way, were these Mr. Gordon Bennett's schooling grounds, before he took the field in the Melton district.^ If so, I no longer marvel at the temerity that led him to overestimate Riga's capacity, at a rasping gate below Ranksboro' Gorse — with consequences, however, less awful than at first appeared. Mr. P. F. CoUier and Mr. C. Carroll, in spite of an unlucky turn at starting, were both on the scene of the kill as soon as others; while Miss Roby and Miss Carey, with intuitive knowledge of locality, had contrived to bring their vehicles alongside the chase for the final half-mile. Mr. Frank Griswold's handling of hounds is, I may be permitted to say, both quiet and masterly. As to his riding to them, I will merely remark that if any man could 42 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER be found in England or Ireland capable of sailing more smoothly, determinedly, and gracefully over the tremendous timber fences of the day in question I would gladly travel from far to see him do it. A RIDE WITH THE MEADOW- BROOK HOUNDS, LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK From "The Field," October 13, 1894, by Captain E. Pennell-Elmhirst ("Brooksby"). I AM a strong believer in an occasional nerve-test. Perhaps — and certainly now- adays — I would scarcely follow the prin- ciple so far as did an intimate friend of mine, who offered himself to be carried by Blondin across the rope stretched from Canterbury Cathedral, and was intensely mortified to find himself anticipated (by the late Capt. Pritchard Rayner, if I remember right). Another earnest advo- cate of the theory was a brother officer who, in the flogging days of the Army, in all honesty avowed himself anxious to try the tripod "to see whether he could really stand the punishment." Needless to say, he never acquired the opportunity. 44 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER But he was sincere; and, his aspiration, however grotesque, was but the expression of a principle sufficiently founded. As a nerve tonic, to be taken like other tonics (local instance in point, the cock- tail) just prior to the meal — i,e,, to the regular hunting season — I may safely commend a ride over the timber fences of Long Island, New York. I will answer for it that the dose will be found refresh- ing, stimulating, and appetizing. For my part, I had tried it once before; and had then swallowed at a gulp what I now accepted on a willing palate. One's first oyster was startling: one's second was swallowed with more or less gusto. Whether a complete course would ensure full relish must, I fancy, depend in a great measure on the organization, mental and physical, of the subject under treatment. I have before described Long Island, its fences and its mode of hunting. This was two years ago. It is now only necessary for me to repeat that the surface of the THE MEADOW BROOK 45 country is tolerably flat, the soil for the most part sandy and diligently cultivated, that for fences the farmers use only post and rails of four foot and upwards and of uncompromising strength, and that for foxes the Hunt management very properly prefer the man-with-a-bag to a short-run- ning bagman from the neighboring woods. Thus it is at all times open to the director of affairs to meet the requirements of occasion. It may happen it is the first day of the season; it may happen that a cer- tain number of ladies wish to join in the sport; it may chance that an inquiring visitor from the Old Country is desirous of seeing how it is all done; and it may even turn out that the last named has come as "a chiel among them taking notes." A fair sample of sport and country must at all events be dealt out to him. And here it is, as he now read it — so far as an elegant mite of horseflesh and his own Uttle meed of capacity allowed him to translate. 46 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER "The opening meet will be at the Meadowbrook Club, and the run will be the best of the season," wrote my friendly host, to welcome me eastward from the mountains, and to tempt me to a renewal of an experience that had thrilled me no Uttle in the autumn of 1892 — an experi- ence I am never tired of retailing to my trusting comrades of the Shires, and that now, in all modification of script and adjective, I am about briefly to repeat. (By the way, I have a parenthesis. It may be remembered by the incredulous that I then wrote of more than one five- foot timber-fence occurring in that run of 1892. Only two months ago I chanced to be again in Long Island for a day on my way west. Driving from Mineola I came across one of those very fences, jumped out, and stood alongside of it. It was full five feet and with a drop into the road — the road, it is true, not macad- amized.) And now I will tell you how the horses upon Long Island are taught to THE MEADOWBROOK 47 negotiate with ease and certainty these unbending obstacles. Almost every man who has a hunting box or stables on the Island makes a point of fixing up a circular school, round which each horse in turn is practised without rein or encumbrance. Heavy log-timbers form the two jumps, and are raised or lowered by weight or pulley. No horse is considered fitted to begin with hounds till he can go readily round — taking each jump at five feet. Thus taught, and with the ground invaria- bly sound — on the grass hard as an Indian maidan, no wonder they seldom make a mistake — and that thus riding-to-hounds is a practicable, if not a very widely popular, pastime upon Long Island. I had seen this exercise enacted a day or two previous in the schools of Mr. T. Hitchcock and of the club — in both of which a three year old had easily jumped the required height. And in both of these stables, as well as in those of Mr. Win- throp and Mr. Ellis, I had been privileged 48 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER to look over various made hunters, whose performance is beyond question and whose appearance was alone a most sufficient guarantee of the necessary power. Verily, a bad horse would readily break your neck upon Long Island; so, needless to say, he is unsought for, whatever his price. Mr. Hitchcock's neat horses are altogether of the long, low, and thoroughbred type: Mr. Winthrop's, on the contrary, are tall and upstanding; so is at least one of Mr. Ellis', while Lofty, a bay on which Mr. Herbert was today mounted, is taller than all — being over seventeen hands. The other three gentlemen above named were all, at the last moment, prevented from joining the chase of Monday. The summer of 1894 happens to have been unusually devoid of rain; and the surface of the island became consequently almost as dry as a dead camp-fire. The summer itself seemed hardly to have passed away, as under the lowering sun we rode to the trysting place this Monday afternoon, THE MEADOWBROOK 49 Oct. 1. No further law is permitted to late comers upon Long Island than has already been allowed to the man with the bag. Of these registered minutes they are at liberty to avail themselves for con- versational and such like purposes as are supposed to pertain to a meet of hounds. Thus, at four o'clock to a moment Mr. Frank Griswold was to be seen issuing from the club grounds — some seventeen couple round his heels, and Joe Murphy in attend- ance — Master and man as well equipped, well-mounted and businesslike as when I saw them two years ago. Since that date Mr. Griswold, amalgamating his own pack with that of the club, has succeeded Mr. T. Hitchcock as Master of the Meadow- brook on the latter resigning and establish- ing hounds in South Carolina. With the Mastership, be it added, comes the priv- ilege of at all times and under all circum- stances leading the field in the pursuit of hounds. Methinks, were this etiquette to be acknowledged and enforced in Old 50 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER England, many a change of Mastership would speedily be announced. Looked at from one point of view alone — imagine the feelings of the M. F. H. called upon to live ever in front of the galloping hundreds of the Quorn or Pytchley! If you want another point of view, you will find it in a glimpse of the Long Island timber: fancy yourself booked for the post in ques- tion for a period of years, three times a week whatever the weather and whatever your mode of life or its temptations; then go home, and there study at leisure "A Question of Courage" as set forth in this month's Lippincotfs Magazine, For all exigencies that might rise on the present occasion the Master appeared ad- mirably mounted, on a beautiful mare named Sweetheart, said to have been bred in Canada, and known to have been suc- cessfully exhibited at the New York Horse Shows — where she has more than once achieved a record of six feet in the jumping arena. Murphy was riding the big Cana- * Hi .^iL. ■■*«• J 1 H J THE MEADOW BROOK HOUNDS, 1893 F. G. Grisivold on the Irishman THE MEADOWBROOK 51 dian mare, Kannuck; Hewett, stud groom of the Meadowbrook Hunt, was mounted on a powerful, apparently rather under- bred horse whose reputation is second to none as a sure conveyance, which means that he and his rider (the latter long since handicapped by broken thighs and various minor fractures incidental to the practise of tutoring young horses upon Long Island) were easily equal to all contingencies of the day. Whenever it came to attacking an awkward leap out of a road, the first to turn towards it were usually Hewett and his big horse, followed instantaneously by his little son, '*a seventy -five-pound boy," and a wonderful dun pony — who, if the timber happened to be too big for him, would go on and off it like a grey- hound. Of the field there were Mr. Charles Carroll, on his black Irish horse. Honest John, that has carried him some seasons and has also won many prizes. Mr. Car- roll (who, by the by, was duly clad in 52 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER the pink of the chase) is a keen foxhunter — having graduated in the fields of the Old Country and of Pau. He had now, with Mr. Herbert aforesaid, traveled all night from the Geneseo Valley, where good natural foxhunting prevails, and where the farmers turn their attention largely to the breeding of hunters. Beside him were Mr. H. S. Page, in the cool white clothing of summer; Mr. Victor Morowitz on a particularly neat bay mare, that I had already seen at the kennels, and that I am told has won many jumping prizes at the New York Riding Club; Mr. J. L. Kernochan on a hog-maned chestnut that has already visited Leicestershire in Mr. Mortimer's stud, and Mrs. Kernochan, superbly mounted on Retribution, said to be the best half-bred steeple-chase mare in the country. Mr. Rawlings Cottenet was on Red Baron, who bears the character of being fast and very good ; Mr. Van Renseler Kennedy on the old-fashioned and reliable Wisdom; and Mr. George Day on the THE MEADOWBROOK 53 Laverack mare (horse and man alike power- ful and capable). Mr. Willard Roby was alone riding a horse raised upon Long Island, viz., Gimcrack by Biloxi. Gimerack had been hunted only once or twice pre- viously; but, having been well schooled at home, was able to go faultlessly through the run. Mr. S. D. Ripley was on his nice bay mare, Molly, who also has won honors at the shows. And here ends my knowledge of the members of the field. I can only add that, as in Ireland, every one who goes hunting upon Long Island must be on business bent. There are few gates and fewer gaps; and shirking is of no avail. The Westbury Plain, upon which the Meadowbrook Club is situated, has almost the scope of Newmarket Heath, and is level and rideable from end to end. Across this trotted the little cavalcade, some twenty horsemen, while a strong muster of carriages drove round the flank to West- bury town. Among the charioteers were 54 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER Mr. Whitney (ex-secretary of the navy) and his daughter, Mrs. C. Carroll, Mrs. T. Hitchcock, Mrs. Kennedy, Mrs. Smith- Hadden, Mrs. Peters, Miss Roby, Miss Marie, Miss Bird, etc. Doubtless they were to some extent informed of the intended course, for they reappeared in force no less than three times during the run. Though there can be but remote risk of their heading the fox, the presence of a number of vehicles along an intersecting lane is said to be at times not altogether without its dangers to riders and drivers alike. For instance, it is on record that at New^iort, not long ago, one of the field of horsemen jumped clean into the body of a landau — turning a somersault, horse- man on the further side, without damage to anybody. Crossing the railway, the Master moved northward. Already I had a vivid fore- boding of what was intended; for had I not been reminded that north was the direction when, two years ago, we were THE MEADOWBROOK 55 treated to Titus's Farm and his well-known fences, and had I not heard it discussed overnight as to whether the run so con- fidently foretold would be over the easy country south or in the contrary direction? However, having long ago emerged from that period of life when, knowing no fear, one often affected it, and having on the contrary attained that far less desirable state of being frequently in a funk, while never daring to show it, I followed with apparent complacency till, to my absolute relief, hounds suddenly broke from the road, and with a whimper set forth upon the open grass adjoining. A wave of the Master's hand and a note of the horn brought them back to the line across which they had flashed. From habit the old watch was drawn from the fob, then the billycock was beaten down, reins were shortened in hand, and the fun began. Aye, it was fun too, for the next half- hour — a pastime of itself, a merry ride, a jovial experience. Put all comparisons out of 5Q SPORT ON LAND AND WATER mind. Remember, this was a simple drag hunt over a quaint and sturdy country; 'tis the game that men have here been forced to accept in heu of foxhunting: and certainly it cannot be laid to their charge that they have been content with any child's play as a substitute. Some upright poles against the sun almost proclaimed a wire — before we had galloped half a mile, and before we had reached a fence. Dazzled by the sunlight, Mr. Cottenet and a half a dozen others broke through it with a clang and without a fall. A zigzag fence stood across our path, and with this we opened the ball, while hounds clustered and settled to run hard across the cornfield beyond. I like those zigzag fences, the relics of pioneer farming in Eastern America. They are not so tall as the more modern post and rails; they are more tangible to the eye, yet hold out some hope of crumbling to the ground if struck. The others are fixtures, indeed, seldom relinquishing any THE MEADOWBROOK 57 but a single top bar, and that only under the strongest possible protest. And of this sort was the next — into a very narrow lane, and prefaced by a very indistinct take- off, where weeds from beneath the corn crop had trespassed close to the timber. The Master selected a place beneath a tree, and was no sooner in the lane than a second bound from Sweetheart carried him, nolens volens, out beyond. The two next comers entered pocket to pocket, and many others, missing the more ehgible spot, were fain to skirmish down the strong rails till they came to the Jericho turnpike and the woods above Mr. Winthrop's house. A momentary check brought all the field together; Murphy jumped off to unchain the lane gate — into the road, horsemen treaded their way through the stream of carriages, and hounds went off again at cry. Now for a fair sample of Long Island. Look right and look left. No escape. Each twenty-acre field is bound round with these great mortised fences : and gates 58 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER are as little known as in the Green Island beyond the ocean. One spot is altogether the same as another; our leader follows in the track of hounds; and the first four- footer is flown without rap of hoof or even refusal. The second is like unto it — but may claim a few inches more, with the advantage or otherwise of a slight drop. Ah, what a delicious sensation! — the bound of a freegoing horse, eager for his jump and careful of his stride. 'Tis like a gasp of mountain air again, that one breathes in the few seconds of that voyage aloft. I have always held that a fair pace at strong timber is best and safest — as it is certainly most pleasurable. I find my theory indorsed again and again among the timber jumpers of America. See Mr. Griswold there (whose performance in this direction I have learned to regard as almost phenomenal) taking the wooden barricades at a steady gallop, his horse pulled together for each fresh effort, but the pace seldom checked, and a fall so THE MEADOWBROOK 59 seldom scored that today's instance, later on, was regarded as almost unique. But meanwhile a clatter and crash pro- claim loudly that a liberty, sure to be resented, has already been taken by some reckless quadruped. Sure enough, Mr. Page's young mare, after rolling over her white-clad rider and leaving him with a broken collarbone, is to be seen careering past hounds to join a bunch of colts in a mad gallop round the enclosure (bad luck for a good man, on this the first day of a brief season. But defend me, for one, from ever attempting the Long Island country on a "green horse"!). Forward still for the others — the lady on Retribu- tion holding her own gallantly, over a stronger line than I, at least, ever rode in our English Shires! Look here! Four massive rails into a narrow road — along it, not twenty yards to the left, surely a gateway that I have seen before. Some memory at all events flashes through my startled brain as Mr. Griswold dashes at 60 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER the breach. Breach, good heavens, 'tis the selfsame set of drawrails over which they contrived to lead us two years ago from out of Titus's classic pastures. They looked, I remember, ghastly then. But surely they have grown in the interim. A hog-backed rail now surmounts the too- sufficient barway of that time — and Mr. Griswold is just spinning over the lot, at a pace rather increased than diminished, Sweetheart rising at about the angle at which a bear would climb a tree. I see no use in shutting my eyes, I haven't the nerve to pull up and go home; but I can't help praying that the little mare's stride may be right and true — another moment we are over what I had deemed a hopeless impossibility; and a grateful blessing leaves my lips for Brunette's kindly owner. A phase of high farming possibly; but — whether or no — this extra top rail has, I am told, been quite recently added to most of the fences of this particular district. (And, by the by, I am promised the THE MEADOWBROOK 61 measurement of these particular drawrails; so will commit myself to no premature estimate.^) Soon another road and another brief check (twenty minutes to this, and under a still blazing sun). The Old Westbury Post-office stood here — as we had leisure to see, while hounds were carried down the road and we waited to take our turn at some low rails into the highway. The heat, the pace, and the occasional soft soil of the lately stripped cornfields had begun to tell on horses now for the first time called upon to gallop. A white lather was the token with some, a certain careless- ness at the smaller fences with others. Had that road been stoned, I know well where one set of broken knees would have been earned — while a feat of retrograde climbing (hand over hand, from ground to bridle, bridle to mane, mane to saddle) ^ The rail being reached the actual jump was 5 feet 6 inches. 62 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER was being enacted that would have done more than credit to Aldershot's gymnasium or Canterbury's riding school. Some of the more prudent or sensible members of the field now pulled up. The others rode out again eastward till hounds bore once more to the right, for Wheatley. Jumping out of the Wheatley road Sweet- heart (of whom it is only fair to add that this was her first day's experience as hunts- man's horse) fell heavily, and the Master's foot hung for a few moments in the stirrup. Soon, however, he was up and away in pursuit of Mr. Carroll, who had turned out of the road simultaneously. Several strong fences came here — of which I and my brave, but now slightly blown, little mount were able to avoid personal experi- ence, by seizing upon a line of lighter fences, a hundred yards or so on the left. Indeed, I could not help fancying that these had actually been lowered, according to custom, by bold reynard himself towards the close THE MEADOWBROOK 63 of his flight. Murphy and Hewett were also ready to accept them. And a few minutes later we "ran into him," near Mr. Lane's house. Thirty minutes, and my story told. II RACING ALL MEN ARE EQUAL ON AND UNDER THE TURF' RACING HOW THE DERBY WAS WON 1881 RANCOCAS FARM was an interesting place to visit during the winter of 1878-79. A select party of sportsmen used to pass every week-end there, enjoying the hos- pitality of Mr. Pierre Lorillard. He would entertain us after dinner with his plans for winning the Derby. We little thought at that time that his ambition so soon would be crowned with success. In the autumn of 1878 he had sent his trainer, Brown, and assistant. Sickles, to England with a string of race horses with which to begin the campaign. It must not be supposed, however, that horses bred in America had never made their mark in England, for both Mr. Ten Broeck and Mr. Sanford had raced there. In 1859, Prioress was the heroine of a dead 68 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER heat with two other animals, El Hakim and Queen Bess, for the Cesarewiteh, which she won in the deciding heat; and in 1858 she won the Great Yorkshire Handi- cap at Doncaster. In 1859, Starke won the Goodwood Stakes, and in 1861 the Goodwood Cup and the Brighton Stakes. In the same year Optimist won the Ascot Stakes. Umpire won the Nursery Stakes at Goodwood, and was close up in the betting with Wizard and Thormanby for the Derby of 1860. Mr. Lorillard's greatest hope of success on the English turf was the Duke of Ma- genta, purchased from his brother at what was then considered a great price. The horse did not leave with the other horses, but was shipped alone later in the season. He had a very rough trip, — the hatches were battened down for days, and the air became very bad. He arrived in a shock- ing condition, thoroughly poisoned, and aflBicted by a series of abscesses, one of which destroyed his wind. He had been HOW THE DERBY WAS WON 69 insured for $25,000 against accident, yet it needed a lawsuit for Mr. Lorillard to recover the money. Parole, who was a five-year-old in 1878, had been shipped to England to lead the Duke of Magenta in his work. It was supposed that his best days were over, and there was little thought of winning races with him. On the con- trary, he ran very well indeed. He won the Newmarket Handicap, carrying 116 pounds, beating the great Isonomy, then a four-year-old, with 124 pounds up, and followed this by winning the City and Suburban, the Great Metropolitan, the Great Cheshire Handicap, and the Epsom Gold Cup. The following year he won the Liverpool Cup, but was disqualified on the ground of a cross. After that he was so harshly handicapped that he could not win, and was sent back to America to win many races on his native heath. Falsetto was sent to England in 1879, having been the best three-year-old of his year in America, but broke down after running a wonderful 70 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER trial with Parole. A number of yearlings were also shipped in 1879, some of Mr. Lorillard's own breeding, and others which he had purchased and which were by Leamington. The best two proved to be Iroquois, by Leamington out of Maggie B. B., and Paw-Paw, a full sister of Parole, by Leamington out of Maiden. She won the Molecomb Stakes, but was injured shortly after and died of lockjaw. It was hard luck to lose her, for she could beat Iroquois with ease. Iroquois began his career as a two-year- old by winning a plate at Newmarket on May 12. He was beaten for the Wood- cote Stakes, won a stake at the Epsom Summer Meeting, was beaten in the New Stakes, and lost the July Stakes to Bal Gal by a head; won the Chesterfield Stakes, and was an odds on favorite for the Great Kensington two-year-old plate, but failed to win. He won the Levant Stakes, and ran second in the Findon. He had been ridden in all his races by a jockey named HOW THE DERBY WAS WON 71 H. Jeffery; but the stable, being dissatis- fied, sent to America for Barbee to ride the horse. Barbee was all at sea on the Eng- lish courses, and the horse was beaten in his races at the end of the season; namely, the Champagne, Hopeful, and Clearwell stakes. This finished his two-year-old career. He won his races when unbacked, but was beaten when the money was on. Jeffery knew his class, and it was reported that he backed him for the Derby at long odds for sufficient money to retire with a small fortune. The horse had not received the best of attention. Mr. Brown, the trainer, being too heavy to ride, seldom saw him work, and never saw him run except at head- quarters. He was also very homesick, and his chief thought was of a barrel of applejack which he had left in his cellar in New Jersey. He returned to America at the end of the season, and died within a year. Mr. Lorillard was thus without a trainer for his English stable. Jacob Pincus had 72 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER been training for him in America with success, and he decided to send Pincus to England and, to make matters doubly sure, he engaged Thomas Puryear to go with him as adviser. Puryear was getting old, he could not ride, and although he had had a lifelong experience with race- horses, he had very little opportunity to be of assistance at Newmarket. When his advice was asked, he gave it, but he had no way of knowing if it was acted upon. He never really knew what work the horses had done. Mr. Pincus had a most erratic way of training. He would work a horse to death one week, and the following week not work him at all. He was chiefly interested in Passaic, who, later on, won the Suburban Handicap for Lord Rossmore, and in one or two other horses that he had trained as two-year-olds in America. Iroquois was neglected. Puryear met Matthew Dawson on the Heath one morning, and he remarked that Pincus did not seem to be doing much HOW THE DERBY WAS WON 73 with Iroquois. He volunteered the in- forraation that Bal Gal was the best piece of horse flesh that he had ever trained, and that any horse good enough to come within a head of beating her, as Iroquois had done in the July Stakes, was good enough to win any Derby. Pincus left shortly after for Lincoln with horses to run in the Handicap, and Puryear was left in charge of the stable. He gave Iroquois a couple of good gallops, and was surprised at his daily improvement. It was decided to start Iroquois as well as Passaic in the Two Thousand Guineas. Iro- quois had done so little work by the day of the race that he started at fifty to one. He ran second to Peregrine. Passaic ran badly, and, as he became unsound, was sold. The trainers gave Iroquois their undivided attention from this on, and he won the Newmarket Stakes and walked over for the Burwell. Archer asked per- mission to ride him for the Derby, which he won, with Peregrine second and Town 74 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER Moor third. He then won the Prince of Wales Stake at Ascot, with 131 pounds up, and the St. James Palace Stakes. Between Ascot and the Leger he was trained in an erratic manner which did not at all please the touts. The odds against him the night before the race were ten to one. He won the race easily. Between the Leger and the Champion \ Stakes, in the second October meeting, the horse was allowed to loaf, and he was beaten by the great Bend Or. Puryear looked the horse over after the race, and told Pincus that, as he had supposed, the horse was very short of work, and that, if he wanted him to win the Newmarket Stakes the following day, he had better give him a sweating gallop at once. He was blanketed, and sent for a spin behind the stand, much to the horror of the talent. He won his race the following day. This ended a most successful season. The Cherry Jacket won more money that season than any other stable in England. FRED ARCHER The best jockey of bis day HOW THE DERBY WAS WON 75 Mr. Lorillard won £12,000 on the Derby. All the yearlings had been backed in the 100 to 1 book except Iroquois, for, being a small yearling, it had not been thought worth while to include him. The follow- ing year Iroquois was given fast work be- fore he was properly seasoned, and bled, so did not start. As a five-year-old he was trained by Tom Cannon, who found him diflScult to train, owing to his malady. He ran second to Tristan in the Hardwicke Stakes, and won the Stockbridge Cup. Stockbridge being a private meeting, only members of the club are allowed to make entries. The Prince of Wales had the courtesy to enter Iroquois for Mr. Lorillard. In July the horse was sent back to America. It was the summer when the great races were run at Monmouth Park between Eole, Freeland, Miss Woodford, and George Kinney at a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half. Although Cannon had been unable to train Iroquois to win a race of more than three quarters of a 76 SPORT ON LAND AND WATER mile, he was put to work to prepare him to meet these seasoned horses. On August 25 he ran third, lapped with George Kinney and Eole. The trainer told me after the race that he considered it the greatest per- formance of all time, considering the horse's condition. As nature has her limit, he did not do so well the next time he started, and was retired from the turf. If he had been in the hands of a trainer like Matthew Dawson, there is no knowing what a career he might have had. He was a very great race-horse; the more work he received, the quieter he became; any child could ride or handle him. He was a great doer, as game as possible, and, like all Leam- ingtons, his action when extended was perfection. Mr. Robert Peck, than whom there was no greater authority, said that Peregrine was, in his opinion, the best horse he ever tried. Before the Guineas he beat Bend Or at 16 pounds; and that the four-year- old was in his very best form there can be IHIRD SFUIM MEETINfe^ J^T T^J^TEEtfSifyiS, IV. J. _ ** On Tuesday, Wednesday and Cliursday, June 6th, 7th and 8th. NO POSTPONEMENT ON MJOUNT OF THE WEATEEE.^^^^ And NO DEBUCTIOS FOR A WALK OVER. fPHUBT TFE FOLLOWING SWEEPSTAKES iND PREMIUMS WILL BE KDN FOR: PremiuQi of $250, for all agjs, mile heats. 1. Mr. F. MoRKis. .V J. enWiv h e 4 vears, LorclM.innioutL by Slashrr. .km bv imp. Laugford. Scar- let ftu.i Scarle 4l D. MvCrs, >-. J. Hnt«-r.. cli f 4 years, Niffiklook bv Mahoiiut, ,e».uiRfA.Y^. Second itaoe*- THE DERBY, a Sweepstake Premium of $10- Id- S^.l» cntriiict j.hvnrpa^ on. at d . hilf nnlt 'i^ h ( lo-^ enters ch f Colusev Bawx b> Fb 5 -2- .. . by Imp CrMMrflelU. ) J Mr J » »eld «. ter» h t by imp. fee u se dm) and Ttii by imp flt-oLoe — - .. ^ - «• 3 do g c b> LeiiDpu n d-un by Crev fagle 4. do b c by Coloasu* lUm » v Wagtier ) i6 .lo I S Mr B. Alt hen. n lleMndtr Kt enter* b t Maidex b liMingMll d»m Kitty tl»rk>y Imp Gltmene. ^a ImpKiiightof tt rp.- dam 1 1 B «taa ' e r(> sid^t^r arfOi r ii ( ii cii c i>r imn prini dT.n I » »earlM i *"' 'M-arlrt and Xrarlel 44 l>r H.^TVXIi: I>A.Y. — T'hiitl li.ioe- Premaum of $600, for all ages ; two-mile heats. 1 Ml! Jiv '- Wit V \ T Ml . bl. f ipt M e , , ,ra K mi, Balrjwni Urn I,an„i Pes. b _ "! M;T„xAry\yN V'"tMVr.lra>^^, No Licjuov- Mold, uinl >r< 1 to Ih..