Horses, Horses, Horses

(See front cover)*

It seems there were, almost two centuries ago, two Irishmen who, to settle a question of supremacy, raced their hunters over moor, fen, hedge and highway, "to the spire of St. Leger Church." This week more than twoscore horses, at a starter's signal, will charge as cavalry over a course of obstacles that might have been designed by the Devil himself. Half a million people will watch them. It is the Grand National Steeplechase, premier event of a great sport which the two Irishmen, all unwittingly, began. Church steeples long since have been abandoned as the goal. Gold and glory await the victor now. There is the savor of the sanguine feudal tournament about this event on which millions are won and lost each year. This despite the fact that it is fought out against the drab and murky background of smoke-spewing Liverpool. It is sport, yet it is sinister. For one victory there are many frightful defeats. The Aintree course is itself a stretch of hell four miles, 856 yards long. It has 16 obstacles all but two of which must be surmounted twice in the running. The start is a spacious straightaway where the wide, charging line of horses can run abreast for about 500 yards. Then the course narrows to a plain thorn fence, five feet high and two feet thick. Next, a two-foot guard rail warns of a thorn fence five feet high and more than three feet thick, on the far side of which is a brook five feet wide, and a six-foot drop. In the first Grand National (1839), Capt. William Becher, a fine bewhiskered horseman, rode his mount at this jump. The horse rose, crashed the fence and went down in a heap while its rider soared onward through the air. Realizing the danger of oncoming chargers, Capt. Becher scrambled back into the brook and remained under water till the field was past. In his honor it is called to this day Becher's Brook. The next and greatest point of jeopardy is the Canal Turn. There awaits a gaping ditch, a thorn fence and a man-made water hazard. Even if these are negotiated there is peril at the adjacent hairpin turn. Last year Easter Hero, in the lead, straddled the fence and fell. Almost a dozen following horses struck and toppled too. Nearby spectators might well have believed that an ambushed machine gun was playing on the top of the fence. This year the 90-degree turn has been eased a bit. Directly in front of the stands is Valentine's Brook--a small fence, a twelve-foot water jump, an upward slope. It takes its name from a horse called Valentine whose jockey bet he would be the first over it. He raced Lottery to the fence, cleared it and won his bet. But Lottery stumbled, cracked into the stone and was killed. These are the most dangerous of the 30 jumps but any of the others may be full of defeat. Horses fall at them all. And they are not the only dangers. Many a jockey falls off as the race proceeds. Loose mounts, trained to do or die, go tearing on. Unguided, they weave in and out. crashing into and bowling over other mounts. It is a great day if an eighth of the original field clears the final fence and staggers through the last 500 yards. On the far side of every jump wait men with blankets, stretcher's, bandages, drugs. They have signal flags to call the ambulances--red for a horse, yellow for a man. In the lore of the event there is romance aplenty. Princes' horses have won and so have cart horses. There was Rubio, for in- stance, the only U. S.-bred winner (U. S.-owned horses have won it twice: Stephen Sanford's Sergeant Murphy, 1923; A. Charles Schwartz's Jack Horner, 1926). Rubio was shipped to England as a racer, failed to do well, was sold for $75, hauled a hotel omnibus for a year, and then, in 1908, came to glory. There was Moifaa, an ugly grey gelding, shipped from New Zealand with high hopes in 1904. There was a shipwreck. Moifaa was believed drowned. But one fine morning two Irishmen--fishermen--found the horse on a barren island. They trained him on Ireland's oldtime Fairyhouse course and when the horses ran that year at Aintree it was Moifaa, the castaway, that won. And then there was Master Robert, winner in 1924, who used to pull a plow. This year a U. S. horse has been installed as favorite. Billy Barton, by Huon and out of Mary le Bas, owned by Howard Bruce of Baltimore, will carry many thousands of pounds sterling on his dark brown nose. Last year, as this year's cheering crowds will well remember, Billy Barton all but won. Leading, he reached the last fence. As his feet left the ground Maguelonne, a riderless French mare, barged against him. He cleared the obstacle but the evenness of his jump had been broken and he crashed. Tipperary Tim, 100 to 1, the only other mounted horse to survive, came on to win. Little Tommy Cullinan, Billy's jockey, rose, shook himself, remounted and rode on to finish second. Billy Barton has been in England since autumn waiting for March 22. A few weeks ago, after frosts that kept the turf hardened, he was taken to Tenby, on the sheltered southern coast of Wales, to limber up in the sands. Now he is pronounced fit although there were rumors last week that he was coughing and would not run. Eleven years old, a gelding, he was bred in Kentucky but not to race for steeples. He began as only a fair sprinter and passed through several hands before being bought by Mr. Bruce. He had such an unpleasant temper that starters almost barred him. This, perhaps as much as anything, led Mr. Bruce to try him at jumping. He was a success from the start and won the Maryland Grand National twice, the Meadow Brook Cup. the Maryland Hunt Cup and the Manor Cup. When he was first taken to England, Albert Ober rode him but, after three defeats, he asked to be relieved and Cullinan, a smart little Irish professional, was engaged. Last year's tragedy was a double one for Cullinan, for he had been promised retirement for life on a handsome income if he won. Scores of U. S. sporting folk are making the trip to Aintree this year. Billy Barton's Mr. Bruce led a party of Marylanders over, including Winants, Parkses, Symingtons. Sailing on a special Grand National trip on the 55. Berengaria were Mrs. Payne Whitney, who has two horses entered, Easter Hero and Maguelonne; A. Charles Schwartz, whose Darracq will run; Stephen ("Laddie") Sanford, William H. Neilson Voss, Alfred 0. Corbin, Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Mortimer, Joseph J. Larkin, Robert H. McCormick. Late betting quotations last week gave the following odds against favorite horses: Billy Barton--14-1; Grakle--14-1; Great Span--14-1; Master Billie--14-1; Maguelonne--18-1; Easter Hero--20-1; Carfax--25-1; Duke of Florence--25-1; Gay Dog--25-1.

FOOTNOTE>*Drawn by Artist Paul Brown after studies from the life at Becher's Brook,