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CHANGES OF THE GRAND NATIONAL. The Liverpool Grand National Handicap is by common consent the leading steeplechase of the turf WSrkg, althOOgh it is not the most valuable. It is practically as well know 11 as the Fpsoni Derby to admirers of racing the world over. litis lends interest, to recent, changes in its conditions, of which an editorial in a recent edition of London Sporting Life says: "For the time lwing. however, interest is chiefly centered in the Grand National Steeplechase, mainly beeanoo the eaadttkmo governing this Mgblj popular even! have oniv more been revised. It will be the very general opinion that the alterations are decidedly for the better. No ane wili he disposed to quarrel with the executive for raising the value of the prize from £2,750 to £3,000. The Grand Steeple, -base de Paris, decided at Aurenil in June, is worth £0,000, and we ought not to rest satisfied until our Blearier race under National Hunt Rules is brought more nearly into line with its counterpart in Fiance. However, it is something to know that the disparity is gradually being lessened. An extra £2M does not carry us very far, but every little helps. In Iftol the Grand National was worth £2,500, so that there has been a M per cent, advance in six years. If this rate is steadily maintained some of us may live to see the £3,000 goal reached. So far as the monetary cimdilioiis are concerned, the only other alteration is that the horse Itnisliin- fourth is to receive £T5 instead of £30 0a last year. "But the chaicre just alluded to is not by any means the im st material of the innovations that have b :, introduced. Hitherto the Male of penalties op ling against candidates for the Blue Riband of the Chase has not only keen of a complex character, but it has bad a most damaging influence on he sport in general up to the end of March in sack season. Here are the conditions that governed the race last season: Winners alter the publication of the weights of any two steeple, haves of three miles or over to carry four pounds, of a handicap steeplechase of any value • •v.-r a disl. nice eeeodii,g three miles, or of any steeplechl .• value 000 s..vs over any distance six pounds ,- *,; no penalties or winners of steeple-el, ases eonfmed to maidens at starting: horses originally handicapped in ||,is race abate eleven stone. sewn j son, and under twelve stone to carry only hnlf of the foregoing penalties respectively, and if originally at twelve stone and op wards exempted from penoHlea. This scheme was complex: nevertheless its meaning was plain enough to those who had iniiuals engaged in the ran possessing even so much as half a chance of winning. They could not. afford to run Che risk of their horses incurring a penalty; ami so it came to pass that the managers of an eh mie llngi : s thane at flandown Tmd Kempt. ,11 had to be .ireful when drawing up their programs. In this way every body suffered. The drawback is now. however, praclically removed. The new conditions read: A winner after publication of the aneighta of a handicap steeplechase of three miles and a I, all or over to carry four pounds extra: winners originally handicapped at eleven stone or oer 10 U- exempted from penalties." That is plain. straightforward, and sensible. Once the weights are published a horse engaged in the Grand National can. without injury lo his prospects, run in public as often as his OWBet chouses ill any races of les-dish. ace than three miles and a half." and there are not many event! in which the contestants are asked to traverse more than three miles: and even in these lew the belter class horses can compete without fear of the e. msequences. The probability is that we shall henceforth see a goodly proportion of the candidates for Liverpool lionirs doing Hie most strenuous part of their preparation in public, and interest in the great Aintreo race will lie heightened accordingly. ll will tie the finest ailveriiseinenl that could possibly lie procured, surpassing in that regard tec benefit derived from ante-post betting. "The regulation that horses handicapped at eleven atone or over shall he exempted from penultg is particularly valcalde. There is too great a tendency to crush goo.l horses wilii weight. II may !«• said tha! four pounds is not a very serious matter, but it means ., ienl over the four and a half miles at Ainlree. fipohlng back to last years handicap for the Grand National the following were handicapped at eleven stone or over: Leinster. twelve stone seven pounds; Kirkland. twelve some live pounds; Drumeree, twelve atone; John M. P.. eleven sic.iie eight pounds; Roman Law. eleven stone five pounds: Phil May. eleven stone five pounds: Pal-lan ler. eleven BtOM two pounds; Aunt May. eleven stone two pounds; Comfit, eleven stone: Ranunculus. eleven stone. Then came Timothy Titos and BOOehOl Ogue at ten stone twelve pooanti each, of course, ii is coiieeival.Ie that a horse originally handicapped al ten stone twelve ponndo may earn a four pound penalty, an. I in that event he will be worse off than if he had. in the krst instance, received an extra two pounds. This anomaly might lie avoided another year by the insertion of a clause stipulating thai under sin h . i, cms!., SCOO ihc lease .shall carry eleven stone al A intree.
