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THE LIVERPOOL GRAND NATIONAL How tho Worlds Greatest Steeplechase Was Run and Its Many Mischances MischancesIt It Is impossible to estimate an attendance on such a iiopular day and at such a vast place but the writer takes the liberty v of expressing the opinion that there were never previously so many people on A In tree nice course After all the paddock always provides a reliable opportunity of testing the strength Of the patronage This is one of the biggest paddocks in the country but it was packed like a herring basket such time as there was anything to sec Mostly there was for the pressure was too great for one to get near enough to any particular candidate of ones fancy in the principal or any other of the races racesThen Then was always a blaze of color in the ladies costumes tills being enhanced by the presence of many fair daughters of France who had come over perhaps to see Trianon III run but apart from that the Grand National has been an increasingly strong attraction to French sportsmen and sportswomen since Lutteur 111 won four years ago He by the way was an entirely different type of animal from Trianon III The latter a very light grey eight yearold Is the sort that attracts the ordinary on ¬ looker but the critic pauses This one did not at ¬ tract much attention iu the market and at the post he gave onetjie Impression of being in a circus for lie jiawed the ground in the gentle style of the iKKiutlfnl disposition associated with the memories of childhoods days We had little opportunity of judging of his abilities as a jumper of Aintree fences for he was among the crowd to begin with and fell at the fence after Valentines the tirst time timeAnother Another foreigner In Hlghbridge soon splashed his reputation as Americans haVe been wont to do when they have had to tackle these fences Hubio being a remarkable but one would not bo tempted to say brilliant exception This gift horse from father to son liftil viirTcd the usual experience of Yankees coming to England to do wonders over the biggest course in the world In that he had shown up well in public on this side He made an Im ¬ mense number of friends and there was quite a big paddock inspection of him but the old tale had to bo told He came a cropper at the first fence where also Melamar to the great disappointment of most good judges came down Competitors for such a race as this are not usually as sensitive to observa ¬ tion as for instance twoyearolds only a few paraded iu the ring specially provided for that pur pbse and some were hidden away in corners to be saddled However the writer managed to get a good look at Ballyhackle which was in beautiful trim and strode round in the style of a master Axle Pin had to all appearances sliaken off the effects of the recent trouble which kept him out of training for rather mori than a fortnight He sweated but only very slightly and his owners statement to the Press on Thursday that the horse was very very well was justified but Axle Pin was one of the first to bow the knee and not straighten it again The lot were level without being bril1 liant One of the hcst if not quite the bestlooking was Irish Mail It would hardly serve any useful purpose to refer further in detail to the condition of tho candidates but from observation and informa tion it may be gathered that they were the fittest company we have seen in this great race for many years v vCarsey Carsey was in a matnuer of putting it the Mani ¬ festo of the party for his was the greatest experi ¬ ence of the Alutree fences and short of winning a Grand National he had dbiic more over this course than even Manifesto or the classic Cloister He hail never looked better In his lifej and he never put up si more game performance lie did not actually fall but he was beaten when lie rolled into the last fence but one and unshipped his rider The little stride he had for twenty yards or so without a jockey gave him a breather and he was quite will Ing and able to jump the fence at tho second time of asking Meanwhile Mr H Tyrwhitt Drakes own horse had passed Mr H Tyrwhitt Drakes mount but as Mr Drake had anticipated Irish Mail was not second best The judges decision as to the margin separating the first and second and the se ond and third was the unique one of a distance and a distance but with six furlongs still to be cov ¬ ered Irish Mail was quite a quarter of a mile be ¬ hind This gelding got on to the top of the last fence but one and so twisted his quarters that ho had to bring off ii wonderful performance to get over This was evidently a lesson to him and he cleared the limit obstacle so beautifully that con ¬ sidering lie is only a feixycarOld he will be well to make a note of a possible future Grand National winner A description of the race Is given below and one need not dilate upon the fact that only two of the twentytwo runners escaped mishap This is not a record for we havo had instances of many Btartin but few standing ui the most notable be ¬ ing the case of Glensidc which when he won three years ago was the only one of twentysix run ¬ ners remountedThe tofget found without having to be remounted The chief concern when so many accidents have happened is as to whether there had been serious hurt to man or beast Diligent inquiries revealei that none had occurred except that Foolhardys jockey had been taken in the ambulance to the hos ¬ pital where It was found after half an hour or S3 that he was merely knocked out after all He was tipt quite such an invalid as TIch Mason who was looking rueful with his right hand iu a sling as a result of an accident at Manchester which pre ¬ vented jlilm from riding Axle Pin Ernest Piggott who would have had the mount on Covertcoat bin for a fall three weeks ago the result of which was a breakage of a small bone in one of his hands A curious coincidence certainly so far as tho two jockeys are concerned and one which must par ¬ ticularly irritate Piggott is that supi osing he hm had the leg up on Covertcoat yesterday he wouli have tied with Percy Woodland as rider of two Grand National winners apiece in recent years There are several instances of this happening in the sixties and seventies by the way but this was a case of a jockey finding it hard luck to stand down in favor of another whose victory would be his third whereas his own would remain as one Piggoti halls from the district where the owner of Covert coat lives aid he rode Jerry M for the Welsh baronet last year Jerry Ms scratching from this years race before the acceptances had been de ¬ clared was a blow in a sentimental sense to all fol ¬ lowers of steeplechasfng for there can be no ques ¬ tion that he was the finest jumper and more par ¬ ticularly the finest Liverpool horse that we have seen for a long time timeCovertcoat Covertcoat Is probably as good a horse as ever completed the Aintree course without1 putting a leg astray You will always bo told that this that and the other horse would have won if he had stuck up Well on this occasion there were few if any legitimate fellFalls excuses or horses which fell Falls began very early and at the tirst fence Hlghbridge and Melamar came down and other mis ¬ haps occurred at nearly every fence and the only ones to clear the water were Regent Merrvland Wavelet The Rejected IV Thowl Pin Fearless VII Covertcoat and Foolhardy At the first fence In the country the second time round The Rejectee IV fell when leading and Foolhardy which had been remounted fell again At the fence before Bechers which I romjhly a Julie from home Covertcoat took the lead and won in the style of a good horse horseThis This was the third sucTess in he Grand National of his owner who first tame into prominence with Cloister with which lie was unquestionably unlucky to be beaten In 1891 though he found consolation two years later when that great steeplechaser won with 175 pounds on his back the same weight thai Jerry M in the same colors carried last year The starting prices were 5 to 1 against Bally hackle 100 to I against Carsoy Highbridge Wave ¬ let and Covertcoat KM to 8 against Axle Pin and Mrlaniar KiO to i against Bloodstone 20 to 1 Thowl Pin 2 to 1 Irish Mail and Blowpipe to 1 Fctlars Pride and Trianon III 40 to 1 The Re ¬ jected IV iO to 1 Dvsnrt and Tokay fifi to 1 Re ¬ gent and Black Plum 100 to 1 The Miner Fear ¬ less VII and Merry Land and 200 to I Foolhardy After they had twice broken away Mr Coventry lowerd the Hag to a capital start Blowpipe made play from Bloodstone Thowl Pin Carsev Irish Mail Wavelet Regent Fearless VII Dvsart Merry Laud Trianon 111 Hlghbridge Covertcoat Fool ¬ hardy Melamar Axle Pin and Black Plum with The Miner last to the first fence where Melamar and Ilighbridge fell as did Dysart Tokay The Miner and Wavelet tit the fence before Bechers over which Blowpipe lauded In front of Merry Land Bloodstone Axle Pin Carsey Regent Ballyhackle Thowl Pin Irish Mail Covertcoat Foolhardy Fet ¬ lars Pride Fearless VII The Rejected IV Black Plum and Trianon III IIISo So they raced to the Canal turn where Fetlars Pride came to grief and Axle Pin and Black Plum refused the same obstacle At the next fence Bally ¬ hackle and Trianon 111 toppled over Rlowpine now heing clear of Merry Land The Refected IV Re ¬ gent Carsey Covertcoat Thowl Pin Irish Mall Foolhardy and Fearless VII Little change in these IKisitioim occurred till jumping the water when Blowpipe and Bloodstone fell The Rejected IV carrying on the running clear of Merry Land Cur Regent Thowl Pin Fearless VII Irish Mall Covertcoat and Foolhardy FoolhardyAt At the first fence In the country the second time Hie Rejected IV and Fearless VII fell and at the ncjcj Foolhardy ciiimt rtrtwiii1 while Merry Land am Regent slip ed in the1 ditcli Thowl Pin being put out at the plain obstacle l efore Rechers Carsev and V vertooit were then several lengths in front of Irish Mail these InIng the only three left stand ¬ ing Round the ianal turn Covertcoat headed Car ¬ sey which unseated his jockey two fences from home leaving Covertcoat to win by a distance from Irish Mail the remounted Carsey being a similar distance away third Nothing else completed the course Time 10 minutes 1 seconds Mr W MacNeill the rider of Foolhardy was knocked out but quickly recovered Covcvjvoat Is a baj horse seven years old b Hackler out of Cinnamon He made his first appear ance in public In 1010 when In the1 colors of Mr J J Maher he finished unplaced in the Tower Steeplechase at the Leopardstown December meet ¬ ing The following year he led off by running un ¬ placed in a maiden steeplechase nt the Dublin Met ropolitaii New Year meeting and was then runner up to Btinclody in a qualifying steeplechase at the same venues Spring meeting Next he finished out of the first three iu the Newbrook Plate a steepb chase at Mulllngar Spring and after a second to Galoshes in the Fairybouso Plate at the Ward Inlon Hunt meeting he gained the first victory of his career this being in the Maiden Steeplechase at the Kildare and National Hunt Steeplechases Subse ¬ quently he was scut to the Dublin Summer Sales and was purchased by Sir Charles AsshetouSmlth for 1 guineas He carried his new owners colors twice the same year falling to complete the course in the Valentine Steeplechase at Liverpool November meeting and finishing a bad third to Lord Rivers iu the Uxbridgo Jlandlcap Steeplechase at Kempton Park December meeting Last year he was seen out on half a dozen occasions but his only success was gained in the Sandown Handicap Stee plechase at the Deceml er meeting He fell in the Grand National and also in the Grand Sefton Stee ¬ plechase at the Liverpool NdVcmber meeting This year be led off by finishing second to General Fox in the Liveriwol Trial Steeplechase at Sundown Park in February and then won the Trial Handicap Steeplechase at Hurst Park in March London Sporting Life
