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SOME GREAT WEIGHT CARRYING FEATS Roccnt Victory of Water Bed Recalls Others Gained Under Heavy Imposts. At the Sandnwn Park. England, steeplechase meeting March 13. the six-year-old gelding Water Bed. by Feather Bed— Goolhawn. recorded an extraordinary iMMformancc. when taking up the huge im-jMist of lsq pounds, he won the Waterlook Handicap Hurdle race at two miles in 4:03*f, and gave the second horse. Llanthony. thirty-two pounds. This achievement led "Vigilant" to say in London Sports man: "The appearance on the card on the second after noon of the recent Sandown Park meeting of Water Bed. Im pounds including ten pounds extra, caused maiiv people to keep their race cards as a memento of what may Is- the biggest weight allotted in any handicap hurdle race. Mr. Bennetts good gelding did not, of course, run. his owner resting content with his victory of the previous day under lsp pounds. Whether a heavier weight has ever liccn shown on a race card than 199 pounds for a hurdle handicap, it is impossible to say. Out of curiosity 1 have glanced at many of the steeple-chasing "Calendars" of the last forty years, but I cannot trace anything like such a weight having l eeu carried in that class of race. The biggest burden I came across was 1S4 pounds, which was carried to victory in the Backer Handicap Hurdle race. November." 1S73. by Mr. Taylors Reform, which was inclusive of an extra nine pounds. WONDERFUL PERFORMANCE OF REFORM. "He gave from twenty-eight to forty-two pounds apiece to his half dozen opponents and won by two lengths, a fine performance, indeed, for five of them won one or more races apiece during the winter season of 1X73-74. Reform was a five-year-old horse by Gunboat — Ilitrue. Prior to carrying 1*4 pounds in triumph at Liverpoel he had scored four other successes in handicap hurdle races out of five attempts, winning two of them under such other substantial burdens as 173 pounds and 175 pounds. As far as I know, the 1*4 pounds carried by Reform may 1m- the record weight carried in a hurdle handicap, but Hesper in the late seventies nearly approached it. winning at Sandown lark under 1S2 pounds. Horses have not infrequently carried big weights to victorv there, and in October. 1879. Pauls Cray won a handicap hurdle race, carrying 177 iK unds. for the late Tom Jennings. In the following month Bugle March did the trick at Kemp-ton lark with 178 pounds, and Soliman. in December. 1S99. won the Kemptou Christmas Hurdle Handicap under l"s pounds. REFORM AND HESPER RECORD HOLDERS. "A more recent weight carrier of note was the late Mr. Stedalls Rassendyl. which in 1907 secured the Sandown Grand Prise" with 175 pounds in the saddle, and in the following vear won the International Hurdle Handicap at Gatwick under 17l pounds. Reform and Hesper, however, are entitled to more credit, 184 i»ounds and 182 being the two highest winning weights. Chandos never carried more than 175 pounds successfully and Lowlanders two successive Liverpool victories in hurdle handicaps were only under 149 pounds and 154, in the autumn of his four-year-old earner, the season prior to his historic match with the three year-old Galo-pin over the Rowley Mile, when lrince Batthyanys colt, in receipt of twelve pounds, for 500 sovereigns a side, defeated the older horses by a length. In that year Lowlander won eight races on the flat out of eleven. Reverting to Rassendyl. he was a cheap horse to Mr. Stedall. He was by Loved One— Princess, and was bought out of a selling hurdle race which he won at Sandown Park for J. J. Parkinson, for only 280 guineas, having a leg at tin- time." . — .
