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j I j j I j ] ! | ! [ ! ; ; GRAND NATIONAL ROMANCE Uncertainty of Turf Illustrated in Greatest of Steeplechases. ♦ Some Interesting Data Concerning Recent Winners of Worlds Most Famous Jumping Race. - - t XEW YORK, XT. Y., April 5.— The glorious uncertainty of the turf, which has rendered the sport the most fascinating of all outdoor pastimes, is illustrated in striking fashion through happenings connected with the running of the Liverpool Grand Xational Steeplechase at Aintree on Friday, March 27. No race has furnished so much material for romantic comment as the Grand Xational nor kindled so many fires in the breasts of sportsmen. Volumes have been written about the men and horses that have contributed to the wealth of tradition in con-. nection with this greatest of all jumping i j I classics. The winning of the Xational is | the ambition of every man who rides or I I breeds a horse, with the sort of shoulder, I j loin and hind leg a topnotch steeplechaser I j should possess. Instances without number are recorded of horses being trained for years with a view to their winning the National. The records of the race, since its inauguration in 183!, jare eloquent of the time and patience required in the development of a horse capable of making the course at Aintree. Through all the years only five five-year-olds have won it — Alcibiades in 1865; Regal, 1876; Austerlitz, 1877 ; Empress, 1S80, and Lutteur III. in 1909. Sixteen six-year-olds have scored, but in the other tests the winners have been from seven to fourteen years of age. The conclusion is inevitable that steeple- chases over formidable courses like the Xational, call for a world of experience. While ! victory occasionally is the reward of youth | hi the great prizes of cross-country sport | | abroad, the veterans whose familiarity with ; ; every angle of the game renders them self- j reliant and ready for any emergency that j ■ may arise, have in the majority of instances ; carried off the honors. j That the thirteen-year-old Sergeant Murphy, the winner of the Grand Xational in I 1923 for Stephen Sanford of Amsterdam, X. i j Y., had been used as a hack is known the world over, as is also the fact that the j j eleven-year-old Master Robert, which van- | quished a good band of jumpers in 1924, had developed his jumping muscles through pull- i ing a plow as a five-year-old, while a fresh j chapter in the book of romance, is ready to hand in the life story of this years victor, j the nine-year-old gelding Double Chance, ! which was presented by Captain Anthony de j Rothschild to trainer Fred Archer. In pass- ; ing, it may be noted that Lord Airlie, in j whose colors Master Robert won last years j Xational, has signified his intention of rac- | ing some horses in the United States during the coming racing season. He is interested ! in the Laurel Park Stud, and has registered Continued on second page. I I | | , I | i I I j | . , | | GRAND NATIONAL ROMANCE Continued from first pare. his colors, the Airlie tartan, with The Jockey Club. The coming of this noble sportsman is one more proof that international racing is on the upward trend. It would, perhaps, be too ambitious on the part of those seeking to promote interest in cross-country racing in the Inited States to frame a race of the character of the Liverpool Grand National. There are several cross-country fixtures already in existence •of a value of 0,000. It would be a bold stroke to offer a test for the autumn over approximately the same distance as at Ain- tree — a trifle of more than four and a half miles. It would be impossible, of course, to duplicate the field in which th test would be staged, because the live brush in the ob- staeles at Liverpool represent the growth of nearly 100 years. Such a race should havo an added value of 5,000. A race over four and a half miles at the close of the year, would be a worth-while fix-, ture and give steeplechasing a tremendous vogue. President Joseph T. Davis of the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association is a progressive and open to any suggestion that might improve the sport in which he is deeply interested. John McE. Bowman, president of the United Hunts ; Edward M. Weld. Norrie Scllar and others behind the Temple Gwathmey Memorial, hope to develop that race to a point where it will be, to this country, what the National is to Great Britain, attracting new and desirable recruits to cross-country sport and bringing a better type of horse into use through the field.
