GRAND NATIONALS PAST AND PRESENT.

Otago Witness, Volume 26, Issue 2419, 26 July 1900, Page 38

GRAND NATIONALS PAST AND PRESENT.

There are some facts in connection with the popular Grand National Steeplechase that will, no doubt, "be read with interest (says the Meld). Lottery was the first winner, and jhe "belonged to Mr Elmore, was ridden by J. iMason, and, like The Colonel, Voluptuary, (Regal, and several others of later years, he emigrated from the flat; indeed, on referring to the " Calendar," he seems to have been must useful," especially at the long defunct ■Hippodrome, out Edgeware road svay, long before he took National honovirs. When he ,won the Liverpool of 1839, Mr Elmore's horse was described as aged. He was by a horse of the same name, and he competed for the prize the next four. seasons. It seems he fell in* 184-0, when liis stable companion Jerry won ; but the next year, when" carrying 181b extra, he completed the course, although unplaced. It was the same in 1842, when Mr Elrnpre, as in Jerry's year, won with a second string "in ' Gay Lad. Lottery's last show at ' -Aintree was in 1843, when Vanguard won the race, the first year.it was transformed into a handicap. Good as Xottery was, he did not carry so much weight as Peter Simple. Lottery had 12.6 to carry, Peter. Simple 13.1, but neither was placed. Horses in the early stages of the chase, like in the present era, often competed before being triumphant. Peter Simple was an instance. He ran- just half a dozen times before winning in 1849, and then in +he hands of T. Dunn'ngham, father of the present trainer . residing in France. Peter Simple is the only horse that equalled, the f e i>t of Cloister, for he is also reported "to havc> jumped off when the flag fell, and then made all the runing. Abd-el-Kader, who concluded his career by breaking his "back at Upten-on-Severn, wps the first horse to do "the double" at Am - treefand we fancy Mr Joseph Osborne, the owner of the son of Ishmael and English Lass^ is the only one of the nom.ina.tors in the two races (1850-51) still living. He resides at Brighton, and still keeps up compiling his useful "Horse breeders' Handbook. " But, in the opinion of many experts, it is always "a moot point whether such as Abd-el-Kader, Lottery,' Bourton, Chandler, and co forth would be " in it " with names more palatable to" those of recent times. They did not travel so fast, and, if there is. anything reliable in the watch, it certainly shows such to be the case. For instance, it took Lottery 14min 53sec to" win the first National, the longest on record, and it was never run under lOmin" until Abd-el-Kader pulled through in ISSO, when he galloped the " about four miles" in 9min 57£ sec. His task, however, compares with'Anatis, Huntsman, The Lamb (his* second year), Cloister, and others, and the latter still * j holds, the record with 9min 32 2-ssec. a very j /brilliant performance,- seeing that he had 12,7 on-;his back, a weight only last year carried i by Manifesto. Cloister won by 40 lengths. | The fences and course itself were, however, * vbry different in the old days, and we now ! have mere racing blood in otir heroes.