MATCH BETWEE CAPT. LAMB’S VIVIAN AND LOUD WATERFORD’S COCK ROBIN, FOR 2,000 SOVS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume I, Issue 7, 13 September 1890, Page 5

MATCH BETWEE CAPT. LAMB’S VIVIAN AND LOUD WATERFORD’S COCK ROBIN, FOR 2,000 SOVS.

After the fatigues of the day a large party assembled at. Aylesbury, to celebrate the conclusion of the sports and to recount the “ accidents by flood and field ” which had been encountered. Harmony and good humour prevailed among all classes, and a match was made between Lord Waterford’s Cock Robin and Capt. Lamb’s Vivian, for 1,000 sovs. a side, 500 forfeit, to come off in the first week in December, in the Harborough country. This match came off on Monday, Dec. 1, in pursuance of agreement, in the Harborough County, Leicestershire. The terms were 1,000 sovs. a.side, the Marquis of Waterford to ride his own horse, and Capt. Beecher Vivian. Weights, 12st. 71b. each. Independent of the amount of the stakes, the high respectability of the parties engaged, excited an extraordinary degree of interest, and all the sporting classes of Leicestershire and Northamptonshire were on the qui vine. Mr. Green of Rolston, a gentleman well-known as a sportsman of high honour and experience, was selected as the stakeholder and umqire, and to him was entrusted the task of choosing the ground, which was of course kept secret from the parties immediately concerned until the morning of the start, when it became publicly known ; the line of country picked out being from a farm belonging to Mr. Watson at Shangton Holt to Ram’s Head cover, over about four miles of a very bold and difficult country, including a brook, some rasping double fences, and a heavy hill to run up to the winning flags. Shortly before 1 the horses were led to Mr. Watson’s farm, where the riders were weighed, and the usual preliminaries adjusted; and at half-past 1 the noble Marquis and Mr. Beecher mounted. The horses appeared iu the highest condition, and especially Cock Robin, while the riders evinced all that steady coolness and determination which their approaching struggle required. The Marquis was the favourite at 7 to 4. Everything being in readiness they proceeded to the flag-post, and the word “go” was given by Mr. Green. Neither seemed disposed to make play fat starting, and cautiously walked for the first four or five hundred yards. Mr. Beecher, finding there was no use in hanging back, as his noble antagonist was determined to - 1 wait upon him, quickened his pace, and went off at a brisk gallop. The Marquis was with him, and away they went in spanking style, keeping Knowsley Hall and Goadby on the right. For the first mile they kept well together, taking their leaps in admirable style, after which they took up different lines—the Marquis going to the left, thereby crossing Mr. Beecher, and the latter keeping his straight course to the right, where the fences were most desperate; in crossing the road Capt. Beecher’s horse, from the crowd which pressed pn him, baulked at a fence, and had to turn,

whereby the Marquis got at least a hundred yards the lead. The Marquis then again took the right, Mr. Beecher resuming his direct iine.; The Marquis again crossed to the left, and the pace became tremendous; again did Capt. Beecher’s horse baulk at a fence, and the Marquis left him full three hundred yards in the rear. On coming within three fields of home, however, the Marquis got into a dingle or bog, which enabled Mr. Beecher to regain his lost ground, and swerving to the left, leaving the Marquis in his trouble, he ; crossed over the crown of an arch. At the next fence they were breast and breast, the Marquis to the right and Mr. Beecher to the left. The running now became desperate, the: Marquis gaining upon Mr. Beecher, and getting well into the winning field first. The odds were now ten to one on the Marquis, and the cheering shouts of his friends almost proclaimed him the victor. Mr. Beecher, however, having cleared the fence in turn, closed upon his lordship, and burst up the hili at a killing pace, and won with good jockeyship by two clear lengths, amidst the acclamations of his friends and to the discomfiture of the Marquis, who, however, bore his defeat with manly good humour. He admitted he was fairly beaten, but remarked that at least as much was due to the rider as to the horse, a feeling in which all participated ; and had Cock Robin not swerved so repeatedly from the direct line (having crossed from right to left five times, we believe), and had he not got into the dingle, which Mr. Beecher so happily avoided by crossing the arch, there is no doubt that he would have been the winner. A better contested, or more admirably ridden race, has perhaps never been witnessed ; and notwithstanding the obstacles which were presented, there was not a single fall. The horses came in remarkably fresh, notwithstanding the speed which had been maintained, and the breather which they had to breast at the finish. The distance, we understand, was done in 13 minutes and 20 seconds. At the conclusion the riders, who did not dismount, returned to Mr. Watson’s farm, where they again went to scale, and there being no objection, two one-thousand pound bank post-bills, were handed to Capt. Lamb. — Bell’s Life, 1834.