House of Commons Point-to-point Race.
From a drawing by Cuthbert Bradley

Dec. 1. Fox’s Bridge. 6½ miles. 23 minutes.

" 4. Stowe Fox. Finished my Mastership, getting my last fall
at the brook, and the only one Saucebox gave me with the
Drag. I handed over the horn to my brother.

Since then the Drag has flourished, and I understand things are done in a style we never dreamed of. Amongst the Masters that carried the horn after my time were my brother, Mr. J. A. Pease, the present Duke of Leeds, Mr. Le Fleming, Mr. Ivor Guest, the Duke of Marlborough, Mr. Beddington, Mr. Wiloughby, Mr. Macreary, Mr. F. M. Freake, Lord Ronaldshay, and several others whose names do not occur to me at the moment.

I heard of the followers of the red herring having two Drags in one day in 1895, Stowe Fox in the morning, and Downing Arms after lunch. The usual field was augmented by several jockeys from Newmarket (including T. Loates, Woodburn, Barker and Rickaby). I heard that several fine tosses were scored by Mr. T. Loates, and that Barker finally won the drag after a punishing finish, in which he beat Rickaby by a neck.

The first year in which a House of Commons Steeplechase took place was in 1889, and this pleasant and sporting meeting, which then promised to become an annual one, was abandoned about 1893 in consequence of the sad end of Captain “Bay” Middleton the year before. In 1889, I entered an Irish mare, Peggy Dillon, but scratched her, and took no part in the race. This took place in the Bicester country, from the village of Hillesden to that of Chetwade, over a stiff course, but chiefly grass. I remember that the ground was soft and going heavy. The distance was three and three-quarter miles, and the conditions briefly—catchweight over 13 stone, all horses to be the property of, and ridden by, an M.P., and no horse to have previously won a steeplechase. Lord Chesham started a field of ten senators, and the result of the race was as follows:—

Mr. Cyril Flower’s Home Rule, 13 st. 8½ lb.1
(afterwards disqualified).
Mr. Elliot Lees’ Damon, 13 st.2
Mr. J. Fitzwilliam’s Marcellus, 13 st. 11 lb.3
Mr. F. B. Mildmay’s horse, 13 st.0
Mr. W. Long’s horse, 13 st. 8¼ lb.0
Mr. Bromley-Davenport’s Berkshire, 13 st.0
Mr. P. A. Muntz’s Dauntless, 15 st. 4¼ lb.0
Lord Henry Bentinck’s Border Chief, 13 st. 10½ lb. 0
Mr. J. B. White’s horse, 13 st. 6¾ lb.0
Mr. W. Jarvis’s Conjuror, 13 st.0
Lord Newark’s horse, 13 st.0
Colonel Heath’s horse, 13 st.0