At Becher's Brook, sixth and most famed of the 30 prodigious jumps that make the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree the hardest race in the world, the field began to dwindle last week. Youtell went down first, then Society and one of the favorites, Heartbreak Hill. Jock Whitney's Dusty Foot took off too soon and his rider, George Herbert ("Pete") Bostwick. turned a double somersault, got up with his face cut.* The part of the 250,000 crowd that was in the grandstand lost the field as it moved around toward the Canal Turn. Not until the horses came thundering heavily past the stands the first time around could the dense, shouting mob packed against the rail get a clear idea of how the race was going. Colliery Band went past first, with Remus, Kellsboro Jack and Delaneige running close behind.
At Becher's Brook the second time, Kellsboro Jack, Remus. Delaneige and Slater, the horse Jock Whitney sold a fortnight before the race, were setting the pace. Gregalach missed the jump, fell and broke a blood-vessel. Miss Paget's Golden Miller, the prime favorite, lost his rider. At Valentine's Brook, Kellsboro Jack, getting a beautiful ride from little David Dudley Williams whom many experts consider England's best steeplechase jockey, took the lead. In the last mile huge Pelorus Jack, who caused several bad spills when he swung across the track in last year's Grand National, was coming up fast. Pelorus Jack fell at the last fence and then came one of the weirdest finishes in Grand National History. Kellsboro Jack, owned by Mrs. Frederick Ambrose Clark of Westbury (L. I.) and Cooperstown, N. Y. galloped strongly on to win, three lengths ahead of Really True who, owned by Major Noel Furlong and ridden by his son, beat out Slater by a neck for second place. First across the line, a length ahead of Kellsboro Jack, was a riderless horse named Apostasy. Apostasy's and Heartbreak Hill's jockeys crossed the finish together last of all, both riding Dusty Foot whom they had caught in open country. In the largest finishing field on record (18 out of 34 starters) Forbra, last year's winner, was sixth; Trouble Maker, the only U. S.-bred horse in the race, 15th. One of the few respects in which last week's Grand National ran true to form was that the winner, at 25-10-1, was an outsider.
Mrs. Clark had more than one reason to be pleased with her horse last week. Kellsboro Jack not only made her one of the three U. S. owners whose horses have won at Aintree:† he won in record time—9 min. 38 sec. and beat ahorse entered by Mrs. Clark's dearest rival—her ruddy, jolly, loud-voiced husband. His entrant at Aintree—even less highly regarded than Kellsboro Jack, who had trained badly in the spring and was backed by only a few people who had faith in the firm predictions of Mrs. Clark and her trainer—Ivor Anthony—was Chadd's Ford. Chadd's Ford finished next to last.