Grand National

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.

In the small U. S. sporting aristocracy, the Ambrose Clarks have a niche of their own, smaller but not less bright than the Whitney and Widener niches. When racing was outlawed in New York State in 1911, Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Payne Whitney did more than anyone else to keep it going. Mrs. Clark winters her horses, not at Cooperstown with her husband's, but at Glasgow, Del., does more about running the stable than her trainer. James Healy. When she acquired Kellsboro Jack --whose four-year-old brother Steeplejack II is owned by her husband--she was gratified because she had particular regard for his bloodlines (Jackdaw, sire. Kellsboro Lass, dam). Mrs. Clark is aunt to the Bostwick brothers, Pete and Albert. Their able riding is partly due to training they received from herself and Mr. Clark. Pete Bostwick, before he decided to ride Dusty Foot, had the chance to be Kellsboro Jack's jockey last week.

Frederick Ambrose ("Brose"') Clark, president of the United Hunts Racing Association, has a reputation among horse-folk which fully equals his wife's, despite Chadd's Ford's performance last week. In his long career as a poloist, amateur jockey and foxhunter, he has had time to break almost every bone in his round, slim-legged, huge-shouldered frame. In the driveway of the Clark's place at Westbury--where the Meadow Brook Steeplechase is run every September-- automobiles are seldom seen. They are generally forbidden because Ambrose Clark, though he likes to drive fast in a car and owns a Rolls-Royce with a bed in it so that he can catch naps on his way to the Saratoga races, much pre- fers to tool his coach & four. This is the vehicle in which, wearing a beige derby to match his wife's beige dresses and equipped with lavish hampers of refreshments, Mr. Clark takes himself magnificently to the polo matches and race meets which decorate Long Island summers. In winter the Clarks go to Melton Mowbray for the hunting. A friendship between Mr. Clark and the Prince of Wales--who visited them in Westbury in 1924--sprang up there one morning when Mr. Clark saw a cow struggling to get out of a fence. He threw his reins to the man nearest him. dismounted, extricated the cow, discovered that the Prince was holding his horse. If Ambrose Clark was disgruntled at the performance of Chadd's Ford last week, he had himself to thank. He bought Kellsboro Jack in Ireland several years ago, gave him to Mrs. Clark last year because he was "unlucky."

First important U. S. steeplechase of the season, the Carolina Cup which Trouble Maker won last year, was run last week at Camden. S. C. A crowd of 15,000 saw Pink Tipped, 8-year-old chestnut mare owned by Richard K. Mellon of Pittsburgh, ridden under top-weight of 162 Ib. by William Street who had never seen his mount till the morning of the race, take the last hurdle perfectly, outrun Hotspur II in the last 20 yd. to win in record time (5 min., 52 4/5 sec.) for 3 mi.

*Despite cuts & bruises, Pete Bostwick rode Dusty Foot again next day in the 41/2-m'. Foxhunters Chase over the same course. This time they got over all the jumps, finished fourth to Sir Grant Lawson's Half Asleep.

/-The others are Stephen ("Laddie'') Sanford (1923), A. Charles Schwartz (1926).

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