Author’s Note
133 Words
Author’s NoteSteeplechases were inspired by the hell-for-leather match races run all through the ages and across any naturally fenced country which was available. The winner proved that he could race his horse from one place to another faster than anyone else.
During the Regency it became fashionable to have private steeplechases and this involved erecting special fences and marking out a course with flags.
Steeplechasing was popular with sportsmen from its very beginning, but was frowned on by the established authorities of flat racing.
The most famous steeplechase in the world – the Grand National – started in 1839. It was four miles across country with twenty-nine jumps and the purse was twelve hundred pounds.
The poems quoted in this novel come from Shih Ching, the first anthology of Chinese poetry, about 561-579 B.C., and from the T’ang Dynasty, 618-906 AD.
- Writer
