BAILY'S MONTHLY MAGAZINE

OF

SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

LORD LURGAN.

WHILE we have put before our readers the Portraits and Memoirs of the principal Patrons of the Turf, the Chase, and the Road, we feel we have, from some cause or another, totally ignored Coursing, which is every day increasing in popularity with the Sporting World. And as the fittest illustration of it, we think our readers will concede that no person could serve better than Lord Lurgan, both from having won the Waterloo Cup two years in succession, as well as from his general patronage of the sport, and the estimation in which he is held by the followers of the Leash of the United Kingdom.

Lord Lurgan was born on the 10th of April, 1831, and was educated at Eton, on leaving which he entered the Army, and joined the 43rd Light Infantry. In this regiment he remained about two years, when he exchanged into the 26th Cameronians, and did duty with that regiment both in Jersey and at Gibraltar. While thus engaged, Lord Lurgan, whose sporting proclivities were early developed, kept a good many steeple-chasers, and a few racehorses, which were entered for their engagements under the assumed name of Mr. Stafford, and had fair share of success in their vocation. But in time these were abandoned for the greyhound, and he exchanged the Turf for the Coursing-field, in which he was destined to shine more conspicuously than on the racecourse. Besides, his crest is a greyhound, so he may be said to have been only running up to his form. Lord Lurgan entered upon his new career in 1854, and the first animal that ever won him a stake was a bitch called Bessie, which he purchased from Mr. Webb, of Worcester, a well-known Courser in his day, and the owner of War Eagle, Wrestler, and other celebrities in the Coursing Calendar. It is not our intention to trace the whole of Lord Lurgan's career as a Courser, because it would be uninteresting at this period of time to our readers, but we shall confine our remarks to the two last Waterloo Cups, his success in which has raised him to the same prominent distinction among

Coursers as Mr. Bowes occupied in the Racing World, when he won two consecutive Derbys with Daniel O'Rourke and West Australian, and that he can now boast of owning, in Master M'Grath, the best greyhound of modern days, who may be said to have immortalised his own name, as well as that of his Lordship, by his two unprecedented victories. Among the other gems of his kennel may be mentioned Lady Agnes, Lady Norah, Lady Java, Lady Alexandra, and Lady Beatrice; and among his dogs we must not omit mention of Master Burleigh, Master Herne, Master Brabazon, &c. Of these, the former was noted for his great race. But it was on the Waterloo Cup that Lord Lurgan had set his ambition, and to attain it he spared neither trouble nor money; for non cuivis homini he was aware applied to Altcar honours as well as to the celebrated Grecian city. For the three previous years of the attainment of his wishes he had always run well for the coveted trophy. In 1866, after looking very dangerous with Lady Alexandra, she was cut up in no time by Fieldfare. In 1867 his favourite Master Price, who carried the hopes of Ireland and the Irish Brigade, failed them shamefully, for he was put out in his second course by Marionette. The third main, however, that Lord Lurgan took in hand was a successful one, and fully atoned for all prior defeats. This was with the noted Master M'Grath, so called after a boy named M'Grath, who reared him from a puppy; and as he is such a canine hero, he is well worthy of having a few lines bestowed upon him. Master M'Grath was bred by Mr. James Galway, of Colligan Lodge, Dungarvan, who is a sort of confederate of Lord Lurgan. He is not what people would call regularly handsome, and is a more muscular than perfect shaped animal, and the best points about him must be admitted to be his back and shoulders, which are as near perfection as possible, while his tail is scarcely longer than that of a pointer. He was a two-year-old to a day when he started and took the first Waterloo Cup to Ireland. The field he met on this occasion is generally admitted to have been the best of modern times, and his beating such greyhounds as Belle of Scotland, Marionette, Kalista, Brigade, Lobelia (the winner of the previous year), and Cock Robin, stamps him as being an extraordinary dog. As the late Liverpool anniversary drew on, considerable curiosity was evinced by the Coursing World to ascertain if the fine turn of speed which Master M'Grath had exhibited in his courses last year was undiminished. Lord Lurgan having assured all his friends that his confidence was unimpaired, the public again stuck to him, and, from having no fear of the changes being rung, backed his Lordship's nomination down to five to one. A week before the day he receded a few points, in consequence of several new commissions being thrown into the market, for other nominations. The issue is now a matter of history, for Master M'Grath's easy defeat of Randolph a few hours after his course with Charming May, after the shaking he experienced, satisfied every one that, bar an accident, the Waterloo Cup was over. But he had not won yet, for he had two

very awkward customers to dispose of in the shape of Lobelia and Bab at the Bowster, who were not to be despised, seeing that the former was a Waterloo Cup winner, and the latter nearly equal to himself. But thinking that Erin could not bear to witness his succumbing to either of the above cracks, Master M'Grath, as if conscious of the demands that were made upon him by his country, answered to the occasion, and beat the famous Bab cleverly, and in a style that left on the mind of the spectators that he was the very best greyhound that Altcar had ever seen. The defeat of Bab at the Bowster was a heavy blow and great discouragement to the Scotch Division, who stood a stoater' on their representative, and we believe hedged very little of their money. One of the pleasantest scenes of the Meeting was the display of general enthusiasm manifested at Lord Lurgan's success. And it seems that his tenants had invested the produce of their crops on Master M'Grath, judging from the quantity of scrip floating about with his name attached to it. 'Some persons having been astonished at the temporary decline of Master McGrath in the market, we think that the following incident, which has not as yet appeared in print, may perhaps account for it.

The Saturday week previous to the Waterloo, Master M'Grath and S S had a trial, in which the crack only led Mr. Swinburne's bitch two lengths, and a working course of fair length was given in by several good judges as undecided. They then had another spin, in which Master McGrath led several lengths, wrenched twice, and killed. This trial was considered not good enough, and it was generally supposed Master M'Grath had lost his pace since winning the Waterloo Cup in 1865. It came out after his winning the Cup (in February) that Walsh, Lord Lurgan's trainer, had, for safety, shut up the favourite in his bedroom. A short time before starting for the trial he went into the bedroom, and thinking the dog looked dull, made an examination, and found to his horror that Master M'Grath had eaten nearly the whole of the upper leather of a sidespring boot. As may be supposed, Lord Lurgan's trainer was in a sad way; so to make sure, he whipped an emetic into the dog, then a short time after a dose of castor oil. This had the desired effect upon M'Grath's constitution; but in the trial S S got nearer to him than he would have done had he not evinced his partiality for leather. Mr. Swinburne was so delighted with S S's performance (not knowing anything of the heavy breakfast of Lord Lurgan's dog) that he instantly telegraphed to a gallant colonel to back his nomination to win a large stake.

The way in which Master M'Grath won the Waterloo Cup for the second year in succession is now a thing of the past; but since his great performance at Altcar, Bab at the Bowster has for the second year in succession won the Great Scarisbrick Cup, 128 runners (both years same number of entries). This performance of Bab at the Bowster (who Master M'Grath beat for the deciding course of the Waterloo Cup, 1869) is unparalleled; still, as Master M'Grath met the pick of our best kennels each year in the Waterloo