{"id":549,"date":"2010-04-24T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2010-04-24T10:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/54.229.91.100\/libraryandarts\/library\/ehistory\/?p=549"},"modified":"2010-04-24T10:00:59","modified_gmt":"2010-04-24T10:00:59","slug":"punchestown-reminiscences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/punchestown-reminiscences\/","title":{"rendered":"PUNCHESTOWN REMINISCENCES"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u00a0Kildare Observer 12th May 1894<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n

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\nPUNCHESTOWN<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Punchestown Reminiscences<\/strong><\/div>\n
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Fifty years ago \u201cprincely Punchestown\u201d was a very insignificant meeting as compared with the big gathering of later years. The Kildare hunt was always a most sporting body, and each year used to hold races somewhere in the neighbourhood of Naas, but these were purely local. For instance, just half-a-century ago, on the 22nd March, the K.H held its reunion. Four events were contested; the first – the Kildare Hunt Cup, only bringing out two runners, Mr de Burgh\u2019s Taglioni (owner) coming in first, and Mr. Lawless Moonraker (owner) second. Forty sovs, given by the Hunt, went to Mr Dunne\u2019s Fanny Elssler, and thirty-sovs, also contributed by the K.H to Mr Colgan\u2019s Chanter. The Ponsonby Bowl was captured by Mr Woodhouse\u2019s Milo. In 1849 a proper course was layed out over the fine grasslands of Punchestown. Several objectionable fences were avoided, and the winning field so selected that nearly the whole race was visible form it.. There were then thirteen fences in the three miles, two of them being walls. In this year (1849) it still remained a one day affair, but it was easy to see that it was fast becoming a popular feature, by the names of the gentlemen taking part in it. The Kildare Hunt cup brought out a good field. The winner turned up in Lord Drogheda\u2019s Westmeath, with Mr H Moore up; Mr Kirkpatrick\u2019s Canvaseer (owner) second; Sir E Kennedy\u2019 Yellow Dwarf (Mr Proby) third, and Lord St Laurence\u2019s Paragon (Mr W Kennedy) fourth. A plate of 80 sovs went to Mr M Dunne\u2019s spider (owner), and the open stakes to Mr lord Gunning, with Mr Meredith\u2019s Miss Despard second. A Hack Race finished up the day, which may be considered the first over the regular Punchestown course. In \u201957 and \u201958 we find Puncheston in full bloom. The meeting had then been extended to a two days\u2019 one, and in the first mentioned year nine events were decided, with large entries for each race. The Kildare Hunt Cup, in \u201957, was won by Lord Lawrence\u2019s Lobster, with that fine rider Capt \u201cDickey\u201d Bernard up. The Corinthian Cup of \u00a3100 was favourite race in those days, and we find Sir J Power, Lord Waterford, Mr Persse, Lord Howth, Mr Connolly, and other well-known sportsmen taking part in it. At the \u201958 meeting the Military Plate was first run for, and was won by Mr Handley\u2019s The Miller (Mr Browne). The Corinthian Cup of \u201958 has twelve runners, and went to Col Caulfied\u2019s Ace of Hearts, with Mr Thomas up. Mr J H Moore was to the front in this year, winning the Visitors\u2019 Plate with Rake, who also ran second to Mr Wall\u2019s Redskin in the Kildare Hunt Plate, Dan Meany being in the saddle in both rides. Thirty years ago, Punchestown has assumed such proportions that it was no misnomber to dub it \u201cPrincely\u201d. In this year (on 12th and 13th of April, 1864), there was a bumber meeting, and through the stand, &c, accommodation was poor, compared with what it provided for us now, nothing better in the way of fields of sport could have wished for. The gallant 10th and 15th Hussars were in Ireland that year, and made a goodly show; the hospitality and horsemanship of the officers of these regiments being as lavish and plucky as that of their representatives of to-day. A memorable race was the Grand National Hunt Steeplechase, which was, par excellence, the event of the meeting. Thirty-two horses were on the card, and of these no less than twenty-six came to the post. It was the custom at this time to put the county from which the horse halled in brackets. Dublin and Tipperary tied with five representatives each; Kildare, three, Meath and Cavan, two each; while Galway. Kilkenny, Meath, Westmeath, Louth, King\u2019s County and Cork had each a runner, and Scotland furnished a trio. Galway took the pride of place with Lord Clanricarde\u2019s Caustic; Tipperary next, with Mr Vane\u2019s Forager, and Dublin third, with Mr Banfield\u2019s Yellow Leaf. Amongst the owners and riders in this race were several names well-known to turtfies. Most of them, alas! Have gone over to the \u201cgreat majority\u201d, but a few are still with us. Amongst those riders in the race may be mentioned Capt M Craith, J H Moore, Tom Jackson, Mr Long, D Canny, Mr Leannigan, Mr M Aylmer, N M Delamere, Mr McGrane (who ran Blood Royal in the race), Mr J D White, Mr \u201cBob\u201d Exshaw, Capt Smith, Mr D Smithwiok, Capt Tempest, Mr C Allen and Mr Cashman. Mr Long\u2019s victory on Lord Clanricarde\u2019s Caustic was a very popular one. The winner was by Rasper, and was bred by Lord Freyne, Three weeks before the race Lord Clanricarde had been hunting the horse regularly with the Quorn, at Melton, and he was only sent over to Howth Castle for a couple of weeks\u2019 preparation, Mr Banfield, whose Yellow Leaf was third, was a nephew of Lord Clanricarde\u2019s, so the race was pretty well \u201cin the family\u201d. In these days, when everyone is betting, it appears strange to read, \u201cOwing to there being only two or three bookmakers present there was very little betting\u201d. The Grand Military brought out a fine field of fifteen, the winner turning up in Colonel Forster\u2019s (4th D.G) Tony Lumpkin; Captain Cunninhan\u2019s (11th Hussars) Stilton, second, and Major Ainstie\u2019s (1st Royal Dragoons) Miss Arthur, third.
\n1868 was a notable year at Punchestown, as being the occasion of the visit of their R.H.\u2019s the Prince and Princess of Wales. There was a very large attendance then, but the weather was anything but \u201croyal\u201d. It was in this year that the \u201cPrince of Wales\u2019s Plate\u201d was inaugurated – an event which has remained very popular ever since. The winner of the race in 1868 was Captain Pigott\u2019s Excelsior, with Captain Harford in the saddle: A field of twenty-one started for the initial race, and for the next five years it was well contested, and was won by such good horses as Fertullagh, Rufus, Huntsman, Quickstep, and Shylock.
\n1874 was a fine meeting, and many well-known men and there horses were there. The Bishopscourt Plate was the first event on the card; eighteen faced Major Dixon, and the winner was Mr Osborne\u2019s Warbler, steered by Mr \u201cSt James\u201d; Moorhen, with Tommy Beasley up being second. J D Whyte, R Exshaw, Captain Trooke, Colonel Harford, Mr Oldham, Captain Smith and Mr Apleton all rode in this race. Poor Mr \u201cSt James\u201d was in luck at this meeting as, besides winning Bishopscourt Plate, he also won The Drogheda Stakes, on Mr Moore\u2019s Leinster Lilly, and the Kildare Hunt Cup on Captain Tuthill\u2019s confederate. A splendid lot contested the \u201cPrince of Wale\u2019s Plate\u201d, which was won by Mr Chester\u2019s Albert (Mr Apleton); Mr Linde\u2019s Game Bird (Mr Beasley), second and Mr Poe\u2019s Gaslight (Cusack), third. Amongst the unplaced were-Scots Grey (Mr G Moore), Heraut de\u2019Armes (Captain Smith), Revoke (Mr St James), and Quickstep (T Ryan). A fine race was that for the Downshire Plate, for which there were seven starters. Mr Apleton had another winning mount on Mr Chester\u2019s Supple Jack, but \u201cGarry\u201d Moore, with another crusher of 14st 9lb, ran him close. Mr Moore\u2019s horsemanship on this occasion was have said to have been splendid. Supple Jack was looked upon as a perfect certainty, but was nearly beaten by Shylock, though the latter was conceding him the enormous lump of 48lbs. There was no doubt but that Shylock in \u201cGary\u201d Moore\u2019s hands, had no compeer with 15st up. These good horses, Revengo and Juggler, were amongst the unsuccessful ones in the Conyngham Cup, which was won by Mr Hume\u2019s Miltown (Col Harford), While Mr J D White, on Recipe was second, a position which he had the bad luck to fill in the same race on two former occasions, viz, on Polestar, in \u201968, and The Kitten, in \u201969. The veteran rider, Capt Trocke, whose victory at Punchestown, in the Prince of Wales Plate, a few days ago, was so popular rode Bombardier in the Vete
\nran Race in \u201974. He also rode Mistletoe in the Conyngham Cup, Sapling in the Kildare Hunt Cup, and Freney in the Bishopscourt Plate at that meeting. Capt Trocke, on Mr Harpurs Olympia, by Newton-le-Willows, won the Conyngham Cup in the \u201cPrince\u2019s Year\u201d (1868), beating Polestar, Cheerful Boy, and ten others, so that he can justly lay claim to being the Veteran of Punchestown.\u00a0 His contemporaries of a score of years back who are now alive have all retired. \u201cThe too, too solid flesh\u201d has handicapped \u201cGarry\u201d Moore out of the saddle; Tommy Beasley has \u201cmarried a wife;\u201d while other reasons prevent J.D. White and \u201cBob\u201d Exshaw from taking part in the sport they loved so well.\u00a0 The many new meetings around Dublin may, in some degree, dim the lustre of Punchestown, but it will ever remain dear to the hearts of race-goers who knew it in the good old days of a quarter of a century back.\u00a0 \u2013 Irish Sportsman.<\/div>\n
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\nThe Kildare Observer of May 12 1894 reminds its readers\u00a0that ‘fifty years ago \u00a0“princely Punchestown” was a very insignificant meeting as compared with the big gathering of later years’.Our thanks to Carl Dodd.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kildare Observer of May 12 1894 reminds its readers that ‘fifty years ago  "princely Punchestown" was a very insignificant meeting as compared with the big gathering of later years’.Our thanks to Carl Dodd.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newspaper-articles","category-uncategorised"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}