This event was allegedly run by the officers of a regiment stationed at Ipswich in 1803: 'The First Steeplechase on Record. Cannon-Ball, on his "Gunpowder" horse, challenging the champion to a struggle for the lead. They charged the last fence together: and while the "Great Gun" jumped smash through the middle of the gate, the grey, still hand in hand, stepped neatly over the strong hurdle fence and bank, by a jump on and off. Subden came third: the Lounger's horse, careless of his "woe ful" cries. Sipson was making a good line of his own across a field: and two, dismounted in the distance, were exercising alike their patience, ingenuity and powers of persuasion, in the subjection of their refractory steeds.' The History of Horse Racing by Roger Longrigg, page 156.