History of Jump Racing
Steeplechasing, in America and elsewhere, is a sport that celebrates the long and close relationship between man and the horse. Today’s international sport grew out of the hunting field, where riders depended upon the athleticism
History of Jump Racing
Steeplechasing, in America and elsewhere, is a sport that celebrates the long and close relationship between man and the horse. Today’s international sport grew out of the hunting field, where riders depended upon the athleticism, strength, speed, and sure-footedness of their horses to carry them safely over fence, field, and stream.
Steeplechasing traces its lineage to Ireland in the mid-18th century, and in recent decades its beauty and excitement have attracted the participation of leaders in commerce and industry. In England, HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, was an avid fan and participant for more than a half century, and Prince Charles has ridden in steeplechase races. In the United States, families bearing such well-known names as duPont, Mellon, Vanderbilt, Whitney, Widener, Clark, and Phipps have raced horses over fences.
Steeplechases often have been presented in conjunction with racing at established race tracks, which is known as flat racing. In fact, steeplechasing helped to save American horse racing early this century when betting was banned at the New York tracks. But steeplechasing has developed its own distinct identity. While flat racing is largely conducted at big-city tracks, steeplechasing is a country sport, usually conducted over natural terrain.
John Hislop, an English horseman who wrote a definitive book about steeplechasing, perhaps best described the differences between the two Thoroughbred racing sports. Although speaking about England and Irish racing, his distinction is equally accurate for American steeplechasing. He wrote:
“Steeplechasing has about it rather more glamour and excitement than the flat, a trace of chivalry, a spice of danger, and a refreshing vigor that the smooth urbanity of flat-racing lacks. The atmosphere is less restrained, more friendly, more intimate and more sympathetic. It gives the impression of being a sport and not primarily a business, for though it seems impossible to preserve any present-day pastime from the tarnishing influence of Mammon, the majority of those who patronize steeplechasing do so from a true love of its qualities, rather from what it yields materially.”
In the United States, steeplechasing has reached new heights of material awards — purses approached $5-million in 2013 — but it remains a sport with a heart. Most steeplechase meets are conducted by nonprofit organizations, and the proceeds from the races go to charitable causes. Each year, steeplechasing gives millions of dollars to its charitable beneficiaries.
By most accounts, the first steeplechase race was held in 1752 in County Cork, Ireland, where a horseman named O’Callaghan engaged Edmund Blake in a match race, covering approximately 4 1/2 miles from Buttevant Church to St. Mary’s Doneraile, whose tower was known as St. Leger Steeple. Indeed, church steeples were the most prominent — and tallest — landmarks on the landscape, and the sport took its name from the chase to the steeple. History did not record the winner of the O’Callaghan-Blake match, or if either of them completed their cross-country chase.
This form of cross-country match racing — “my horse against yours” — soon spread to England, and the first reported race involving more than two horses occurred in 1792, when Charles Meynell defeated Lord Forester and Mr. Gilbert in an eight-mile race from Barkby Holt to Billesden Coplow and back. The first race over an established course occurred in Bedfordshire in 1810. The sport quickly grew in popularity, and the first Grand National was staged in 1839 at Aintree, a small town outside Liverpool on England’s western coast.
Over the years, the Grand National and its towering fences have held a special fascination for Americans whose horses race over fences, and American-owned horses have had excellent success over the historic Aintree course. Mr. Frisk, owned by Maryland sportswoman Mrs. Harry F. Duffey, won the race in 1990, and Pennsylvania horsewoman Elizabeth Moran’s Papillion won the Grand National a decade later.
Steeplechasing found its way to the United States through the fox-hunting field and had esta