Steeplechasing

Steeplechasing sounds like a name that might be given for running down certain streets in the bible belt that are lined with every denomination of church you can think of. But, meet us at the table to hear more about the origins of a steeplechase.

I'm Lainie, and I'm Laura Beth, and we are Steel Magnolias-the strength of steel. With the grace of a magnolia. We're here to have uplifting conversations about life in the South. And we've got plenty of room at our table, so pull up a chair!

Welcome back to the Steel Magnolias podcast. We hope that you're having a good week so far. Thanks for coming to the table with us. I wasn't planning to say this, but if you want to connect with us more, we have a newsletter that we send out monthly. And we have an active Instagram account. So I will have both of those links in our show notes. If you would like just a little bit more pictures or sort of tidbits from us- we on there.  So I can safely say the word steeplechase is not something that I've thought about before. And it is a very strange word. It is a funny word. And yeah, I don't know that I ever had either. I mean, I think I had thought that's a funny word, but never like dug in. We're gonna get into some specific races later, but I think I thought that since Nashville has a steeplechase race that's very popular here. That it was sort of a word, just for here for this race. Okay, so not true. No, I knew that there were others. I've never been to any of the others, only the Iroquois here in Nashville. Yes. But it's a thing. Steeplechasing is a thing. So yeah. Where did that word come from? 

Hunting is a direct ancestor of Steeplechasing.  So in that hunting world, especially like fox hunting world, they would be on horseback. And, you know, with the letting the hounds out, on a fox hunt, the way the word came about is, they would race to landmarks, which makes sense, and church steeples are the highest thing in the city. So it was, you know, a race to the steeple. Yes. Steeple to steeple. And it makes total sense. Because a lot of skylines that you see, you can recognize a steeple. You're right. It's the highest point, especially in this time period before skyscrapers. That's right. And I just love that about an old city, an old little small town or something. That really was the concept was to be the highest point.  The church wanted people to be able to see it, so they could come. Oftentimes on a hill, or a hilltop, it would be the highest point. So not necessarily building the highest point, but putting it actually up on your high facing landscape. So riders would have to jump through obstacles in an Irish countryside that were naturally there, There are stone walls everywhere. Fences, ditches, they gotta keep their sheep in the pastures. Bodies of water weren't out of limits either, streams and little riverbanks and things. So it was a very treacherous sort, of course. And you mentioned Ireland. That's where this all began. We have to remember America is a new country. Doesn't seem like that all the time. But in America and elsewhere, the sport celebrates a long tradition again between man and horse and today the sport has grown out of the hunting field, as you mentioned, and tons of athleticism strength and surefootedness. Can you imagine the balance required to stay on the horse? I feel like my stomach is getting a core workout just thinking about it. 

But in England Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, she was an add avid fan. And participant for more than half a century. Prince Charles has ridden in steeplechase races, and in the United States families that would would be known that have all raced- Dupont, Mellon, Vanderbilt Whitney, Clark, Phipps, they have all raced horses. I love that. Well, it does take a lot of money to participate in horse sports, that's for sure. It's just a lot of equipment and boarding of horses, so you usually don't see a whole lot of the poor getting to participate in this sport.  

Steeplechasing is primarily conducted, as we mentioned, in Ireland, where it has its roots in the UK, Canada, the US, Australia, France, there may be some others, but I think those are sort of the ones that are regularly having races. And it's so funny when you when you hear of the biggest horse farms here in the States, many of them are in Kentucky. And they'll often be owned by Irish companies that also have a place in Ireland. Like that's just a very natural. Horses are big in Ireland and in the south. And I would just say, Steeplechasing here in our country in America, it was developed in the South. Yeah. And most of the races are still held in the yes, there they are in other places, but most of them are in the South. Yes. So it's, it's up there with other race formats in terms of the accolades and awards I don't want it to sound like it's a sort of side race. It is very much prominent, in fact there are purses and by purses, I mean, the winnings. Yeah, like the I had to look that up just to make sure that I said it correctly. You know, 60% of a purse would go to the winner and it can be purses of 5 million can be associated today with Steeplechasing so 60% of that going to the winner 20% to the runner up and then 10% to the third place winner with the rest going to the other racers, but yeah, the person is just that total amount of money dedicated to being paid out for the top finisher. So yeah, $5 million was the highest that it got to 2013 and it's grown since then. There's a lot of money with all this gambling. There is but you know what I also found in looking into this, there is a large kind of passion or heart component to a lot of these races. There's a lot that are conducted by nonprofit organizations. Oh, most of these that's what the tickets go to proceeds going to local or national organizations. There's millions of dollars being given out to charitable organizations and children's hospitalsThat is pretty cool, I wanted to be sure to mention that, that it's not just for self gratification and  wealth building. 

Well, the steeplechase horse is a thoroughbred horse. It's the same kind of horse you're gonna see run on American racetracks all over the place. In addition to speed, these horses must possess the ability to jump fences, you know, at still at a fast pace. Yeah. So they're very athletic. They're usually a little older than the horses, you're going to say running on the flat track. Okay. And most of them have had experience on the flat track as well. That makes sense. steeplechase races are longer races than those flat track race, so they have to have a lot of stamina. Yeah. And we were kind of joking even before we hit record on this, if you think of it even on a human level, which Steeplechasing is sometimes synonymous with just running of the hurdles in track and field races without a horse. We were joking that hurdles would have been the very last track activity we would want to have signed up for. You said pole vaulting as well.  Yeah, those seem scary. If I had to even choose between those two though. I think I would still pick pole vaulting over jumping hurdles. It is dangerous. You have to have some long legs to do that. So when you said stamina. We didn't mentioned athleticism. That's real. 

I think most of the races are this time period, the spring.  Yes, starting in March, that is why we’re talking about it right now. I came across at least 12 steeplechase races in the South. 

So the very first one is in Aiken, South Carolina. Is that the one you found? Yeah. And they actually just had theirs this past weekend. So we're quickly moving into April. So they've already had theirs. Just this past weekend. They're in the north west part of the state, near Augusta Georgia. So we have many steeple chases in April. April 2nd in Camden, South Carolina there is the Carolina Cup races. That's kind of in the middle of the state. Not too far from Columbia, South Carolina. And Camden is also the home of the National steeplechase Museum. Oh, cool. That is an operation from 10 to four Wednesday through Saturday, from September to May Well, that's fun to get both a race and and museum and in. June to August. their hours are 10 to three Thursday through Saturday. So you can also make an appointment. Apparently, if you want to go at a different time. If you're making that trip, hit the museum as well. 

Maryland has three April races. Go Maryland. Our Lady’s Manor in Monckton, Maryland. Two of these are just north of Baltimore, that one as well as April 23, the Grand National Steeplechase in Butler, Maryland.  April 16. In Columbus, North Carolina, there's the Tyron Block House races, okay, as well as Middlesburg, Virginia and Charlottesville, Virginia, April 23, Middleburgh Spring races. That one's also close to Maryland, kind of in that west of Washington, DC area. Okay. And Charlottesville has the Foxfield Spring races. It's sounds fun. And it's the home of UVA. So it's just a beautiful area, kind of in the middle of the state. Yeah. And I think you had something to say to about this one. Glyndon, Maryland, the Maryland Hunt Cup. And that's not too far from the Pennsylvania line. Yeah, so that's always the last Saturday of April and this one started way back in 1894 were the members of the Elk Ridge fox hunting club, challenged the members of the green Spring Valley Hunt Club, to a timber race. The first Maryland hunt cup, so the race organizers wanted the race to be run over natural hunting country, ridden by amateurs and have no commercial activity. And in 1922, Worthington Valley became the permanent home of the four mile, 22 fence Racecourse. Since then, the spectacle has grown. It's very family friendly, apparently. And, yeah, so it's, you know, involves an afternoon of picnicking and tailgating and, you know, it's grown in size, of course, but they only have the one race.   And that's different than some of the these, you're gonna have five or six races in a day. You know, there is the final biggest Race. So it's a day of racing. They're four o'clock Eastern local time, race is the only race. The only one but if you were interested in watching that one via live stream, you can do that this year. I don't know if they've done that for several years or not. I don't know if that's a COVID sort of inclusion, but the national steeplechase association will show that one on April 30 on their live stream, I'll put that link in the show notes is of interest to you. Also on April 30 is the Queen's cup steeplechase in Mineral springs, North Carolina. So that's just south of Charlotte almost on that South Carolina line. Okay, I think that's all of our April southern steeplechases.  I wonder if the Queen's ever been to the Queen's cup? She's come to races here, The Kentucky derby. Yeah. It's funny when you mentioned her, she seems the happiest when she is outside. Like just the times you see her just so joyful and I just believe she's very much an Outdoors Woman. Which now she's elderly, so she's not getting to ride as much.  But she was riding even at an old age and yeah, out with her little corgis. And I guess it seems sort of tomboyish. So it seems so opposite of what you'd expect a queen to be interested in. But a queen isn't a Queen except for her lineage, so she can't help it. She's got a love of the outdoors. And she apparently really loves to spend time in their Scotland home. Yeah, I've heard that. And I've seen pictures of it. It looks like so dreamy to me of just like that hunt lodge kind of feel.

I was gonna say, as you're going through the schedule, we have a schedule, we'll post in our show notes. So you don't have to take notes if you're really wanting to know any of this. So may 7, can we get into the May races? Yeah. Just west of DC. There is the Virginia Gold Cup in Plains, Virginia. Okay. And then the next Saturday, here in Nashville is the May 14. Iroquois steeplechase. This is the only one I have been to. Well, again, as I started the episode, the world revolving around me, I thought this was the only steeplechase that existed. So when you're young, you just think we have the only one. Well, it is beautiful. It's set in Percy Warner Park here in Nashville. And their mission is to create funds that they can support Monroe Carroll Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt hospital here, which is an amazing, very well renowned hospital. We got to actually participate in a tailgating contest three years ago. Can you believe it was already three years ago? That was so much fun. We got to judge the best tailgating, and they go all out as do I'm sure a lot of these different races. But this again, this is the only one we've experienced firsthand. So you know, I'm talking about like, from chandeliers to furniture, themes that are on all different the drinks in the food. We're all a according to theme toolbars bartenders stat like you know, staffed bartender catered, you know, with servers, I mean, and then also the very homegrown looking spots which some of their food looked even better, right, they've got the homemade pimento cheese and deviled eggs and just you know, cornhole.  So there is a wide spectrum, but they are one of the races that has multiple races all day long, right. And so you can be tailgating but you could also go ahead and go inside the track and see different races happening all day long. And as with most any horse racing, be it just on an American flat track or Steeplechasing. You have the people that are dressed up and true making a whole day of it. And then you have more of like the hillside or you know, sometimes the infield of American racetracks where that's kind of more people in shorts and T shirts and a lot more casual.,But people that probably know a lot more about racing, I would say the people knowing more about it are dressed up and sitting in a seat. Yeah, because they really want to see the race. What I meant versus party, or tailgate. Oh, yeah. Right. Yes. Just about the party. They don't even know there's a race happening. There is that joke where people say I never saw a horse. 

But I will say you know, some of this takes planning, buying a ticket and obviously if you're tailgating you're planning the whole setup. But boy, are these weather specific as far as if it's going to be good or not.  So glad you mentioned that because I mean think about April showers bring May flowers. So that's a real problem to navigate and yes, even in to May you can have some really, really hot days and some really cold days. That's right. So it's hard to maneuver, you know, you got to make the plan before you know the weather and then it really is if it's a beautiful day, it's gonna be the best Yeah, but if it's messy, just get ready.That's why all these rain boots in so many cute colors have come out. Because you still got to get out in the mud. Chic, but yeah, functional. 

Do you have any others? The only other one is Fairhill Maryland, May 28. The fair Hill races that's kind of in the northeast corner of Maryland. So okay, well, we'll include that one as well. Okay. Well, I will mention a couple that are going to be even in the fall even as late as November.  But yes, they're prominent enough and definitely worth mentioning- so steeplechase of Charleston, which is a tradition that began back in 1792. Of course, they start everything before everybody, yeah. show offs. So their last event was November 2021. So I'm sure they'll have 2022 dates posted soon. But I don't have those exact exact dates, but they have five high stake races at that event, and it's family friendly. And there is one called The Steeplechase at Callaway Gardens, which is in Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia, which is on the northeast tip of the state of Georgia. And they have, again, beautiful grounds that you know, stunning sort of woodland set up there. And they have a fox hound parade. Oh, how cute. They have pony races, Jack Russell Terrier races, the hat contest, raffle drawings. It sounds very fun. Again, I don't have the 2022 dates yet, but I'm sure that they're gonna need to try to do that. That sounds so fun soon. So I really liked how they broadened it yes to beyond just horses. That sounds really fun for kids to very much participate very much. 

Well, the National steeplechase association is the sanctioning body of these races, these jumping races. And so I just wanted to talk just a moment about them as well. They are based in that Fair Hill, Maryland, where I was mentioning that last race of the spring is they're responsible for licensing owners, trainers and jockeys.  They establish the rules for the sport and organize the entries for the races. They also have, you know, just some safety elements. They require the jockeys to wear certified helmets and chest protectors and meet stringent crash protection standards to make this safe because good jumping. We've seen it before where somebody has fallen off or you know, yeah, that's always kind of startling. Yeah, see something like that. And for those that are worried the whips that they use are padded, so it protects the well being of the steeplechase horses. So if it looks like they're whipping them good. It's not like yeah, as bad as it looks right. It's not a slashing. Yeah. So anyhow, grateful for that organization that does so much to keep the integrity of the sport going. So good. Yeah, you have to have some sort of governing body to keep things running smoothly and something this old in this large.  So some of you all may have been attending steeplechase races and some of these are so old, you may be watching from the very standpoint or see that like your grandparents used to sit and watch these races. I would love to know if there's stories out there of people that have been attending any of these or when we didn't even mention, you know, something that was interesting. When I mentioned I had relistened to Gone With the Wind. Yeah, the song My Old Kentucky Home was in that and it's just those kinds of things that you go whoa, this is old. Yeah, you know, this tradition is old. It is cool to think about all the generations that have stood where you're standing. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, we love traditions. We do well, we hope we've inspired you to get the calendar out. Pick one of these steeplechases to attend pack your picnic and I guess get your fascinator and rain boots ready just in case we don't know what the weather may bring but gather your people and go hit the track. 

So good. Lainie, Peace be with you. And also with y’all!