By Toby Beavers Virginia Horse Farm Realtor
The sport of Steeplechase racing dates back to 1752 in Irelandwhen two, half-crocked, friends settled the argument over whoowned the best horse by racing to the nearest Church steepleafter returning from Fox hunting. The winner actually rode rightthrough the church where the vicar was holding a solemn funeral.Soon it spread to England, where in 1792, the first recordedrace was held. This sport then crossed over from the Atlantic tothe US, where it has became very popular.
In the early 19th century nine prominent men from New York -August Belmont, H. DeCourcy Forbes, Samuel S.Howland, James O.Green, Frederick Gebhard, A.J. Cassatt, Foxhall P. Keene, JohnG. Follansbee and Frederick H. Prince founded the NationalAssociation for Steeplechase. When it was first founded, itsmission was to make the sport popular in the US and help it growacross the Atlantic. For membership details and other smalltidbits about the Association, you can visit their website athttp://www.nsfdn.org/membership.html.
Steeplechase races are held at 12 states across the country andthe cumulative purses for these events are $5 million annually.The horse races are a place to see and be seen at. It’s seenacross the country by millions of fans and admirers and is amajor sponsored event where corporate sponsors vie with eachother for sponsorship of the events. It attracts the best talentfor horses, horse owners, and riders and also raises millions ofdollars in charities. Thus it also attracts the most powerfuland the influential men and women. If you have seen PrettyWoman, you pretty much have got the idea.
Some of the oldest and the most prestigious steeplechase horseracing events are Montpelier Hunt Races, which was started onthe estates of Former President James Madison since 1929. Formore information you can visit their sitehttp://www.montpelier.org/races.htm. Others are The AmericanGrand National that began in 1899 and the The National Hunt Cupin Radnor, Pa., which was started in 1909. For more informationon steeplechase racing across the country, you can visithttp://www.steeplestakes.com/links.html, which lists all theraces, their schedules and the prize monies.
In Virginia, you can visit the Virginia Steeplechaseassociation at http://www.vasteeplechase.com/. The big races inVirginia are Virginia Gold Cup, FoxField races atCharlottesville, Virginia, Fairfax Hunt races at Great Falls,Middleburg Spring races at Middleburg, Montpelier Hunt Races atMontpelier Station, Morven park Steeplechase races at Leesburg,Mountaineer chest track in Chester etc.
You can also visit these websites for further information onracing in Virginia.http://www.ctownraces.com/http://www.colonialdowns.com/ http://www.fairfaxhuntraces.org/http://www.montpelier.org/ http://www.foxfieldraces.com/http://www.vagoldcup.com/ http://www.middleburgspringraces.com/
Article Source: www.ArticlesBase.com
