A person who has never been to a steeplechase has not experienced equestrian sports at its finest. No equestrian contest demands as much of a horse and rider. In many areas of United States and England, the local steeplechase is the social event of the season offering beautiful horses, plenty of libations, and an escape to a different time.
The modern day steeplechase has its roots in the old “pounding matches” held in Ireland in the late 17th century. These dual matches pitted 2 men on horseback in a ride across the countryside, with the winner being determined simply by the horse the managed to stay upright the longest. In runs that went on for miles, eventually one horse would fall out due to pure exhaustion. It was a brutal sport and hell on a good horse.
As equestrian sporting pursuits became more civilized, a new form of race took hold. By the mid-18th century chosen courses with a terminating finish line of a an agreed upon landmark, often a church steeple or tower, were the norm. Thus, the word “steeplechase,” although the term “steeplehunt” was apparently the original term used.
The Iriquois Steeplechase held in Nashville, TN, is one of the largest in the United States
Historians cite the 1752 wager between Mr. Cornelius O’Callaghan and Mr. Edmund Blake, racing four miles cross-country from Buttevant Church to St. Leger Church in Doneraile, in Cork, Ireland. History does not note a winner of the race.
As the popularity of these steeple to steeple races grew, prizes and wagering became part of the experience. A draft of conditions for an Irish steeplechase race held in 1803 noted, “a sweepstake with added money of a hogshead of claret, a pipe of port and a quarter-cask of rum.”
While early races were mostly duals, the idea of matching a number of horses and riders against one another originated from fox hunting. In England, as the Industrial Revolution began to consume forests, which supported deer populations, the British aristocracy turned from stag hunting to fox hunting, which proved to be more exciting in any case. The sport was fast and required horses that could keep pace with the fox and the hounds. It became clear that slower horses lacking the jumping ability to navigate the natural obstacles that might cross the a rider’s path during a fox hunt had no place in a hunt.
A James Pollard depiction of St. Albans Steeplechase outside of London, one of the first organized annual steeplechase events in the world.
Thoroughbred sires were increasingly crossed on grade mares of various types to produce a horse that had excellent speed, stamina, and jumping ability. The noble classes began to take this breeding very seriously and it became a matter of pride to see who had the best mounts. Suddenly hunt racing was no longer about chasing the silly fox, but about who had the best horses. Riders didn’t need a fox to test the horses, so the horses and their mounts simply lined up in groups and took off across the countryside to test the merits of their breeding. This was the beginning of the modern day steeplechase, as we know it today.
Tags: history of steeplechase racing, hunt racing, steeplechase, the first steeplechase