That’s so interesting! I am glad that there is continued research into the sport. I know it will always be a high-risk activity, but this thread has been interesting to read.
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Thanks for the insight!
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Right, we have some of those here in the U.S.
To my mind that’s just pointless noise. I don’t know why there are people who expend their precious life energy on things that are unattainable.
We have some that demonstrate at the Kentucky Derby, wanting to turn all the horses lose so that they can “run free”. When the activists turn mine “free”, he’s running straight back to the barn. He told me so.
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They ought look into the illegal race tracks, but they go for the ones with a high amount of media coverage instead. Are they in it for the animals or for the attention? If it was for the animals, they’d target the tracks that are giving street drugs to the racehorses. I saw a report from one animal rights group about the awful tracks with horses dropping dead from the drugs. That’s something we can all agree on. But going after highly monitored and regulated tracks? You’re not going to win.
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Yes… The hazards of hunter paces. Like the time a fisher cat dropped out of a tree onto the rump of a cantering, green, hot horse during the Myopia Hunter Pace, in 2017. Fishers are mustelids; they are not big, but they have sharp claws, they are vicious, and they stink. (And they make noises that sound like a small child being strangled… 911 gets called regularly during fisher mating season.) That team took extra time because the affected horse’s brains fell out of its head…
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Interesting post over in this thread
about this race
which reminded me of this thread.
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I don’t know enough to have an opinion about steeplechasing in the UK but I’ve been to the High Hope Steeplechase races in Lexington before and would love to get back there again sometime. I kind of think it’s a shame jump racing didn’t take off much in the US as far as horse history goes and seems to mainly be in a few pockets of the East Coast.
I wouldn’t want to see it all die out but a 40 horse field sounds extreme.
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Oh my goodness! I can only imagine that poor horse’s reaction…
“LION! LION! I’m going down! It’s all over!”
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I have a love/relationship with jump racing.
I love that it’s the intersection of sport and flat racing. I love the history of it. I love the types of horses who excel at it.
But I hate the carnage.
In the US, steeplechasing is basically on its last legs, not because of animal rights, but because of lack of interest. A few handfuls of rich owners, many of whom are getting up there in age, are the only backbone the sport has left. Booze and college kids are breathing the last breaths into the race meetings, as most of the major races rely on drunken tailgating in fancy clothes for income.
But anyway, one way they sport has become a lot safer over here is by shifting some of the activity to national fences on the turf courses of a pari-mutuel track. It’s much safer. But it’s so vanilla.
I am just rambling at this point. I don’t want jump racing to go away. I also don’t want horses to die.
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I would say that jump racing has a bigger following in the UK than flat. Both have a big public following and have many hours of terrestrial TV coverage, second only to soccer, as well as all the other media. The National is expected to have an audience of 10 million. At one time a quarter of the UK population “had a flutter” on the Grand National. I don’t know the current figure but many workplaces, pubs, clubs and even families will have a sweepstake. (Forgot to buy my ticket!)
Jump racing doesn’t involve international owners jetting in to spend eye-watering amounts of money at the sales to buy in to the very best pedigrees. A horse bred in a backyard has an outside chance of winning a serious race (can’t recall its name right now, won the Welsh National?) or one purchased for a small price may prove to be an exceptional horse far more frequently than in flat racing. Small owners have a chance of doing well.
I love the silks and sunshine of flat racing, the purity of speed, but there is a solid groundedness about jump racing that is appealing. It is hard to do a fashion commentary on the TV when everyone is wearing rain gear and wellies, even the TV presenters. On the other hand, racing, curiously, is one of the few occasions when the British public feel able to dress up to the nines. I think it is the result of “Ladies Day”, such as at Royal Ascot, which many race courses promote.
The jump horses run for many seasons, long enough to build up a public following. I recall going to one meeting and a big percentage of the crowd were wearing scarves in the colours of the popular horse running that day. Watching a horse’s career develop from hurdles on to jumping fences is interesting. Seeing horses fighting to the finish over a long race can be inspiring: courage, persistence, heart, will to win, summed up in the racing slang “bottom”. Flat racing is speed, which is exciting, but less about will. Winning a couple of quid on an old favourite, season after season, is affirming.
Jump racers are likely to be geldings. Flat mares go on to the paddocks, good flat stallions are promoted for breeding flat horses. It is deemed a drop in status when stallions are promoted specifically as jumping sires, even with good bloodlines. Many become so by default when their get proves successful over fences, often late in the stallions breeding career. Because most jumpers are geldings, they go on to other jobs in later life. Foxhunting is full of them. Team Chasing. Point to Pointing. I’ve sat and watched a past National winner run happily cross country out Eventing with an amateur. Dressage on retrained TBs is becoming ever more popular, both flat and jumper, to the extent many Trainers have a waiting list for horses leaving racing. Good eh?
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Dream Alliance
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I can only partially agree with this statement. In VA, MD, PA and SC, the steeplechase meets and point to points are well attended and the races fill. Is tailgating still the prime draw? Eh, maybe. But changes in the drunk driving laws and societal pressures have changed that as well.
The worst offenders that I can think of were the old Strawberry Hill races, Foxfield and the VA Gold Cup (once described as Coachella with horses) Strawberry Hill doesn’t exist anymore because they don’t have a course to run on, Foxfield and the Gold Cup are extensively policed (with an onsite booking station for drunk offenders.)
So there’s much less of the drunken frat party atmosphere than there was 20 - 30 years ago.
Point to Points used to be referred to as the “Pots and Pans” circuit, because all you won was a trophy and bragging rights. That’s changed as well. Good purses are being offered in sanctioned races, and that will always draw horses and horsemen. Not many flat tracks have turf courses these days, if you have a horse that prefers the turf, you’ll probably end up running it at steeplechase meets.
I do agree that the sport needs to both expand it’s participant base and its spectator base.
But back to safety. Fewer dead and injured horses would be good for everybody. I’m really impressed with the new National fences for hurdle races, with a clear ground line and a broad white line where the brush ends and the unforgiving fence begins. Anecdotally, it seems like there’s been fewer wrecks in the hurdle races since they were implemented.
The revisions they’ve made to the fences and the course for the Grand National are good. But there needs to be an even bigger focus on safety, because the public’s toleration for carnage on the race course is low and getting lower.
Reduce the size of the field. Have outriders on course. Keep the length and the number of jumping efforts so it’s still a test of endurance, stamina and heart.
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OMG! I’ve never heard of that happening in all my years of going to hunter paces!!! The worst that happened to my mare and me was when she got stung by a wasp just before going down a big hill at Shapleigh Hill. We somehow made it down in one piece (and REALLY fast!!!) and it’s only because my riding partner was behind me and saw the wasp land on my mare’s back, that I knew why she acted like that. I can’t imagine what she would have done with a fisher cat on her back! 
As for the Grand National - It’s an impressive race, but I just can’t watch the carnage. I don’t feel bad for the jockeys, it’s their decision. But the horses…I wish all of them could make it safely around.
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Thank you for the detailed explanation!
I had no idea! I saw a little of the point to point when I was stationed in Virginia, but didn’t know it was still going. I imagine the rapid development has made it harder.
Check out the Virginia and Maryland circuits here -
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I’m not anti-steeplechasing at all. But I could slash entries by more than 50% by erasing 5 owners and 5 trainers from the sport. That’s what I mean that it’s on its last legs (it’s been on it’s last legs most of my life). There are always amateurs and hunt members participating, but to fill entries, especially for the big races, it’s the same few folks. I know you know it’s a tight knit community.
Tomorrow I’ll be at Mt Harmon- which is crazy to me that we’ve added new point to points. It makes me happy.
Far Hills and Iroquois are two of the biggest drunken infield fests IMO. I would wager 90% of the people in attendance at either are barely aware that races are happening. It’s just a tailgate. Or, if you are older than your 20s, an excuse to have a corporate-sponsored open bar tent. I’m not anti-alcohol, but steeplechasing is one high profile drunk driving accident away from losing a lot of that money they “found.”
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We had a black lesson pony who’s show name was Velvet Elvis.
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The race started 14 minutes late because of protesters attempting to cut through the fences to get onto the course and a handful who super-glued themselves to the brush of a fence. Several arrests. One horse died after the race, having fallen at fence 1.
