for: Steeplechase (disambiguation) The steeplechase is a form of horse racing (primarily conducted in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, France, and Ireland) and derives its name from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside. In the UK and Ireland the official term now used for the sport is National Hunt racing.

It is a term now used to refer to a distance horse race with diverse fence and ditch obstacles; the most famous of these is the Grand National run annually at Aintree Racecourse, in Liverpool, since its inception in 1837.

History

"The lads from the village" - the first recorded steeplechase 1830 The steeplechase originated in Ireland in the 18th century as an analogue to cross-country thoroughbred horse races which went from church steeple to church steeple, hence "steeplechase". The first steeplechase is said to have been the result of a wager in 1752 between Mr. Cornelius O'Callaghan and Mr. Edmund Blake, racing four miles (6 km) cross-country from Buttevant Church to St. Leger Church in Doneraile, in Cork, Ireland. An account of the race was believed to have been in the library of the O'Brien's of Dromoland Castle. Most of the earlier steeplechases were contested cross-country rather than on a track, and resembled English cross country as it exists today. The first recorded steeplechase over a prepared track with fences was run in Bedlam, North Yorkshire in 1810.The first recognised English National Steeplechase took place on Monday 8th March 1830. The 4 mile race, organised by Thomas Coleman of St.Albans, was run from Bury Orchard, Harlington in Bedfordshire to the Obelisk in Wrest Park, Bedfordshire. The winner was Captain Macdowall on “The Wonder”, owned by Lord Ranelagh, who won in a time of 16 mins 25 seconds. Reports of the event appeared in the May and July editions of the “Sporting Magazine” in 1830.

United States

In the United States, there are two forms of Steeplechasing (or jumps racing). The most prevalent kind of racing over jumps is Hurdles racing. There are two types of hurdles, National fences (developed by the National Steeplechase Association), and Camden's - the latter, for the most part, have been retired. National fences stand 4ft. 6in. tall at the highest point, but are mostly made of synthetic "brush" that offers little resistance to a horse passing through. The fence is made up of a 2.5 ft. foam quarter round placed in front of an approximately 3 ft. frame that holds the brush pieces. The manner of construction allows a horse to run into the hurdle without jumping at all, and still have a good chance of remaining upright. Because of this, a horse is not severely penalized for lacking an arc to its jump, since it can brush through the top foot or so of the brush jump. In racing over fences, the horse is trained to jump in as much of a regular stride as possible, this allows the horse to maintain its speed upon landing. Since it is not always possible to meet a fence in stride, the horses are also schooled in how to jump out of stride. An out of stride jump can decrease a horses speed drastically. Hurdle races are commonly run at distances of about 1 3/4 - 2 1/2 miles. In the United States, hurdles races are sometimes held at the major tracks such as Keeneland, Saratoga and Belmont, as well as at race meets dedicated solely to jumps racing.