Off to the Races: In the Virginia Piedmont, the festive annual steeplechases draw thousands
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James Madison's home Montpelier makes an elegant backdrop for the excitement of steeplechase racing. -
The Montpelier Hunt Races includes the challenge of jumping over fences. -
Jack Russell terrier races are a popular pre-horse race event. -
The tailgating is upscale.
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ORANGE, Va. -- Autumn's scarlets and golds were splashed across the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains when jockeys gathered here in central Virginia last month to compete in the 77th annual Montpelier Hunt Races.
The only steeplechase meet held on the vast grounds of a presidential mansion -- James Madison's Montpelier -- this festive event on the first Saturday in November features seven races and attracts nearly 20,000 spectators. For many natives of Virginia's Piedmont, it's a homecoming and a not-to-be-missed reunion in this rural community 30 miles northeast of Charlottesville.
"Behind Christmas and Christmas Eve, this is our next biggest holiday," said Joe Hill of Richmond, Va., who has come to the races for 25 years, usually accompanied by Mr. Nibblett, his beloved Jack Russell terrier.
When: The 78th running will be Nov. 3, 2012. The event is held rain or shine. Fall temperatures in the 50s and 60s are typical but it has been known to snow or rain so be prepared for extremes in weather.
Tickets: 1-540-672-0014 or www.montpelierraces.org . Children under 12 free. General admission: $20. General parking: $30; infield parking: $100. The higher fee does not buy a reserved space.
Montpelier information: www.montpelier.org .
Getting there: Orange is a 51/2-hour drive from Pittsburgh. Go east on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (Route 76) to Breezewood, then follow 70 East. Take Interstate 81 South. Outside Winchester, Va., take 66 East. Follow Route 17 to Route 15, which leads into Orange.
Staying there: To arrange hotel accommodations: www.innsatmontpelier.com .
Restaurants: • The Light Well (110 E. Main St. Orange, 22960, 1-540-661-0004; www.thelightwell.com ) is a casual bistro and bar. • For French food, Pomme (115 S. Main St., Gordonsville, 22942, 1-540-832-0130; www.restaurant-pomme.com ). • For Italian food, make a reservation several weeks in advance at Palladio, a popular restaurant on the grounds of Barboursville Vineyards (17655 Winery Road, Barboursville, 22923; www.barboursvillewine.net )
After the dog died recently, Mr. Hill endowed a trophy in honor of his pet, who often competed in the Jack Russell terrier race held before the horses start galloping and jumping over privet hedges.
Besides the terrier race, there's a stick horse race for children. Then a parade of the Keswick Fox Hounds. For the first time this year, there was a hat competition, spurred in part by the royal nuptials of British Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Montpelier, the elegant neoclassical mansion where Madison lived with Dolley for most of his life, is open for tours. And there are vendors selling wine, high-quality chocolates, hats and equestrian art. The tasting line for the wine from Barboursville Vineyards in Barboursville was long.
Steeplechase racing originated in England where equestrians galloped over the countryside, using church steeples as markers. Steeplechase horses must be strong, long winded and possess endurance to clear the three-foot, nine-inch high uniform fences that have fake brush behind them.
"The horses can train over them and know what to expect," said Martha Strawther, who has directed the Montpelier Hunt Races for six years.
But, at Montpelier, real "brush fences are huge and very wide. It takes a much more talented horse to jump those. They are made of privet," she said, adding that horses clear widths ranging from 12 to 16 feet on the big jumps.
"It's not a sprint. It's more of a 10K," said Neil Morris, a licensed trainer for 20 years.
"We need [the horses] to build and build and build in increasing speed. They can't be flat out and crazy early or you won't get the distance," Mr. Morris said.
One reason jockeys love steeplechase competition is because it's more about horse racing than wagering, although you can still bet on the action.
"The atmosphere of steeplechase racing is more family oriented. You see kids playing all over the place. It's much more of a social gathering. It's much more of a tailgating experience," said jockey Matt McCarron, who won his 200th race at Montpelier while riding Rainiero.
Among the cheering spectators was native Pittsburgher Kevin Malecki, a US Airways pilot who grew up in Hopewell and lives in Williamsburg, Va. Although he doesn't miss a televised Steelers game, he enjoyed the weekend, arranged by his wife, Denise, as a surprise birthday present.
"What I liked about it was how close you were to the action," Mr. Malecki said. Spectators are behind a fence but the horses riding past are just a few feet away, a proximity most people do not enjoy at a flat track like Churchill Downs in Kentucky.
Mr. Malecki ate well, too. Food at the tailgate he and his wife attended was provided by the nearby Inn at Westwood Farm, where he and his wife stayed. It featured pumpkin soup, roast beef, pork tenderloin and pumpkin cheesecake. The dessert, made by Jay Billie, who runs the inn with his wife, Elizabeth Goeke, won an award from the judges.
The late Marion duPont Scott is often called America's first lady of racing because of her passion for building tracks and raising champions. In 1938, her horse, Battleship, a son of Man O'War, became the first American steed to win the British Grand National Steeplechase. Her father, William, bought the Madison estate in 1901. She built the steeplechase race course there in 1929; the race was first sanctioned by the National Steeplechase Association in 1934.
In the race's early years, Scott, whose three-year marriage to actor Randolph Scott ended in divorce, opened the former Madison estate to the public and did not charge admission. Local women sold ham, biscuits, pies and cakes. Scott rode through the grounds in a horse-drawn carriage, flinging coins to children.
When she died in 1983, Scott left Montpelier to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which has since painstakingly restored the 22-room mansion to the way it looked in Madison's day. Visitors can stand in a room on the second floor that affords a stunning view of the Blue Ridge Mountains; it's where Madison wrote the U.S. Constitution. Madison was the thinker, but it's his wife's social skills as a renowned Washington hostess that continue at today's races.
Scott's founding of the races was "very much a gift to the town and county of Orange because it was free," said Mrs. Strawther, the race director. "She underwrote the whole thing. It was the only time the grounds were open to the public. It became a tradition."
For Judy Fitzhugh Estes, who lives in nearby Gordonsville, the event has been part of her life since she was a child. This year, she participated in the promenade of hats and was thrilled to win second place. Her pumpkin wool hat, which she found in a thrift shop, was trimmed with a feather and belt buckle in the shape of a horse. Her prize was well worth the effort -- dinner at the Inn at Willow Grove, a white-columned mansion in Orange so luxurious that it would have set Scarlett O'Hara's heart fluttering.
Mrs. Estes, who often volunteers to arrange flowers at Montpelier, met her husband, Joe, at the races in 1996 and the couple married two years later.
"I just love the social part. You see folks you haven't seen since last year," Mrs. Estes said, adding that the tailgates are "a feast for the eyes" as well as the stomach. She favors steamed shrimp with Old Bay seasoning and dirty martinis all around.
This year, jockey Jacob Roberts did well, winning the first race on Hulako. But in the last race, which began at 4:30, he rode Cherokee Speed. The horse fell and Mr. Roberts tumbled to the ground. Another horse stepped on him and he suffered a broken and a cracked rib. A helicopter ferried him to a nearby hospital but he is fine, Mrs. Strawther said.
The day was memorable for Mr. Morris, a trainer who came to the United States from England in 1984 and lives outside Middleburg, Va. He marked a personal best at Montpelier because three of his horses won purses -- Hulako in the first, Winning Vow in the third and Saint Dynaformer in the fourth.
"Winning Vow won by 103/4 lengths," Mr. Morris said.
For Mr. McCarron, riding a multitalented horse like Rainiero is an unbeatable thrill.
"He'll jump the fence three different ways. He does it flawlessly," he said. "When they're jumping really well, it just takes you to another plane."
First Published December 11, 2011 12:00 am
