The DC Traveler

The annual running of the Virginia Gold Cup horse races in The Planes, Virginia,about 45 miles from Washington, DC, attracts 35,000 spectators each May. 
It all started in 1922 when eight area horsemen organized a four-mile race through the local countryside. 
Today, the event has grown to seven races run throughout the afternoon, over a formal cross-country racing circuit between two and four miles long. The mostly former thoroughbred race horses jump dozens of fences, railings and hedges, some over 4 feet in height along the grass circuit.   Riders and horses from around the county come to the Gold Cup …read more

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Unlike traditional thoroughbred horse racing, the steeplechase is a 2-4 mile cross-country horse race with about a dozen jumps over 52-inch fences, hedges or railings along the route. Jockeys are larger than the flat track counterparts, usually in the 140-160 pound range, versus their 110 lb. counterparts.
The horses are the same, most being former thoroughbred racers from flat track racing, that been converted due to their speed and ability to jump. The race starts not from a gate, but in an open line or from a walk.
In it’s 82nd,year, the always popular running of The Virginia Gold Cup steeplechase race …read more

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