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By Civil War times, small steeplechase events were staged up and down the East Coast, run as race meetings held in the 1880’s in Massachusetts, New York, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas. Many of the meetings continue to this day.
Unlike flat racing, which developed as a commercial sport for professionals traditionally associated with organized pari-mutuel betting, steeplechasing was (and remains) essentially a sport of amateurs and volunteers.
It has prospered and developed especially in the midAtlantic states and the South where historically gambling has been prohibited by both local law and religion.
Fauquier County, home to six annual sanctioned steeplechase events, has been at the heart of jump racing in America since colonial times. Horses ran on Garrett's Race Paths near Upperville as early as 1742, and in the 1830’s flat races were a regular event in Warrenton and nearby White Sulphur Springs.
Jump racing was held at the “Springs” by 1844, and a race held at this famous spa in 187S was labeled “The Best Steeplechase in America.”
Today there are more steeplechase events in Fauquier County than in any county in
94.9%