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By Julie Reardon
Times Newspapers Writer
Although steeplechasing has its roots in the hunt field, and many a chaser is still conditioned behind hounds, racing over fences today isn't for the average foxhunter.
And although the spring point-to-points are staged by the local hunt clubs, very few of their members — or their mounts — will line up under starters' orders.
Many, however, will pair up and race the clock in the spring hunter paces put on by the local hunts as part of the Virginia point-to-point circuit.
Begun more than 50 years ago by the late Alexander McKay-Smith, hunter pacing * evolved as a complementary sport between the ultra-competitive pastime of racing over fences, and the non-competitive sport of foxhunting. By February, when the pace season begins in Virginia, many foxhunters may find themselves with a fit horse and a new level of bravery just as the hunting season is winding down.
In connection with their point-to-points, most of the Northern Virginia hunts hold *- hunter paces the day of, or the day after, their races. Rather than circling a racetrack,
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