April 19 at Glenwood Park, the Middleburg Spring Races kick off a trio of Saturdays of steeplechase racing in Virginia. Middleburg is followed by the Foxfield Races in Charlottesville and the Virginia Gold Cup races in the Plains on Kentucky Derby Day.

While Colonial Downs on the thoroughbred side and Shenandoah Downs on the harness side are seeing growth in attendance, the largest gatherings for horse racing in Virgina lie with the steeplechase events. For many racegoers in Virginia, the rural settings of steeplechase courses serve as their introduction to live horse racing.

Glenwood Park, just north of Middleburg, is typical: rustic fences, rural ambiance, the Blue Ridge Mountains visible from nearly every vantage point, and a view of the entire course.

“The ambiance of the whole place is what makes it,” said Doug Fout, the owner and clerk of the course Glenwood Park. “People enjoy it. No matter where you sit, whether you have a $10 ticket or a $1,000 ticket, you can watch the races nearly in their entirety.”

It’s a great venue at which to watch the races. And over the years, the Middleburg Spring Races have also provided great theater.

The featured Temple Gwathmey is named for a steeplechase rider who passed away in 1924. His friends joined in to fund a memorial steeplechase event that began in Pennsylvania before shifting to Belmont Park until its move to Middleburg in 1990.

Though run at various distances prior, the Grade 2 has settled to be run at 2 1/2 miles since 2009 and has served as the victorious spring debut of steeplechase champions such as Snap Decision, Moscato and Slip Away.

Lonesome Glory won the 1994 Temple Gwathmey after being named Steeplechase Horse of the Year in 1992 and 1993 – he would go on to be the top jumper three more times.

Other multi-year winners of the Temple Gwathmey include Snap Decision, Moscato and Decoy Daddy. 

“It was my father’s legacy,” Fout said of the venue and event. “I took it over and have been adding to it each year.”

Fout trained three steeplechase winners of the Temple Gwathmey, all New Zealand-breds with Imperial Gold (2003), Gliding (2007) and Isti Bee (2009). But though he trains Dyna Mast in Saturday’s first race, his focus will be on the course. The cold winter has provided a challenge to getting the course ready, and even this week saw 40 mile-per-hour winds howl across the course, forcing forced tents to be taken down and flipping over one hurdle.

On Thursday, the morning temperature was 38 degrees. On Saturday, the predicted high is 86.

“I work on it year-round,” explained Fout. “We have ice and water ready at many parts of the course. We are prepared for anything but don’t want anything to happen. We have a safe course with just enough cut in the ground for the horses. The course received a half-inch of rain on Monday and measured 90 on compaction and is smooth throughout.”

Leading off the featured fourth race on Saturday’s card is last year’s steeplechase Horse of the Year, Snap Decision, going for a remarkable fourth Temple Gwathmey Stakes win in the last five years. In 2022, he finished second to Iranistan in the Temple Gwathmey after winning his first attempt in 2021.

“He’s great,” said Fout. “If there were ever horses for courses, it’s Snap Decision for Middleburg. He loves this course.”

The eleven-year old trained by Jack Fisher will face eight rivals in the big race, including Grade 1 winners Noah And The Ark, Jimmy P and Too Friendly. If the remainder of the field does not have Grade 1 wins, it is largely because they spent the bulk of their careers jumping in Europe. 

“He’s carrying a lot of weight,” assessed Fisher about the 164 pounds assigned to Snap Decision, who will be ridden by Graham Watters. “And there is good competition.”

Fisher said the $250,000 Calvin Houghland Iroquois in Nashville, Tennessee is the primary goal for Snap Decision this spring.

Steeplechase racing provides a wonderful opportunity for thoroughbred horses no longer racing on the flat to continue competition. In Saturday’s sixth race, for example, you will find Risk Taking, the 2021 Withers Stakes winner who then ran in that year’s Preakness. He’s looking to break his maiden over the jumps.

In 2015 the Temple Gwathmey winner was Mr. Hot Stuff, who ran fifteenth in the 2009 Kentucky Derby won by Mine That Bird after finishing third in the Santa Anita Derby.

“For a horse that has the aptitude, it’s not hard,” observes Fisher. “Usually, you know early on.”

As a highlight in the second race, Fout along with his wife, Allie Lawaetz, developed the Warrior’s Canine Connection race, an allowance hurdle, after which a disabled veteran awards the winning trophy. The couple trains companion dogs, and over the years have folded that endeavor into this event.

The sold-out Middleburg Races card has eight races including a Timber race Stakes, the Middleburg Hunt Cup, in the third race and the Alred M Hunt Steeplethon in the finale. A training flat is slated for the first race at 1:00pm. Visit the Middleburg Spring Races website for more.