While the jockeys and the horse owners compete for the top purses at the Iroquois Steeplechase, the perennial favorite event of this 85-year-old tradition is the parade of foxhounds.
More than 20 foxhounds, a breed specifically trained to run alongside horses and hunters, took to the turf course Saturday to kick off the race day as fans cheer and take photos and videos.
The huntsman and his team, who are called whippers-in, has the sometimes difficult task of keeping the hounds on course, especially when they can get distracted by the tens of thousands of spectators in the infield and all their delicious tailgating food.
One hound loved the attention from the fans so much that she veered off course, said Charles Montgomery, a master and huntsman with the Mells Foxhounds, the hunting group that runs their dogs in the steeplechase. “She had the best time. She loved going into the beer tents,” Montgomery said.
She loved it so much, she ran to the beer tent again the next year, so now she’s not invited back to the race, Montgomery said.
The Iroquois Steeplechase is one of the premier American steeplechase races, with a total of $730,000 awarded in purses, on a grass turf course with hurdles that opened in 1941 as a Work Progress Administration project. The Nashville race was founded by members of the Hillsboro Hounds, another fox hunting club in the Nashville area.
Steeplechase racing and fox hunting are wedded together, said Stephen Heard, one of the trustees of the Iroquois Steeplechase and a member of the Mells Foxhounds group. The tradition came from the British Isles, where horses were raced from church steeple to church steeple and trained to jump obstacles like fences while hunting with dogs.
“Many of the horses that we use fox hunting are ex-steeplechase horses,” said Heard.
With 25,000 spectators who are eating and drinking in tents and in the stands, the dogs need some time to adjust to the noise and smells.
“I took one dog last year and he heard the speakers and he said, ‘This is not for me,'” Charles Montgomery said.
“It’s high pressure,” said Boo Montgomery, one of the whippers-in. When a child held out a fried chicken leg through the rails one time, it was a temptation no hound could resist. “You couldn’t fault Brightly for stopping and having a snack,” she said, of one of the foxhounds.
Charles Montgomery said he usually will bring the veteran hunting hounds who can guide the younger dogs along the course. On the morning of the race, the dogs bounded off their trailer, eager to sniff grass and chew on sticks and roll in the clover.
The hounds wear GPS-equipped collars whenever they hunt and when they come to the racetrack. That came in handy last year when a dog got spooked and took off into the wooded park nearby.
While the racetrack is not their normal working environment, the hounds seem to enjoy the challenge that comes with kicking off the horse races, said Boo Montgomery.
“It’s a great exposure for hunting to get to see these hounds and the horses,” said Boo Montgomery. “It’s nice to be able to show off.”
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