IROQUOIS STEEPLECHASE
By: Tom Ferry
Mention Tennessee to most people and what normally comes to mind is country music. Music City, U.S.A. It is also a state known for its universities, the Great Smoky Mountains, Andrew Jackson, and Elvis. While the state’s neighbor Kentucky to the north is known more for equine racing and breeding, there are more horses per capita in Shelby County, Tennessee than any other county in the United States. And the state has its own annual rite of spring one week after the Kentucky Derby when the Iroquois Steeplechase is run on the second Saturday of May. On this one Saturday during the past 77 years, Percy Warner Park has been the heart of the steeplechase world and holds a deserving place in the history of American horse racing.
They begin arriving at Percy Warner Park before 8 am on Saturday morning. The day’s seven-race card is still more than five hours away but the competition almost feels secondary to the pageantry and the day-long party. Nearly 25,000 come from Tennessee and across the country each year to continue this annual celebration of horse, hats, and hounds. They come wearing their fashionable Sunday best to attend the premier spring race meet in American steeplechasing. The Iroquois Steeplechase is more than just a horse race. It is a Nashville tradition that ties people from the community together.
A good portion of that community congregates on the park’s infield. Tailgating is an individually-organized science here and thousands show up early to set up their tents. Even the infield has its strategic destinations and is divided into six regions known as Centerfield, Midfield, The Stretch, Topside, The Turn and The Meadows. Walk from tent to tent and you’ll encounter the finest in southern hospitality, live music, delightful cuisine and there is plenty of Tennessee Whiskey and Honey Jack Juleps among various other libations.
The Iroquois Steeplechase has run each year since 1941 with the exception of one year of hiatus during World War II. The race has been run under threatening weather conditions and even endured the Nashville Flood of 2010. Remember, we are talking about a wide-open city park here. Tents can come in handy from time to time. And large VIP groups revel in tented luxury in the high-dollar Hunt Club, Paddock Club, Hospitality Village, Tents in the Turn and the Skybox Suites. Highly desired box seats overlook the grass track and have been passed down by families through the generations. Some families have retained their seats from the race’s earliest years in the 1940’s.
While many Iroquois attendees will tell you they come for the party, it is the thrill of steeplechase racing and the Thoroughbreds that helps keeps fans at the park for the full day and coming back year after year. In the steeplechase world, these Nashville races have the largest purses of the spring season. The day is comprised of seven races for horses aged 4 and up over the three-mile turf track for more than $500,000 in purses, bonuses and awards. The Iroquois Steeplechase is run by a nonprofit organization and has raised more than $10 million since 1981 for the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at nearby Vanderbilt University.
The Iroquois course is regarded as one of the best racing surfaces in the country and was one of the first steeplechase courses to use an irrigation system, which is maintained year-round. The races on the course range in distance from 2 ¼ to 3 miles over a series of four foot national and timber fences. The race day builds and culminates with the running of the $200,000 Grade 1 Calvin Houghland Iroquois Hurdle Stakes. The winners of the Iroquois over the years have included a Who’s Who of some of the greatest of American steeplechase horses including Eclipse Award champions Flatterer, Lonesome Glory, Correggio, All Gong, Good Night Shirt, Divine Fortune, Rawnaq and 2017 champion Scorpiancer.
To commemorate 75 years in 2016, the Iroquois Steeplechase created what is known as the TVV-Iroquois Cheltenham Challenge - a transatlantic rivalry that includes two of the world’s biggest steeplechase races, the Iroquois Steeplechase in Nashville, and the Cheltenham Festival in England. The partnership offers a $500,000 bonus challenge to any horse that can win both the Ryannair Group 1 World Hurdle at Cheltenham in March and the Calvin Houghland Iroquois in May (or vice versa, within a 12-month period).
Year after year, the Iroquois Steeplechase can best be described as a celebration of spring, of pageantry and of horse racing at its finest.