Colonel Chuck Ross will be at the Block House Steeplechase in Tryon this weekend, checking the course and setting up fences. But you won’t find him wearing some goofy decorated hat.
“Before the race begins, there’s a silly little thing called a hat contest,” explains Ross, an 82-year-old sometime jockey who learned horsemanship as an Army brat, back when the Army still had an active cavalry. “Everybody loves it but me. It’s a pain in the neck.”
Ross, who’s been involved with the Steeplechase since 1974, is charged with making sure the looping course at the Foothills Equestrian Nature Center is ready for the day’s five races, a task complicated by dozens of cheery fans with horse-shaped hats on their heads streaming onto the field. The competition to produce the most unusual capper is a scene that plays out up and down the East Coast during steeplechase season, since steeplechase and hat contests go together like, well, steeplechase and liquor. The Hendersonville Times-News has christened the Tryon event “the area’s biggest cocktail party,” and the free-flowing alcohol probably only adds to the Colonel’s yearly woes.
“Sometimes they show up as families with similar hats, and even a couple of dumb men get in there,” grumbles Ross. “I suppose it really is a fun thing. I sort of enjoy it. I sneer at it, but who the hell am I?”
In addition to the hat contest, the 61st edition of the festivities includes a tailgate decorating contest, a parade of hounds, a parade of beagles and an exhibition by the Hendersonville Mounted Patrol.
“It’s not just a race, it’s a nice day in the country,” Ross offers.
But racing is the reason more than 15,000 people make the trek to Tryon each year. (Yes, drinking is a draw, but, absent the horses, surely there wouldn’t be that many people bent on tippling Bloody Marys in a muddy pasture.) Steeplechase is an exhilarating sport. Right, Colonel Ross?
“It’s usually thrilling, but not always,” says Ross, who admits the Steeplechase’s small purse keeps it from attracting the top competitors.
“We don’t get the top horses,” says Ross. “We get good horses, but not the best horses.”
Great steeplechase horses must be fast, strong and smart to successfully negotiate the forested obstacle courses they encounter. According to the National Steeplechase Association (NSA), steeplechase—which derives its name from the impromptu races to the church steeple held by fox hunters in rural 18th-century Ireland—formally reached the U.S. in the late 1890s. Although sanctioned races now use heavy fences of steel, plastic and foam rubber covered in canvas instead of pine hedges, the race format has changed little since the first Maryland Hunt Cup was held in 1894: Competing horses still run at top speed over a lengthy course stamped with hurdles.
“The racing brings excitement, in approximately half-hour increments,” touts the NSA Web site.
Ross says the layout of the Tryon course means even more fun, since spectators perched on an overlooking hill should be able to see the entire race. The horses apparently aren’t as keen on the steep terrain, which requires more stamina than the all-flat courses found elsewhere.
“It takes a special type of horse to win our race,” says Ross.
The 61st Annual Block House Steeplechase will be run on Saturday, April 21. Gates open at 10 a.m. $50-$1200 per vehicle. (800) 438-3681.
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