In horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Republic of Ireland, National Hunt racing requires horses to jump fences and ditches. National Hunt racing in the UK is informally known as "jumps" and is divided into two major distinct branches: hurdles and steeplechases. Alongside these there are "bumpers", which are National Hunt flat races. In a hurdles race, the horses jump over obstacles called hurdles; in a steeplechase the horses jump over a variety of obstacles that can include plain fences, water jump or an open ditch. In the UK the biggest National Hunt events of the year are generally considered to be the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
A steeplechase is a distance horse race in which competitors are required to jump diverse fence and ditch obstacles. Steeplechasing is primarily conducted in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Australia and France. The name is derived from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside.
The Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris is a Group 1 steeplechase in France which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Auteuil over a distance of 6,000 metres, and during its running there are twenty-three fences to be jumped. It is the richest and most prestigious jumps race in France, and it is scheduled to take place each year in late May.
AQPS, translated as "Other than Thoroughbred", is a general term used in France to refer to horses not listed as Thoroughbreds but destined to race. Anglo-Arabians, Selle Français, and French Trotters plus all other crossbreds can be qualified, in theory, as AQPS. However in practical terms an AQPS is akin to a Thoroughbred but not eligible to that breed's stud-book. The designation usually means one parent is not listed in the Thoroughbred stud book and almost always applies to those horses with Selle Français breeding in the dam line, be it very remote through repeated crosses with TB stallions. Reverse crosses are also performed by crossing a Thoroughbred mare with an AQPS-approved stallion, and this has met with success on the race-track.
Al Capone II is a French Autre Que Pur-Sang steeplechaser. Sired by the Selle Français jumper, Italic, and out of the mare L'Oranaise, he is a full brother to The Fellow who won the 1991 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, the 1991 & 1992 King George VI Chase, and the 1994 Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The Prix La Haye Jousselin is a Group 1 steeplechase in France which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Auteuil over a distance of 5,500 metres, and it is scheduled to take place each year in November.
The Auteuil Hippodrome is a horse racing venue on Route des Lacs in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris, France. The 33-hectare (82-acre) race course opened November 1, 1873. It is designed exclusively for steeplechase racing.
Motrico (1925-c.1951) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse who was the second of seven horses to win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on two occasions.
The 1837 Grand Liverpool Steeplechase was the second of three unofficial annual precursors of a Handicap Steeple-chase, later to become known as the Grand National Steeplechase horse race which took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool on 4 March 1837 and attracted a field of four runners. This race did not carry the prestige of the future Grand Nationals and its status as an official Grand National was revoked some time between 1862 and 1873.
The Prix Ferdinand Dufaure is a Group 1 steeplechase in France which is open to four-year-old horses. It is run at Auteuil over a distance of 4,100 metres, and it is scheduled to take place each year in late May.
Teddy (1913–1936) was a French racehorse and an influential sire, especially for lines in Italy, France, and the United States. He is considered one of the most influential sires in the 20th century.
Maurice Diamant-Berger, known as André Gillois, was a French writer, radio pioneer and - during the Second World War - general Charles de Gaulle's spokesman in London.
The Grande Course de Haies d'Auteuil, sometimes referred to as the French Champion Hurdle, is a Group 1 hurdle race in France which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Auteuil over a distance of 5,100 metres, and it is scheduled to take place each year in June.
Alec Nathan Wildenstein was an American billionaire businessman, art dealer, racehorse owner, and breeder.
Toulon (1988–1998), was a Thoroughbred racehorse and sire who was bred in Britain and trained in France. In a career which lasted from October 1990 until October 1992, he ran eleven times and won four races. He recorded his most important success when winning the Classic St. Leger Stakes as a three-year-old in 1990, the same year in which he won the Chester Vase and the Prix Maurice de Nieuil as well as finishing fourth in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. In the following season he failed to win in four races in Europe and had limited success when racing in California in 1993. He was then retired to stud, where he proved to be a successful sire of National Hunt horses.
Algan was a French Selle Français racehorse who competed under National Hunt rules. As a six-year-old in the autumn of 1994 he won the Grand Prix d'Automne, one of the most important hurdle races in France and was then sent to England where he recorded an upset victory over a strong field in the King George VI Chase. He continued to race for several years without replicating his early success. After his retirement from professional racing he competed in Point-to-point races.
Easter Hero (1920–1948) was an Irish-bred British-trained racehorse who won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1929 and 1930 and made three unsuccessful attempts to win the Grand National. He showed little early promise and was passed from owner to owner before beginning to display ability in 1927. Wins in the Becher Chase and the Coventry Chase established him as a leading steeplechaser and he was bought by Alfred Loewenstein with the aim of winning the National. In his first attempt at the race he fell at the eighth and brought the field to a virtual halt after becoming trapped in the ditch in front of the fence.
The Prix Renaud du Vivier is a Group 1 hurdle race in France which is open to four-year-old horses. It is run at Auteuil over a distance of 3,900 metres, and it is scheduled to take place each year in November. It is the winter championship event for four-year-old hurdlers and is also known as Grande Course de Haies des 4 Ans. The race was first run in 1986 and is named in honour of Renaud du Vivier de Fay-Solignac (1896-1985) who was President of the Société des Steeple-Chases de France from 1968 to 1977.
The Grand Steeple-Chase des Flandres is a horserace held annually at the Hippodrome Waregem in Waregem, Belgium. It is the centrepiece of the Waregem Koerse meeting, held on the Tuesday of the Waregem Koerse Feesten, a kermesse which begins on the weekend of the last Sunday in August. Local businesses often close for the kermesse. The race is sometimes described as the Belgian Grand National, by analogy with the (English) Grand National. It has a distance of 4600m, with 25 obstacles, the most spectacular of which is the water jump across the Gaverbeek river, which is in front of the grandstand and taken twice in the race. In 1990 the water jumpwas redesigned to reduce the frequency of horses breaking legs; it faced continued criticism from animal welfare activists after deaths there in 2012. The Waregem Koerse was first held in 1849 on the city's cobbled streets; the Steeple-Chase was first held in 1858, sponsored by French businessman Marc Lejeune. In its early decades it was one of the most prestigious horseraces in Europe. It declined after the Second World War when French prize money grew, but recovered somewhat from the 1980s. In the 1990s there was an increase in the number of British entries, from smaller stables. Multiple winners include Spectre, Redpath and Taupin Rochelais. Since 2010 the race has formed part of the Crystal Cup series of European steeplechases.
