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player ready...Falls by horses and riders were so frequent, a gentleman attending his first steeplechase at St. James Farm last weekend wondered aloud if he had been invited to a version of ”Ben Hur.”
A broken nose, a separated collarbone, a crushed ankle and a variety of cuts and bruises were among the damages incurred by riders during the Seventh Annual St. James Farm Steeplechase & Point to Point.
Jurgen Gohler`s chestnut gelding, W. Tell, stepped on him, crushing the bones in his heel, after they flipped over a fence together. Gohler was the only one in hospital. The other riders walked away, said race chairman John Davies.
About 7,500 attended, excluding jockeys, trainers and owners, said Davies. Many came to see the no-status-symbol-spared, celebrity-judged tailgate picnic contest or to ogle the classic car exhibit. Then they stayed for the thrill of the chase.
The St. James meeting, which drew horses from the East, where steeplechasing goes back to Paul Revere, was a benefit for Marianjoy Rehabilitation Center, Wheaton. The feeling of family fun was very much the same as at a steeplechase in England or Ireland, said Morgan McDonnell Jr., amateur jockey and Wayne businessman.
”It takes on the idea of a country festival,” he said, ”with vendors and exhibits.”
only to ”run out of gas” in the homestretch. That allowed Greg Ryan, the leading U.S. professional steeplechase jockey, riding Ayam Zaman, to finish first.
The Bill Jacobs Range Rover St. James Hunt Cup-over three miles and 17 fences, with a whopping $20,000 purse-had the most spectacular spill at the very start as all four horses in the race approached the second jump abreast. Two horses collided, going over and down in a rolling pinwheel of legs, leaving their jockeys sitting on the turf. The horses recovered and ran on riderless.