EVEN IF HORSES AREN'T YOUR bag, you don't want to pass up a day at the Spring Races. Especially at Glenwood Park, a beautiful course with a storied past where you may enjoy many annual events with the satisfaction of knowing that the proceeds will support local fire stations, churches, Loudoun Healthcare and many valuable community organizations.

Pitting your horse against your neighbors' for speed and stamina has been a happy pastime for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The first record of what we consider steeplechasing is in County Cork, Ireland in 1752. O'Callaghan and Blake raced over 4 1/2 miles from Buttevant Church to St. Mary's Church in Doneraile.

Steeples were the tallest, most prominent landmarks to use as race guides. Cross country match races quickly spread to England and onto established race courses. Americans began Steeplechasing around the end of the nineteenth century, and the National Steeplechase Association's original charter is dated February 15, 1895.

It is the oldest race day in Virginia. The Middleburg Spring Races is an elegant, old-fashioned race meeting which takes place on one of the finest courses in America. It is the oldest race day in Virginia.

Daniel Cox, "Mr. Middleburg," Sands organized the first race in 1911 and was sanctioned the following year by the National Steeplechasing and Hunt Association.

In her book, Hunt Country of America, Kitty Slater quotes Mr. Sands as he described the race, "It was planned primarily for the entertainment of the farmers, over whose land we hunted, and who sometimes were not easy to pacify when galloping hooves crushed crops in the ground or when foxes raided their chicken houses. Whole families came from miles around - on horseback, in buckboards, spring wagons and buggies, and some drove tandems. Everybody brought picnic baskets, and you never saw so much fried chicken in your life."

The race has run continuously except for a hiatus during World War I. Racing resumed in 1921 with the first Middleburg Hunt Cup and the Farmers' Race. In 1932 a 112 acre farm was bought to be the permanent home for the races. Timber, brush, hurdle and flat racing facilities were laid out along with a paddock under the oak trees and saddling stalls. Tiers of boxes and a grandstand were built so that the whole course could be seen with the Blue Ridge Mountains as the stunning background. The Fauquier Democrat wrote, "The thousands of race goers coming to Middleburg April 16 (1932) for the 12th running of the Middleburg Hunt race meet will find a racing plant declared by horsemen who have viewed it to be the most elaborate and unique of its kind in America."

When Mr. Sands passed away in 1963 he left Glenwood Park in trust to Loudoun Healthcare with James B. Skinner and S. H. Rogers Fred as trustees. Mr. Fred, whose Sunny Bank Farm was adjacent to the park, cared for Glenwood as though it were his own, running cattle on the course and clearing them out only a week before each race meet. The livestock kept the turf free of holes and with a good base.

For the maintenance of fences, local volunteers raised money under Fred's guidance and replaced the old sunken timber fences with new, stiff panels at just under four feet. Because Glenwood Park's facility is of such a high standard, the prestigious Temple Gwathmey graded stakes race run over hurdles moved to the Middleburg Spring Races for the first time in 1990 with a $50,000 purse.

Not a group to rest on its laurels, Glenwood Park established the $20,000 Alfred Hunt Steeplechase which was inspired by New Zealand steeplechase courses. The Alfred Hunt course consists of large coops backed with brush, ditches in front of yew hedges and a water jump on a course similar to a figure eight.

"the most elaborate and unique of its kind in America."

Paul Fout, well-known local horseman, designed the course with help from local architect Tommy Beach. Some of the inspiration came from the French countryside around Po, where, Fout relates, "There is every type of fence: ditches, banks, brush, timber - all sorts." The race, run in memory of Alfred Hunt, past Master of the Rolling Rock Hunt in Ligonier, PA, was the brainchild of Hunt's brother, Tod, whose family supports the annual purse.

Glenwood Park is also host to another steeplechase meet, four point-to-points, preliminary and intermediate horse trials, schooling, Connemarar shows and other events. "We're trying to have more activities," said Fout, general manager of the Middleburg Spring Race Association. "We've drained the wet spots, created two new ponds and established an irrigation system."

"We've donated almost $100,000 to community organizations over the last five years," Fout said.