VIRGINIA GOLD CUP celebrates a great day of Steeplechase Racing!

Steeplechase racing enthusiasts came in record crowds to the beautiful Great Meadow race course in The Plains for the 79th Running of the Virginia Gold Cup Races. Eight races were run under sunny skies with almost ideal racing conditions.

The main event, The Virginia Gold Cup, a 4 mile race over timber, with a purse of $50,000 was won for the first time in history by a female jockey, Michele Hunter on her own horse, Joe at Six. They train with Louis Neilson III.

The United States Navy Parachute Team, the "Leap Frogs" demonstrated their spectacular jumping formations well in advance of the horses getting anywhere near the field.

With all of the horses on site, there was real concern that the Leap Frogs could frighten the horses.

The Leap Frogs are a 15 man team comprised entirely of U.S. Navy Sea Air Land (SEAL) division and Special Warfare Combat-Craft Crewman (SWCC) commandos. Each member comes to the team for a three-year tour with one of the two Naval Special Warfare Groups located on the east and west coasts. On completion of the tour, members return to their operational units.

The Leap Frogs performance consisted of fourteen jumpers leaping from an aircraft at an altitude of 12,500 feet. During free fall, jumpers reach speeds of 120 mph and can accelerate up to 180 mph by pulling their arms to their sides and straightening their legs into what is called a "track." Jumpers typically open their parachutes around 5,000 feet by releasing a smaller pilot chute which deploys their main blue and gold canopy. After deploying their chutes, the Leap Frogs fly their canopies together to build dramatic formations. The Leap Frogs are renowned for exciting and complex formations.

After their jump, the Leap Frogs were available to answer questions about the Navy and Naval Special forces and to sign autographs.

The Leap Frogs are sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Pre-race entertainment included the Washington Redskins Marching Band.