Among the many treasures at Middleburg's National Sporting Library and Museum is a collection of stunningly beautiful silver trophies of all shapes and sizes. Curator of Permanent Collections Nicole Stribling recently described some of the trophies in a blog post entitled Shiny Silver Trophies:

In addition to paintings, sculpture, drawings and prints, the NSLM art collections include some wonderful examples of decorative art objects. Some of the most popular pieces are the shiny silver trophies, of all shapes and sizes. Since it's highly unlikely that I will ever win any trophy as grand as these (though I never give up hope!), I will have to make do with caring for these precious objects here at the museum. But I will do so happily, because they are real treasures – delightful to look at and fun to research and study.

One of our most recent additions is the new National Sporting Library & Museum Cup. This is actually an active trophy that will be awarded every year at the running of the Virginia Fall Races.

The Virginia Fall Races, a steeplechase meet held every October at Glenwood Park in Middleburg, was founded in 1955 by Theodora Randolph (1905 - 1996) and George L. Ohrstrom, Sr. (1894 - 1955). The NSLM Cup (formerly called The Chronicle Cup) is a timber race run in memory of George L. Ohrstrom, Sr. and his son George L. Ohrstrom, Jr. (1927 - 2005), co-founders of the National Sporting Library and former owners of the Chronicle of the Horse.

The Warwick style trophy vase was crafted by the silversmiths Elkington & Company of London, in 1920. The NSLM name and logo engravings were added in 2014 by the generous donor, Juliana May.

Zeke Ferguson Steeplechase Trophy

In addition to the many trophies that are part of the permanent collection at the NSLM, our institution also houses several long-term loans from hunts, shows and racing associations. Perpetual trophies that are awarded once a year spend the rest of their time living here.

They are on display in our Library so our visitors, event fans and even past winners can come see them. The Baltimore Museum of Art does something similar - the Woodlawn Vase, awarded to the winner of the Preakness in May, is displayed in their galleries during the rest of the year.

Many of our loan trophies are silver and some are bronze or painted bronze sculptures like this one.

This charming trophy is for the David L. "Zeke" Ferguson Memorial Stakes race. The owners, John, Jr. and Leah Ferguson, recently took some time to tell me more about the trophy and its namesake.

The award is in honor of Zeke Ferguson (1922 - 1994), a prominent Virginia horseman who fox hunted, played polo and owned both hurdle and timber steeplechase horses.

Zeke's most accomplished horse was a grey named Leeds Don, who won the Virginia Gold Cup three times in a row (1965 - 1967)!

The National Steeplechase Association instituted the memorial stakes race to commemorate Zeke's many contributions to the sport of steeplechasing and the race was first run in 1998 at Colonial Downs in Richmond. This past year it was relocated to the International Gold Cup at Great Meadow.

The 2014 winner was Able Deputy, owned by Irvin Naylor, trained by Cyril Murphy and ridden by Ross Geraghty.

The bronze sculpture is by Eve Prime Fout (1929 - 2007), who was an accomplished Virginia horsewoman - on the hunt field and on the track - and was also a painter and sculptor. The Ferguson family commissioned her to create the trophy in 2007. The horse is a grey like Leeds Don and the jockey's silks are the garnet and grey colors of Ferguson.

The NSLM collections include a few other works by Eve. Our favorite fox on the wall in front of the Library building is also by her. And several Orange County Hunt trophies feature her bronze sculptures.

Maryland Hunt Cup

Another recent addition to the NSLM trophy collection, which is sure to be a favorite, is the Maryland Hunt Cup trophy, won by Mr. T. B. Blakiston in 1912, on board the horse Conby.

The Maryland Hunt Cup, one of the most challenging steeplechase races in the world, was first run in 1894. The four-mile race with twenty-two fences has been run at Worthington Valley (northwest of Baltimore) since 1922.

I wonder if Mr. Blakiston celebrated his win by taking a big drink of champagne from his new tankard trophy? He certainly would have deserved it! The fences in this timber race are up to 4 ft 10 inches high. Yikes.

This little piece of Hunt Cup ephemera from the NSLM holdings advertises the 1921 race. The fences still look pretty much the same - solid wood, post and rail. The early courses also included deep ditches, creeks and railroad tracks, but those were removed from the course after 1922.