As Saturday’s 45th running of the Foxfield Races approaches, organizers are focusing on weather conditions, turf quality and safety precautions to keep horses and riders in clover.
Fans won’t need to worry whether the grass is the right height or if the ground is firm enough without being too hard on horses’ joints. The fescue will be 7 to 8 inches tall, and a new sustainable irrigation system is keeping the racing surfaces at a consistent texture to ensure the horses’ safety. Instead, Spring Races spectators can expect to check out the food trucks at their leisure and head to the fences to watch a packed afternoon of national steeplechase competition, starting at 12:30 p.m. with the Maiden Claiming Hurdle.
“We are going to have seven steeplechase races,” Kelsey Cox, executive director of Foxfield Racing, told The Daily Progress. It’s important to remember that Foxfield is a destination for competitors as well as spectators, and two stakes races offer proof.
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The Daniel Van Clief Memorial Sport of Kings Novice Hurdle Stakes Race, a long-standing tradition at Foxfield, carries a $75,000 purse. The event’s fifth race, which begins at 2:50 p.m., honors the late D.G. “Danny” Van Clief, a state legislator who helped start the process of legalizing pari-mutuel wagering in Virginia.
“We are going to have a second stakes race, which is huge,” Cox said.
The inaugural Good Night Shirt Sport of Kings Stake Race, which has a $50,000 purse, is named for an award-winning horse owned by Harold “Sonny” Via Jr. of Charlottesville. The day’s sixth race, starting at 3:25 p.m., will be an annual presence at future Foxfield Spring Races.
Good Night Shirt was one of only three steeplechasers to earn more than $1 million; the others are Lonesome Glory and McDynamo, according to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. The chestnut gelding won the coveted Eclipse Award for outstanding steeplechase horse in 2008 and again in 2009.
Also on the schedule are the Ratings Handicap Hurdle at 1:05 p.m., Virginia Equine Alliance Maiden Hurdle at 1:40 p.m., Bertha Garth Jones Memorial Maiden Timber at 2:15 p.m. and the second Ratings Handicap Hurdle at 4 p.m.
Spectators can expect to see more top-level talent this year because the Queen’s Cup, one of three major races on the national steeplechase circuit, will not take place this year, Cox said.
“That’s why we’ll be able to bring in so much race talent,” she said.
All tickets are electronic, so spectators will want to buy them online in advance at foxfieldraces.com or order them by phone at (434) 293-9501.
Tickets will be sent straight to your email address. Be sure to download and print your tickets before you arrive at the Garth Road race facility, as Wi-Fi in the area can be spotty at times.
There will be a variety of food trucks and shopping vendors. If there’s something you end up wishing you’d bought, just check the online shop later.
Note that Saturday’s event, occurring in Foxfield’s 47th year, is considered the 45th running of the event and not the 45th “annual” outing. “The pandemic set us back two spring races,” Cox said.
Part of the race-day proceeds will benefit Camp Holiday Trails, which makes sure children ages 7 to 17 with medical needs from Virginia and surrounding states can experience the fun of attending camp. Camp Holiday Trails received $111,629 from the 2022 and 2023 races.
Few things get out of the gate faster than Foxfield’s horses, and one of them was a new specialty bourbon named in the event’s honor.
Ragged Branch Bourbon Foxfield Races Select sold out in a flash on the Virginia ABC website, said Alex Toomy, managing member at Charlottesville’s Ragged Branch Distillery, who teamed up with Foxfield to create and bottle the limited-edition bourbon.
“It was a fun project, and if I knew how fast it would sell out, I’d have done a lot more of it,” Toomy told The Daily Progress, adding that he’d like to see the bourbon become an annual offering.
“It has an amazing aroma. When it hits the front of your palate, it doesn’t burn your face off,” he said. “It needs to be smooth going down.” The ideal specialty bourbon blends three barrels with different characteristics: “a barrel that’s got crazy aroma; a barrel that’s got crazy flavor; and a barrel that goes down smooth,” Toomy said. “The right barrel’s going to slap you in the face.”
Toomey’s Secretariat Reserve Straight Bourbon, which he created last year for the 50th anniversary of the Virginia-born champion’s Triple Crown win, remains available from abc.virginia.gov.
“We’ve got this odd relationship with horses,” Toomy said with a chuckle.