Virginia Gold Cup

The Virginia Gold Cup, one of the country's oldest steeplechase races and traditionally held on the first Saturday in May, will be moved for 2020 to Saturday, May 29. Contested last year in June and livestreamed without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's edition will allow limited spectators. Ticket packages are being sold on a first-come, first-served basis with regular space reservations reverting to tradition in 2022. "It's important to run these races so that we can continue to help out the equine industry and provide some income,"...

In any other year, the spring steeplechasing season would have concluded last week with the races at Fair Hill, Maryland, the latest hunt meet to draw a large and energetic crowd, there for the party as much as the races. Instead, the jump racing community is trying to figure out how it can salvage what has so far been a lost year. No slice of Thoroughbred racing has been hurt more by the coronavirus than steeplechase racing. With 14 of the 16 spring meets having been cancelled due to the...

Dr. Alfred C. Griffin Jr., the co-chair of the Virginia Gold Cup who played a key role in keeping pari-mutuel racing alive in his home state during Colonial Downs's closure, was elected president of the National Steeplechase Association at Friday's NSA Board of Directors meeting. The Warrenton, Va. orthodontist succeeds Guy J. Torsilieri, who was elected as the NSA's chairman. Torsilieri, who served as the NSA's president for 11 years before declining to seek another term, was elected as the NSA's chairman. He succeeds Beverly R. Steinman, who retired from...