A steeplechase is a distance horse race in which competitors are required to jump diverse fence and ditch obstacles.

Steeplechasing is primarily conducted in Ireland (where it originated), Great Britain, Canada, United States, Australia, and France.

The name is derived from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside.

The most famous steeplechase in the world is the Grand National run annually at Aintree Racecourse, in Liverpool, since its inception in 1836 (the official race was held three years later), which in 2014 offered a prize fund of £1 million.

Most of the earlier steeplechases were contested cross-country rather than on a track, and resembled English cross country as it exists today.

[2] and the first recorded steeplechase of any kind in England took place in Leicestershire in 1792, when three horses raced the eight miles from Barkby Holt to Billesdon Coplow and back.

The winner was Captain Macdowall on "The Wonder", owned by Lord Ranelagh, who won in a time of 16 minutes 25 seconds.

[citation needed] In Great Britain and Ireland, "steeplechase" only refers to one branch of jump racing.

Hurdle races occur at steeplechase meets mainly in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast and on the turf courses of several racetracks – Saratoga, Colonial Downs, Penn National, Monmouth Park and others.

Timber racing is conducted over solid and immovable wooden rail fences that, in the most extreme case, may reach five feet (1.5 m) high.

The distances are longer, ranging from three to four miles (6 km), and the jumping effort required of the horse is much different.

Because of the size of the fences and their solid and unyielding construction, a timber horse is trained to jump with an arc, unlike a hurdle racer.

Timber races currently are not held at any major US tracks (since the fences are not portable) but can be found at almost all steeplechase meets.

Ford Conger Field was built by F. Ambrose Clark and is the site of the annual Aiken Steeplechase, a part of the Triple Crown in March.

Since the Gold Cup moved to the present course, it has been changed into a timber race with a very large purse.

Every first Saturday in May, more than 50,000 spectators gather at Great Meadow near The Plains, Virginia (45 miles (72 km) west of Washington, DC).

The 4-mile (6.4 km) grass course with 4-foot (1.2 m) high timber fences is often referred to as the "crown jewel of steeplechasing".

Beginning in 1941, with one year off during World War II, the race has been run continuously at Percy Warner Park on a course inspired by Marcellus Frost and designed by William duPont.

The Queens Cup Steeplechase is held annually on the last Saturday of April at Brooklandwood, a farm and estate in Mineral Springs, North Carolina, about 20 miles (32 km) from Charlotte.

At its inception, the track offered some of the richest purses in the history of American steeplechase including a $750,000 race.

The Stoneybrook Steeplechase was initiated in Southern Pines, North Carolina on a private farm owned by Michael G. Walsh in 1949 and was held annually in the spring until 1996, with attendance near 20,000.

Most chasing occurs on steeple lanes but also includes parts of the main flat racing track.

The most famous Australian horse in the field was Crisp, who was narrowly beaten by the champion Red Rum in the 1973 English Grand National.

The NSW government officially shut down jumps racing in 1997 after a bill was put through linked with bird tethering, but by that stage there had not been regular jumps race meetings in NSW since World War II, when it was ceased due to the war efforts, except for a handful of exhibition events on an annual basis in the 1980s.

[19] That resulted in an election in which the anti-jumps faction won, but debate surrounding that vote spilled into more legal action.