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The Hunt at Far Hills |
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Developing Stories Beagling, Basseting, and Fox Hunting - Essex Fox Hounds History of the Far Hills Race Meetingby Brooks Betz Two Events: What's in a name. Some call it the Steeplechase, some the Far Hills Race Meeting, and some prefer to call it simply 'The Hunt'. Whichever name you choose, you're all partically correct. While the name is offically called the Far Hills Race Meeting, hosted by the Far Hills Race Meeting Association (FHRMA), every year, on the last Saturday of October, the horses come back to Far Hills for the exciting equestrian event. The township swells over 40 times it's normal size, from approximately 857 to almost 50,000, making it the largest population in Somerset County on this day each year. Von Stade quoted a former Far Hills official: "Fifty percent of the people come to see; 50 percent come to be seen." See the complete Historical Timeline - Click Here So what exactly is steeplechase? Steeplechasing includes the thrills and speed of Thoroughbred racing at flat tracks. It mixes in the precision of jumping to create a hybrid like hurdle events in track and field where the premium is on speed, but the concern is focused squarely on the jumps. The races are two to four miles in length. The fences are man-made 52-inch hurdles or timber jumps constructed of posts and rails at varying heights. Thoroughbred horses, almost all of them converted flat racers, compete in 12 states at 32 National Steeplechase Association stops and at some of the nation¹s finest racetracks. More than 200 sanctioned steeplechase races worth a combined $5 million occur in the U.S. every year. For more, vist the National Steeplechase Association's website. Steeplechase racing started a few centuries ago as part of the hunting tradition of gentrified England. Developed from the English and Irish pastime of fox hunting, hunters would test the speed of their mounts during the cross-country chase. The first recorded steeplechase took place in County Cook, Ireland in 1752, when two Irish foxhunters, Cornelius O’Callaghan and Edmund Blake, raced about 4 1/2 miles from St. John’s Church at Buttevant to St. Mary’s Church in Doneraile. St. Mary’s steeple was known as St. Leger Steeple. Church steeples being the most prominent landmarks on the landscape, this “chase to the steeple” gave the sport its name. Cross-country, or point-to-point match racing spread to England, where the first race between more than two horses took place in 1792. As the sport grew in popularity, it moved into the more established tracks. Organized steeplechase racing began about 1830, and has continued to
be a popular sport in England to this day. The world’s most famous
steeplechase race is England's Grand National, held every year at Aintree,
near Liverpool, since the track opened in 1839. The first official steeplechase race held in this country took place in 1834, and was hosted by the Washington Jockey Club. In 1844, Hoboken racetrack owner C.S. Browning organized a jumping race in heats over 4-foot hurdles. By the 1880’s the sport was especially popular at the country hunt meet. The Maryland Hunt Cup, started in 1894, is among the oldest and most prestigious races in the United States, raced over post-and-rail fences. The National Steeplechase Association was formed the following year, establishing the rules and racing schedules and advancing the cause of steeplechase racing in the years since. FAR HILLS The founders of the FHRM are a venerable 'who's who in the area' that dates back into the late 1890's. Familar names like Pfizer, Schley, and Turnbull blanket the area with as street names, each was an integral part of the FHRM's inception. The Essex Hunt, originally sponsored by the Essex Hunt Club, was founded in 1870 in Montclair, New Jersey (Essex County). Known for being what's called a drag hunt (where the scent of the fox was dragged over the course), the event was
With the Essex Hunt Club firmly established in Somerset County, in Febuary 1913 the Essex Fox Hounds was incorporporated with a dedicated purpose to promote fox hunting in Somerset County and in the adjoining counties. Soon after the Essex Hounds Club was incorporated, a new clubhouse was built along with a new set of kennels. Previously known as the old Miller Farm, the Essex Hunt Club is still off Route 206 on Holland Road in Gladstone.
Here's another reference from the Newark Star Ledger - Oct 16, 2003 p031 The history of the steeplechase, a horse-rider obstacle course complete with metal fences, brick walls, shrubbery and water crossings of varied lengths and heights, dates to 1752 in County Cork, Ireland. Legend has it that two fox hunters challenged each other to a cross-country race toward a distant church steeple, taking the most direct route regardless of the obstacles encountered along the way. The race was well-received, and a sport was born. The sport soon evolved into a social event, and the tradition was brought over to America by English and Irish settlers in the early 19th century. The Far Hills Race Meeting's own history traces back to the Essex Hunt, a fox hunting event founded in Montclair in 1870, according to the Far Hills Race Meeting Association. The organizers of the Essex Hunt, led by "joint masters" Grant Schley and William Larned, incorporated as the Essex Fox Hounds in 1913 and purchased a farm near Peapack at which they would build a clubhouse, stables and kennels. To thank the farmers and landowners on whose property club members hunted, the Essex Fox Hounds started a picnic and steeplechase race, called the Farmers' Day Race Meeting. It was patterned after English agricultural shows, with strolling families, livestock, four-in-hand carriages, tempting displays of produce and pies and a minstrel show performed on a stage in front of the grandstand. Although there was never any hunting on Farmer's Race Day, locals soon began calling the affair "The Hunt," because of its association with the Essex Fox Hounds and the New Jersey Hunt Cup steeplechase, the premier race that remains on the Far Hills Race Meeting's race card, said von Stade. In 1916 the setting was moved to its current site on the Schley estate (now called Moorland Farms) nestled at the foot of Schley Mountain in both Far Hills and Bedminster, which had larger fairgrounds and abundant stables, and remains the race site to this day. The race continued year after year, with a brief interruption during World War II, but attracted few spectators until 1954, when Somerset Medical Center stepped in to help run it.
2006 Far Hills Race Meeting ($600,000 total purse- Click
Here 2005- Races
The original 13 organizers of the Essex Fox Hounds in 1913 included:
*Note: Residents of Bernards Twp are actually Bernardsville and Far Hills today. Noteable Quotes:
In 1893 a man named Willie came to Gladstone with Charles Pfizer and served as huntsman for the Essex Hunt. In 1898 Willie and his wife, Bertha, purchased the Bedminister Hotel, as it was called, for $5,000. The hotel was renamed the "Howard Hotel" and in 1912 the first indoor plumbing was installed. The name was later changed to Willie's Tavern....where you can still grab a sandwich and a pint today! Other interesting tidbits about the Far Hills Race Meeting: Other Noteable Sources to learn more: Available in the Anne O'Brien Research Room at the Clarence Dillon Library, Bedminster
Previous Winners: (Breeders Cup Steeplechase at Moorland Farms) YEAR FIRST (Age) JOCKEY lbs. SECOND (Age) lbs. THIRD (Age) lbs.
The American Grand National in Far Hills started in 1899? Quoted... National Museum of Racing - Former
Chair - John T. von Stade of Bernardsville, NJ Far Hills Race Meeting phone 908-685-2885 |
In
1890, 
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