The countdown begins! Spring officially starts with the vernal equinox one month from today, but the official 2023 spring season kicks off on Sunday, March 19 with the Foxhall Farm Cup Team Chase. Are you legging up?
NEW CONDITIONS BOOK
We know you are anxious for the Conditions Book, and it is now available! We have digital and print options:
PDF: Click here to see a PDF of the book or to download the PDF
ONLINE: Visit our website and click on the red button in the upper left hand corner for CONDITION BOOK.
PRINT: Click here to order your good ol’ fashion ink-on-paper Conditions Book for $10 (approximately 40% of the fee goes to MSA, so purchasing the Conditions Book does put a little more coin in our purse for future use!).
Please note that if a race meet makes changes to its conditions, the Condition Book will be updated, so please continue to check back and monitor our website and social media to be made aware of these important adjustments.
NEW DIRECTORS
We welcome Mark Beecher and Ross Geraghty to the Board of Directors for the Maryland Steeplechase Association, who have each been elected to serve a two-year term. For the complete Board of Directors, please see page 1 of the Conditions Book or click here.
NEW RACES
Point collection for the 2023 Governor’s Cup Series began in fall of 2022 with the Legacy Chase and the Cattail Chase, which are both new races for the Series. The June awards reception is always such a grand time with a great turnout that no Director wanted to shift the series to conclude in the fall with a reception in October or November. Solution: start the Series earlier and continue to party on in June!
NEW HOST for Foxhall
Hosts for the Foxhall Farm Cup Team Chase rotate between host hunt clubs. The formula to determine hosts changes over the years, but the premise is the same: rotate between hunt clubs. The last time Foxhall was held in Green Spring Valley territory was 2016. For 2023, the club has devised an entirely new 4-mile, 22 fence new course starting and ending at Wit’s End Farm, with fast and optimum time divisions. Check out the Conditions Book for more details!
NEW! VOSS RACE PURSES
For the first time ever, the Elkridge-Harford Point-to-Point will offer $30,000 in purses! The Conditions Book will tell you which race gets how much.
OTHER UPDATES
Apparently, the pandemic shut-down gave insurance companies the opportunities to retool their products. Thus MSA is finding it difficult to continue to affordably insure our clinics. While we will not be offering any this summer, but we will endeavor to host them again in the fall or next spring.
Meanwhile, if you are a junior seeking to qualify for junior races, please see Condition 7 under Junior/Young Riders for qualification options. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about options to qualify, please click here to email Michael Wharton.
Welcome back to our presenting sponsor, Farm Credit, and our supporting sponsors Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, Maryland Horse Breeders Association, Maryland Million and the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing . Look for more steeplechase news in Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred! Kindly support and patronize our sponsors as they make it possible for the Series cash awards and for the MSA to raise money for other worthy charities within our community, such as the Equine Rescue Ambulance and the new Maryland Horse Library.
FOR A CONDITIONS BOOK AND MORE INFORMATION: www.marylandsteeplechasing.com