The National Steeplechase Association has sponsored the Virginia Gold Cup at Great Meadow, a marvelous course located at The Plains, Virginia. This was the 91st running- not that most people were watching the ponies- they were too busy looking at one another. There was a lot to see.

The Gold Cup is mostly fashion show for people who have only a tangential interest in the ponies.

I don’t know if this will be my last Gold Cup or not. It is not exactly a bucket list kind of thing, since I have attended regularly for the last decade or so, and started going to the University Row tent, which is a major production number in which a few dozen alumni groups have banded together to sponsor a tent, several open bars and a liberal buffet served up from before noon to the last drink is sloshed over a seersucker suit lapel.

The primary advantage of The Row is that it is a package deal, including the food, drinks and transportation out to The Plains, which means, in a rational world, you would be sober enough to drive when you got back to Arlington. This year there were more pick-up locations, including some in the District and Maryland, and it really is a slick way to go.

Our rally point for the Gang of Eight traditionally has been the Rock Bottom Brewery, located on the ground floor of what is arguably The World’s Worst Mall at Ballston, but in an effort to turn that around, the owners have embarked on a massive multi-year effort to refurbish the place and everything except the Macy’s is closing for the duration.

This year we rallied at A-Town, a hipster bar over on Wilson Boulevard. Nice place, but it has a concrete roof that bounces all the sound back down into the bar so you can’t hear yourself think. Apparently this is a plus for the Millennial, but it drives hard-of-hearing Boomers like me bananas.

There were drink specials, of course, three-dollar mimosas and Bloody Marys, and I suppose that is where things started to go downhill. They were very stern about not taking the drinks out to the buses, when the time for that came around, but Lori from Boston University was our vehicle monitor, and she had thoughtfully provided two pints of Captain Morgan Rum to pass back along the rows with some blue Solo cups, so the ride out I-66 to The Gap wasn’t that bad.

We had feared that it was going to be a rainy and chilly day, since it had rained pretty much without cease for the last fortnight (you will see why I have been thinking about strange units of measure presently) but we lucked out. The morning started gray, but the sun eventually won out over the rolling green hills at The Plains.

Of course there was some mud- one of the buses dug itself in pretty well, forcing us to negotiate a morass up to the entrance to the tents that comprise The Row.

And the fashion show and extended Happy Hour began. There normally are a lot of very cool shoes on display by the ladies, but this year a more practical fashion sense was on display:

For the record,

First Race was the “Sport of Kings Maiden Hurdle,” 2-1/2 Miles over National Fences. It was won by TUBAL with jockey Carol-Ann Sloan up, taking $24,000 of the $40,000 purse by five lengths.

Second Race was ‘The Steeplethon, ‘ a steeplechase at 3 Miles over the Steeplethon Course. SCHOOLHOUSE WOODS took it Darren Nagle up, winning by two-and-a-quarter lengths and $24 thousand our of the $40 grand purse.

Third Race was the Allowance Hurdle, 2-1/2 Miles over National Fences, with SHARP NUMBERS by a length and three-quarters in a fairly tight race with jockey Sean McDermott claiming $27 grand of the $45,000 purse.

Fourth was the David Semmes Memorial Hurdle Stakes, a grade-two event at 2-1/8 Miles over National Fences, won by PARKER’S PROJECT with Willie McCarthy taking $45 grand of the $75,000 purse in a thriller by a neck.

Fifth was the event of the day, with a purse of $90,000, the Virginia Gold Cup, not to be confused with the International Gold Cup run here in the Fall, with a more focused and slightly less inebriated crowd, clad mostly in breeches and boots. The main event is four miles over the Virginia Gold Cup Timber Course. GRINDING SPEED with Mark Beecher won $54 grand by a length.

We had ventured out of The Row to say “hi” to my attorney at the tent that her firm sponsors, so we had a great view of things. I was overcome with horror when I saw one of the ponies go down at the jump nearest to us, fearing we would have to watch the proud animal get put down, but the horse, sans rider, picked himself up, eventually gamboled away.

The rider kept going over the fence, and I think he was OK. Hope so, anyway. The drama made me inclined to purchase a cigar to compose myself, and puffed away happily for the next hour or two.

The Sixth and Seventh races were two divisions of the Maiden Flat, with a purse of $30,000 for each. The course was seven furlongs on the turf. If you are like me, a ‘furlong’ is a mysterious term, but one-eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, or 10 chains. That means the Maiden Flat is flat out for about a minute and a half.

ELUSIVE EVENING with Darren Nagle in the saddle took the sixth and PENN SQUARE with Jeff Murphy riding took the seventh, each bringing home $18 grand each.

Eighth was the Allowance Flat, raced 1-1/8 Miles on the Turf. ICONIC ARTIST with Jack Doyle up took the $27 grand share of the $45,000 purse.

Ninth Race was the “Virginia Bred or Sired Flat,” being 1-1/4 Miles on the turf, with WAHOO guided by Darren Nagle taking $21 grand of the $35 grand purse by a half a length.

Of course, by the time the Gold Cup was over, we had almost enough to drink and were ambling through the mud toward the Martz buses to try to get back to town and get decent seats at The Front Page to watch the other race that happens on the first Saturday in May: the Kentucky Derby.

We waited on the bus long enough that we probably should have sent runners for more beverages, since we ran out, but it all worked out, and we were at the usual corner of the bar in front of the flat-screens with twenty minutes to spare before post time.

K2 was pensive that we had not actually wagered anything with all the horse activity, and we determined to make a bet with each other. I picked NYQUIST to win, and he took the next four horses with the best odds.

This is big stakes- we went all the way to a Hamilton on the outcome. We were in an intensely equestrian frame of mind, talking about the tactics, and how much of what was going to happen was the product of the horse and how much contributed by the rider.

I am not a horse person, but I do know some, and I said: “Both.”

Turned out I was right, and eventually left the Front Page having spent a couple hundred on the day to make ten. I drove home in the Police Cruiser with a sense of satisfaction, and a renewed interest in the International Gold Cup in the Fall, where I might very well just tailgate it- if I can find a driver, that is.

Copyright 2016 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com