The Virginia Gold Cup

Every year thousands of Steeplechase enthusiasts converge on The Plains, Virginia to attend the annual Virginia Gold Cup Races.

This challenging race over timber is one of the most distinguished events in America and has been held in Fauquier County since 1922.

The gold trophy, which influenced the name of the race, is permanently awarded to the owner who wins the Virginia Gold Cup five times.

The wins did not have to be by the same horse nor in consecutive years.

The Virginia Gold Cup trophy has been retired 6 times under these rules.

The first race was run "about four miles across country over a flagged course" on the Oakwood estate near Warrenton. The race was intended to attract the finest jump horses in America and quickly began a fabulous timber racing tradition.

In 1924 the race moved to Broadview Estate in Warrenton which facilitated better viewing of the course for its growing crowd of spectators.

The Broadview course proved to be one of the finest of its time. The Virginia Gold Cup was forced to move to Clovercroft after the Broadview mansion was burned.

Clovercroft, was in many ways more difficult than the formidable Broadview course, as horses were required to negotiate ditches, stream crossings and steep hills in addition to four foot timber fences.

More than 10,000 spectators gathered for the event, once again proving that the Virginia Gold Cup would be a success regardless of location.

In 1935, the race returned to Broadview and by 1936, the Virginia Gold Cup had become one of the most important social functions of the year.

Ladies in their finest apparel soon became fixtures of the event and "society columns were filled with detailed accounts of who was in attendance and what they were wearing."

In 1985, the race was moved to its current home at Great Meadow Events Center in The Plains, Virginia.

The course at Great Meadow combines the finest features of fabled racecourses in America and Europe with the latest advances in soil technology, water drainage and sound systems to make it one of the most modern and formidable in the world.

In 1993, a new trophy, last awarded in 1903 at the famed Grand National in Aintree, England, was put into competition.

Local hero, Saluter, made quick work of retiring the trophy, when he won the Virginia Gold Cup the sixth consecutive time in 1999!

Saluter has proven to be the greatest horse to ever run in the Virginia Gold Cup.

Now in its 83rd running, the Virginia Gold Cup is an annual sellout drawing crowds of 45,000 families, celebrities and business and political leaders in the greater Washington area to see the finest horses in America and Europe compete in this prestigious race.