CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL IN FULL SWING SANS VIRGINIA’S GOOD MAY WEATHER

Steeplechase racing is big in Great Britain. No race meet is any bigger or more famous than the four day Cheltenham Festival held in England in March. March, as in right now…it concludes on Friday.

Now, we know this because we’ve been to similar events on the Emerald Isle, so we know that both the English and Irish take their jump racing rather seriously.

Not only do they race some wonderful horses, but they approach these events with a “high degree of social enthusiasm,” if you know what we mean.
People take off work in the middle of the week, get all dressed up and go to the races. They socialize. They party. And, since it’s legal, they bet. They do all of this with, as previously stated, “enthusiasm.”

In fact, they are so good at this, that the best steeplechase races in America look to emulate what transpires across the Grand Old Pond. Take a look at the photos.

Lots of racegoers. Beautiful women. Fancy clothes. Crazy hats. Everybody having fun.

But, what’s missing. What will you see at the Virginia Gold Cup – maybe 50,000 times that you will only see a few times at Cheltenham?
Anybody?

Anglophiles?

Steeplechase junkies?

Anybody?

Well, we will tell you exactly what you won’t see: SUNGLASSES.

That’s correct – sunglasses. You won’t see sunglasses very often because the only people wearing them on a typical dark cloudy English day will be movie stars and race fans with hangovers.

You think it’s dismal in Seattle, spend a March in England...

Now, fast forward to May and imagine all of this WITH sunglasses, SUNSHINE and nice Virginia WARM spring weather.

(Photos by Adrian Dennis and Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images)