My Lady's Manor - April 10, 2010
Maryland Grand National - April 17, 2010
Maryland Hunt Cup - April 24, 2010
Maryland Junior Hunt Cup - April 25, 2010

The opening of the Maryland timber racing season signifies the true start of spring to many Marylanders. For three Saturdays in April, thousands of asphalt-bound city denizens will walk on grass for the first time since last fall as they join their country cousins to follow the colors of the amateur jockeys flying over timber fences in three or four-mile races that are true tests of man and horse.

Steeplechase races over timber, as a Maryland tradition, are not as venerable as fox hunting, which goes back to Colonial days, but the records go back nonetheless some 100-plus years. And few sports can boast the tradition of family participation which characterize these races. How better to spend an afternoon of early spring?

http://www.marylandsteeplechasing.com