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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
steeplechase
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ At 12.30 a man with a loudspeaker started calling for the steeplechase finalists.
▪ Boguslaw Maminski, the 1983 World steeplechase silver medalist, has chosen London to make his marathon debut.
▪ Charlie said there should have been markers to show the jockeys where to switch from the steeplechase course to the proper course.
▪ Phase B in the steeplechase and phase D, what eventing is all about, is the cross country course.
▪ The three-times World steeplechase champion shook his head. ` No, you didn't.
▪ They found that a groundsman had dolled off the hurdle instead of the adjacent steeplechase fence - ommitted because of false ground.
▪ Walker, however, could try to peak this summer for the steeplechase or the 5,000 metres.
▪ When it comes to the 3,000 metres steeplechase, no other country gets a look-in.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
steeplechase

1793 (earlier steeplehunt, 1772), from steeple + chase (n.). Originally an open-country horse race with a visible church steeple as a goal.

Wiktionary
steeplechase

n. 1 (context chiefly British English) A horse race, either across open country, or over an obstacle course 2 An athletics event in which the runners have to run 3000 metres round a track, jumping hurdles and a water obstacle along the way

WordNet
steeplechase
  1. n. a footrace of usually 3000 meters over a closed track with hurdles and a water jump

  2. a horse race over an obstructed course

Wikipedia
Steeplechase (disambiguation)

Steeplechase may refer to:

  • Steeplechase, a type of horse race in which participants are required to jump over obstacles
  • Steeplechase (dog agility), an event in dog agility
  • Steeplechase (athletics), an event in athletics that derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing
  • Steeplechase (composition), a jazz standard by Bebop alto saxophonist Charlie Parker
  • Steeplechase (figure of speech), a figure of speech meaning broadly, a difficult path to a desired goal
  • Steeplechase (roller coaster)
    • Steeplechase (Blackpool) racing rollercoaster
    • Steeplechase Park, a New York City amusement park from 1897 to 1964, named for its racing rollercoaster
    • Steeplechase Pier, a former Atlantic City, New Jersey Boardwalk attraction destroyed in the 1944 Great Atlantic Hurricane
  • Steeplechase (video game), a 1975 arcade game released by Atari
  • SteepleChase Records, a Danish jazz label
  • Steeplechase Building, The - Boardwalk Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas
Steeplechase

A steeplechase is a distance horse race in which competitors are required to jump diverse fence and ditch obstacles. Steeplechasing is primarily conducted in Ireland (where it originated), the United Kingdom, Canada, United States, Australia and France. The name is derived from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside.

Modern usage of the term "steeplechase" differs between countries. In Ireland and the United Kingdom, it refers only to races run over large, fixed obstacles, in contrast to " hurdle" races where the obstacles are much smaller. The collective term "jump racing" or " National Hunt racing" is used when referring to steeplechases and hurdle races collectively (although, properly speaking, National Hunt racing also includes some flat races). Elsewhere in the world, "steeplechase" is used to refer to any race that involves jumping obstacles.

The most famous steeplechase in the world is the Grand National run annually at Aintree Racecourse, in Liverpool, since its inception in 1836 (the official race was held three years later), which in 2014 offered a prize fund of £1 million.

Steeplechase (athletics)

The steeplechase is an obstacle race in athletics, which derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing. The foremost version of the event is the 3000 metres steeplechase. The 2000 metres steeplechase is the next most common distance.

Steeplechase (video game)

Steeplechase is a 6-player arcade game by Atari Inc., originally released in 1975. Developed by Atari subsidiary Kee Games, it simulates a steeplechase-style horse race.

Steeplechase (roller coaster)

A Steeplechase roller coaster has several side-by-side tracks in a dueling "racing" arrangement. Riders straddle horse-shaped single cars and launch simultaneously, as from a horse-race starting line.

The Steeplechase, Pleasure Beach Blackpool is the last remaining example of a steeplechase roller coaster still in operation.

  • Motorcycle Chase was a modernized steeplechase roller coaster built in 1976 featuring single motorbike-themed vehicles racing side by side, each on one of four parallel tracks, launched together. One or two riders straddled each "Indian motorcycle" attraction vehicle. The tubular steel monorail track closely followed dips and bumps in "the road" and tilted to lean riders about the curves. Gasoline Alley, an electric steel-guide rail car ride below, was built together and intimately intertwined, which enhanced ride-to-ride interaction thrill value. Rider safety concerns of the high center of gravity coupled with the method of rider restraints caused it to be re-themed Wacky Soap Box Racers with vehicles now attached in four-car trains, each car seating two riders, strapped in low (nearly straddling the track), surrounded by the close fitting car sides, and the dips and bumps of the track were straightened flat in 1980.

Motorcycle Chase/Wacky Soap Box Racers was removed 1996 for a dueling loop coaster Windjammer Surf Racers and now a vertical, launch coaster takes its place Xcelerator.

  • Steeplechase Park amusement zone in New York's Coney Island was named for its thrilling Steeplechase attraction, and is perhaps the most famous of this type roller coaster.
Steeplechase (Pleasure Beach Blackpool)

The Steeplechase is a three tracked racing roller coaster at Pleasure Beach Blackpool in Blackpool, England. It is a custom design made by Arrow Dynamics. The ride was officially opened in 1977 by Grand National winner Red Rum, whose hoof print was also taken and is on display near the ride's exit. This is the only operating steeplechase style roller coaster left in the world. The riders sit upon a horse-shaped vehicle which can seat one or two people in line. The ride has two chain lift hills and the track winds around part of the Big Dipper and underneath part of the Nickelodeon Streak. The station is located near the Pepsi Max Big One in the south of the park.

Usage examples of "steeplechase".

The steeplechase track was an almost one-and-a-half-mile flat circuit with sharpish turns, and the short grass gave little purchase on rock-hard ground, baked by the sun of August.

Jack Spatterdash, whose cab-horse had come down, and Bob Martingale, who had been taken up in a gambling-house, and Tom Cinqbars, who was going to ride the steeplechase.

The Man from Ironbark It was the man from Ironbark who struck the Sydney town, The Open Steeplechase I had ridden over hurdles up the country once or twice, The Amateur Rider HIM going to ride for us!

Young came to Cheltenham races the following day in spite of the basic contempt he held for steeplechasing because of its endemic shortage of brass.

I liked steeplechasing enormously, and with full-time professional application I might just have made a decent success.

Some of his first crops are now steeplechasing and jumping pretty well.

Virginia, or else be spurred into a winning gallop in the last furlongs of a lung-breaking, sweat-streaked steeplechase.

During the last two, while he was successfully working towards his A levels and university entrance, he spent all breaks either riding racehorses - he won three steeplechases - or skiing, in which sport he won a European under-18 downhill race.

When I was still light enough for Flat racing and hadn't taken to steeplechasing.

I had mostly raced on the older mature horses of steeplechasing, half a ton in weight, slightly slower, capable of four miles and thirty jumps from start to finish, but still on legs scarcely thicker than a big man's wrist.

Although never actually champion jockey, Art was acknowledged to be one of the six best steeplechase riders in the country, and his upright incorruptible character has been a splendid example to young jockeys just starting in the game.

Enough to remember his first steeplechase, a high-class novice race that he'd won by outjumping the opposition though nearly giving it away by floundering all over the place in the last hundred yards.

They certainly are not steeplechases, we are critically short of steeples out here, and they are not point-to-point exactly, for we throw in a little rifle drill.

He had explored a new city, experienced his first steeplechase, met a fellow journalist, witnessed the swansong of a gallant old lady, and discovered the bearded man who had evidently captivated Polly.