National Hunt racing is the official name given to the sport of horse racing in the United Kingdom, France and Ireland jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles. National Hunt racing in the UK is divided into two major distinct branches: Hurdles and Steeplechases. Alongside these there are "bumpers", which are National Hunt flat races. In a Hurdles race, the horses jump over obstacles called hurdles; in a Steeplechase the horses jump over a variety of obstacles that can include plain fences, water jump or an open ditch. The biggest events of the year in the UK are generally considered to be the Aintree Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Read more about National Hunt Racing: Outline, History, National Hunt Racing Today, Types of Race, Grades and Classes, Hunter Chase Racing, Point To Point Racing
Famous quotes containing the words national, hunt and/or racing:
“In really hard times the rules of the game are altered. The inchoate mass begins to stir. It becomes potent, and when it strikes,... it strikes with incredible emphasis. Those are the rare occasions when a national will emerges from the scattered, specialized, or indifferent blocs of voters who ordinarily elect the politicians. Those are for good or evil the great occasions in a nation’s history.”
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)
“My profession brought me in contact with various minds. Earnest, serious discussion on the condition of woman enlivened my business room; failures of banks, no dividends from railroads, defalcations of all kinds, public and private, widows and orphans and unmarried women beggared by the dishonesty, or the mismanagement of men, were fruitful sources of conversation; confidence in man as a protector was evidently losing ground, and women were beginning to see that they must protect themselves.”
—Harriot K. Hunt (1805–1875)
“Upscale people are fixated with food simply because they are now able to eat so much of it without getting fat, and the reason they don’t get fat is that they maintain a profligate level of calorie expenditure. The very same people whose evenings begin with melted goat’s cheese ... get up at dawn to run, break for a mid-morning aerobics class, and watch the evening news while racing on a stationary bicycle.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)