Side Saddle Chase Coming to Oatlands
by Sophie Schepps
The second annual Side Saddle Chase will take place April 17 at the Loudoun Point-to-Point races at Oatlands Plantation. The brainchild of local sidesaddle rider Maggie Johnston, this year’s race is part of a three-race triple crown that is attracting international attention.
Johnston’s inspiration began in 2013. She saw a Facebook posting from a sidesaddle group in Ireland hoping to set a world record for most women riding aside during a single day of fox hunting. They were calling on women from all over the world to join them.
“I contacted Devon Zebrovious (another local sidesaddle rider) and I said we have to do this,” Johnston said. “We got a group together and did all this through Facebook. We never spoke to anyone. The reservations, the horse rentals were all online. The first time I spoke to someone was when we landed at the airport in Ireland. We got off the escalator and saw someone with a sign that said U.S. Sidesaddle Riders.”
The whirlwind three-day trip began in Dublin before heading to the countryside for a day of hunting followed by the annual hunt ball. Sixty-two women from nine different countries participated, and one talented rider stood out to Johnston.
“We met many amazing women including Susan Oaks, who that year set the world record for jumping aside at six feet eight inches,” Johnston said. “She’s the master of a hunt, is a dentist professionally and also races professionally. She holds her jockey license. She talked about winning the Dianas of the Chase that year.”
The Dianas of the Chase race is held each year in England. Women riding aside conquer the challenging course of Grand National sized fences. Johnston felt like staging a sidesaddle chase there would prove to be popular.
“We found two champions for our cause—Donna Rogers, who is one of the masters for the Loudoun Fairfax Hunt, and Eva Smithwick who is a master of the Snickersville hunt,” Johnston said. “These two ladies really believed in us from the very start. It was more than a blessing. It was ‘what can we do to help you in any way, shape or form.’”
Donna Rogers helped organize Johnston’s top choice—Oatlands in Leesburg—for the venue. Rules established by the Virginia Point-to-Point Association included requiring safety vests and rated helmets, assessing the riders before they were cleared to race and having a modified course of a half-mile loop and one jump.
“I focused on public relations and advertising for the race because I thought if we were well attended that we would be able to do this again,” Johnston said. “Once we were approved last year my whole focus was to ensure we have another race.”
Last year 7,000 spectators came out, the biggest turnout Oatlands had ever seen. Bringing new interest to the sport of racing and the land conservation needed to host such an event was Johnston’s main goal.
This year the Side Saddle Chase has expanded. The new course will feature a full mile loop and two jumps. It follows the Cheshire Point-to-Point Side Saddle Chase that ran on March 27. On May 22, the final leg will be Kentucky’s High Hope Steeplechase.
This year, the chases will include an award ceremony at the National Sporting Library and Museum on August 13. A perpetual trophy has been purchased by a new sponsor and will be awarded to the top lady rider.
“I had three criteria when seeking out that sponsor,” Johnston said. “No. 1, I wanted our mission of bringing more awareness of hunting and racing and the need for open space to enjoy those things to match with the sponsor’s mission. I wanted that sponsor to have never sponsored a race because we wanted to demonstrate that we brought new interest to the sport. And I wanted it to be a women-led organization.”
Those criteria were met by new sponsor, Lisa Delplace, the CEO off Oehme van Sweden, a top landscape architecture firm in Washington. A vintage, one of a kind, Tiffany & Co. silver bowl also was found and will be housed at the National Sporting Library between races.
Following the trophy presentation, a panel discussion of women in racing will be held for the first time. Panelists will include local trainer Eva Smithwick and jockey Diane Crump of Linden, the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby.
Johnston will be racing both at Oatlands and in Kentucky on a borrowed paint gelding named Patty Mack. She said she looks forward to a day of racing alongside her friends, but she’s also looking to 2017.
“We’ve come a long way in two years,” she said, “with a long way to go.”