History

Iroquois Steeplechase

Established in 1941, the Iroquois Steeplechase is Tennessee’s premier horse racing event that hosts approximately 25,000 patrons each year. Organized by the Volunteer State Horseman’s Foundation, the annual event raises funds supporting the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, as well as the non-profit organization Friends of Percy Warner Park.

In the 1930’s, a group of fox hunting enthusiasts decided to build a permanent Steeplechase course. Marcellus Frost encouraged a small group to go look at a valley in the Percy Warner Park, land which was donated to the city of Nashville a decade or so before, where he envisioned a perfect location for a course. The land included hills and terrain changes where jumps could be installed. Most importantly, there was a hillside for spectators to be able to view the entire course from above. Frost took John Sloan, Sr., Mason Houghland, and Con Thompson Ball for a ride to see the location.

By 1937, “Pops” Frost had convinced the Works Progress Administration to provide backing for the funding and manpower to build the race course. With permission from the City Park Commission, Mason Houghland called upon William DuPont, Jr. to design the course. Work began in 1938 and was finished in time to run the inaugural event in May of 1941. The volunteers needed to put on the race came from the pasture race circuit members and local fox hunters. They created the Volunteer State Horsemen’s Association (now Foundation), which today remains the governing body of the race meet. The early leadership of the Association was Mason Houghland (President), John Sloan, Sr., (Vice President) and Henry Hines (Secretary/Treasurer).

John Sloan, Sr. chose the name Iroquois for the event, after the 19th century horse Iroquois, owned by Pierre Lorillard, who was the first American bred horse to win the Epsom Derby (1881), the preeminent race in England. Iroquois retired to the Harding farm, Belle Meade Plantation, where he stood at stud until he died in 1899. The Lorillard colors- cherry red and black- are the colors of the Iroquois Steeplechase.

The winner of the first Iroquois was Rockmayne, ridden by Dinwiddie Lampton, and owned (leased) by Miss Barbara Bullitt. The minor races, leading up to the featured Iroquois, were pony races, a grooms’ race (on Mules), the Marcellus Frost Hunter Race (named for that visionary who located the course), and the Truxton Purse, a race on the flat named for one of Andrew Jackson’s favorite horses.

Mason Hougland served many years as the Chair of the Race Committee. He handed the responsibility to his son, Calvin Houghland, who modernized the course, adding irrigation and improved drainage to make the course safer for the competitors. He also led the organization through its evolution to a Foundation. Henry Hooker took over as Chairman of the Race Committee in 1991, with Calvin heading the Board of Trustees. By 2008, Dwight Hall (formerly a winning Iroquois Jockey) became Chairman of the Race Committee.