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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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steeplechase
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A professional horse race run on a course of 2 miles (3.2km) or more, which includes birch fences, ditches and water jumps. Races over slightly lower fences, and without the other obstacles, are known as hurdle races; and jumping races for amateurs are *point-to-points. Originally the term 'steeplechase' meant precisely what it says. In the 18C, first in Ireland and then in England, it became the custom to challenge other riders to a cross-country race with a distant steeple as the winning post. Competitors could take any course they chose, clearing whatever obstacles might intervene. The first recorded instance of a steeplechase is in County Cork in 1752, when Cornelius O'Callaghan and Edmund Blake raced the 6km/4m from Buttevant church to the St Leger steeple.
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