Steeplechase at Kingston Downs folds – again
The newly minted Georgia Steeplechase calls it quits after one running.
Promoters of the Georgia Steeplechase have pulled the plug on the 2019 event which had been scheduled for Saturday, April 6, at Kingston Downs between Rome and Cartersville.
Anthony-Scott Hobbs, who organized the 2018 event, announced the demise of the event in a one-paragraph posting on the event’s website. Its predecessor, the Atlanta Steeplechase, folded following the 2017 races after a 52-year run.
“Unfortunately, due to competing with spring break, it has proven difficult this year to raise the $100,000 for the purse from corporate sponsors. We consulted with the National Steeplechase Association to see if there was a possibility to reschedule to another date this spring or fall, but unfortunately, they gave us no option,” reads the statement.
Veteran trainer Jack Fisher said the Georgia race has been one of his favorite meets every year and he was planning to bring five horses this year.
Fisher said the cancellation of the event less than a month out throws a bit of a wrench into the schedule for his horses.
“It’s tougher on me because I had eight going to Camden (South Carolina), five there, 12 to Middleburg (Virginia) so it’s hard to add them on to the next week,” Fisher said.
Fisher responded to the sponsorship issue by giving the Hobbs-led group credit for trying.
“Getting sponsorships to me is like going to a friend of mine that owns a company. I say to him, guess what you’re doing this weekend, you’re going to sponsor this race and they say okay. You have to know the people,” Fisher said. Horses trained by Fisher have won purses totaling over a million dollars each for the past four years.
Fisher said he believes the facility is among the better courses on the steeplechase circuit, with easy viewing for fans and a good turf for the horses. Its location, an hour away from the major population base in Atlanta, was also seen as a problem, according to Fisher.
Hobbs took over what was known for decades as the Atlanta Steeplechase last year and re-branded it the Georgia Steeplechase, but the race day last year was brutally cold. That, coupled with a relatively short lead time to promote the event after organizers of the Atlanta Steeplechase folded, led to poor attendance.
Bartow County Commissioner Steve Taylor said it ultimately comes down to the steeplechase industry being a different cultural segment in Georgia than the Carolinas and Middle Atlantic states, which are the heart of the steeplechase circuit. Taylor said one could see the demise of the event unfolding when major corporate sponsors like Coca-Cola and Delta pulled out several years ago.
“I kind of suspected this might happen,” said Taylor.
Cindy Williams, CEO of the Cartersville-Bartow Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber had not sponsored a tent at the event for several years, a decision that was made before she joined the chamber three years ago.
“It has always been an enjoyable event and I do hate it for those who have put a lot of work into it to try to make it a successful event,” Williams said.
Similarly, the Rome Floyd Chamber had not been directly involved since 2014 and the Rome Office of Tourism hadn’t been involved for an even longer period of time.
Another long-time trainer, Richard Valentine, said he was upset with the the loss of the event and hopes that someone can revive it in the future.
“It’s a huge disappointment, the big picture here is that we’ve lost a meet that is crucial on our calendar,” Valentine said.
He was planning to bring two or three horses to Kingston Downs, particularly some maiden fillies which do not get a lot of action on the regular circuit.
“I just hope we don’t lose them for good,” Valentine said. “I hope the steeplechase community and the NSA can all work together because we can’t lose a meet like that. It’s a great course.”