A Couple Of Competitors Have A Long Trip Home After Iroquois Steeplechase

After the 75th Annual Iroquois Steeplechase over the weekend, two horses are boarding a plane bound for Ireland. They’re headed home.

For the first time,

trainer Willie Mullins brought horses to the United States from his base in Dublin. He says he wants jump racing to be more internationalized, just like flat racing has become.

“It’s crucial that we try and make the game a bit bigger, rather than just traditional Ireland and England and maybe France and then the Americans stay at home,” he says. “It needs to be broadened. It needs to grow. Or else it will disappear, altogether.”

It was a heartbreaker for Mullins’ horses, who

came in 2

^rd
in Saturday’s final race.

Organizers say they’re glad to have the overseas contestants. They’re hoping to rekindle a transatlantic rivalry.

“Throughout history, we’ve seen horses go back and forth and win, and we want to stoke that rivalry,” Iroquois Steeplechase chairman Dwight Hall said

in a statement.

Iroquois — the race’s namesake — originally came from England in the 19

^th Century.