Iroquois Steeplechase: Colorful hats, mild weather, a worthy cause mark annual horse race
Thousands of sharp-dressed attendees gathered for the 2024 Iroquois Steeplechase on Saturday under sunny skies, 75-degree weather and a breeze just strong enough to carry away a hat now and again.
A rite of spring in Nashville since 1941, the annual horse race draws a colorful variety of fans to Percy Warner Park. Of course, the main event (outside the races) was the hats.
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The park was a blur of florals and bright colors adorning wide-brimmed hats and fascinators with delicate details, and a wide variety of flowy dresses, ruffled fabric and bold patterns for the ladies. The men had their fair share of hats, mostly sticking with straw and cowboy hats to top off suits in every hue and pattern imaginable. Some opted for paisley, checkered, floral, striped and even iridescent prints, while others chose a pair of chinos or slacks paired with a button-down.
Belinda Berry sported one of the more impressive looks of the day, wrangling an enormous black and white hat with polka dots and black feathers that was nearly as big as her. It had an arrangement of bright red plastic fruit pinned to the front.
"It's either small apples or large cherries," she said, beaming, as she used both hands to steady her hat in the breeze. "It's whatever it speaks to you."
Across the park, Josh Green and his family were posted up under a portable canopy in one of the tailgating lots with a spread of pastries and drinks to share. While he and his wife and three kids have lived in the area their whole lives, it was their first time out to Steeplechase. Green said the Mother's Day weekend inspired him to celebrate his wife with a fun outing.
"He surprised me with tickets," his wife, Hilliary Green, said with a smile.
At 12:15 p.m. sharp, the Parade of Hounds kicked off the opening ceremony as a pack of hunting dogs ran part of the grassy track in front of a cheering crowd. Nearby, bugler Samuel Hickerson readied to play his first round of "Call to Post" — something he did before each of the seven horse races that day.
With the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt as one of the main beneficiaries of the day, Hickerson said the event carries special meaning for him. He was diagnosed with Type I diabetes in sixth grade and was a patient at Monroe Carell throughout his childhood.
"Being able to be part of a fundraiser for it is a big deal to me," he said, sporting a red seersucker jacket, chinos, a straw hat and a red, white and blue bowtie.
The first race kicked off at 1 p.m. Afterward, the horses were taken through a cooling station where a small army of volunteers hosed them down, gave them ice packs and drinks of water and tended to them as needed. Six more races, along with a stick-horse race for the kids, followed throughout the afternoon before wrapping up around 5:30 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Steeplechase 2024: Fans in colorful hats enjoy weather, races
