User:Jnestorius/Grand Steeple-Chase des Flandres

Grand Steeple-Chase des Flandres nl:Lijst van winnaars van de Grote Steeple-chase van Vlaanderen

The Grand Steeple-Chase des Flandres (Grote Steeple-chase van Vlaanderen; "great steeplechase of Flanders") is a horserace held annually at the Hippodrome Waregem in Waregem, Belgium. It is the centrepiece of the Waregem Koerse ("Waregem Races") meeting, held on the Tuesday of the Waregem Koerse Feesten, a kermesse which begins on the weekend of the last Sunday in August. Local businesses often close for the kermesse. The race is sometimes described as the Belgian Grand National, by analogy with the (English) Grand National. It has a distance of 4600m, with 13 obstacles, jumped a total of 25 times; the most spectacular is the water jump, originally across the Gaverbeek river, which is in front of the grandstand and taken twice in the race. Since 2010 the race has formed part of the Crystal Cup series of European steeplechases.

History
The Waregem Koerse was first held in 1849 on the city's cobbled streets; the Steeple-Chase was first held in 1858, sponsored by French businessman Marc Lejeune. In its early decades it was one of the most prestigious horseraces in Europe. It declined after the Second World War when French prize money grew, but recovered somewhat from the 1980s. Jimmy Frost won the 1989 Grand National on Little Polveir, and rode Iron Billy at Waregem that year in the Prix Comte André du Monceau. He would have won but jumped the wrong fence in the home straight. Young advised that the Gaverbeek jump's design had similar dangers to those which had just been fixed at Becher's Brook, so the Waregem course committee made similar adjustments. In the 1990s there was an increase in the number of British entries, from smaller stables. Multiple winners include Spectre (five wins in the 1870s), Redpath (seven wins 1880s–1890s) and Taupin Rochelais (three wins 2015–2017). Despite its 1990 redesign, the water jump has faced continued criticism from animal welfare activists after deaths there in 2012 and 2017.