Thrill of the chase

For nearly half a century, it was a rite of fall. America's finest thoroughbred horses and jockeys, cheered on by thousands of people, gathered in a small, picturesque southwestern Pennsylvania field where they reveled in the finest in steeplechase racing.

It's been 20 years since the Rolling Rock Hunt Racing Association's last race meet in Ligonier Township. About the only remnant of the popular event is an old judging tower that still stands above an overgrown field at the prestigious Rolling Rock Club, where the races were held for 45 meets until 1983.

For many who attended the races, it was the local event of the year.

Tribune-Review publisher Richard M. Scaife served for more than 20 years as placing judge for the races, which generally were held the first Wednesday in October and the following Saturday.

"They really were the best steeplechase races in America. It was one of my favorite things in the fall, and I looked forward to it every year," said Scaife, who in addition to judging the racing action also partnered with race co-chairman Alfred M. Hunt, the former Alcoa chairman, in ownership of a few entrants over the years.

"I was associated with it from the 1950s through the 1980s, and the crowds just continued getting larger and larger. I think the excitement surrounding the races grew as a result of the bigger crowds," Scaife said.

Richard P. Mellon, who served with Hunt as co-chairman and who is one of the three heirs of the Gen. Richard King Mellon estate, said there was no special recipe for the meet's long-standing popularity.

"It was the only race event that literally covered a whole week," Mellon said.

Even though the races originally were held only two days a week, dinners and parties filled the gaps.

Like many of the race spectators, the Ligonier Valley also dressed to the hilt -- with area businesses donning special red, white and blue bunting.

"Weeks before the races, you would see the Rolling Rock Farms crew preparing for the event, hauling brush for the jumps, mowing the course and putting up signs," Mellon said.

"The races created a lot of employment to people around Ligonier and brought a lot of business into town. And it also benefited a lot of charitable organizations, including the local veterans organization, which sold food and refreshments during the races," Scaife added.

The largest benefactor of the races was The Rehabilitation Institute of Pittsburgh, formerly the Home for Crippled Children, which was named the main benefactor of the race in 1939. The institute, now known as The Children's Institute, received in excess of $1.2 million from the races over the years.

In addition to the beauty of horses running flat, timber, brush and hurdle races on a track that was decorated by autumn's natural glory, the spectators themselves provided a spectacle.

"It really was a very social event. Some people would really take their time choosing what outfits they would wear during the course of the week," said Coral Erikson, a development officer for a North Carolina hospital, who formerly served as director of the Ligonier Valley Chamber of Commerce in the 1970s and 1980s.

"Women would really dress to the nines, wearing furs, hats, gloves and all," she said.

"I remember standing there and as far as you could see there were the elaborate tailgates and picnics everywhere. Some people would bring their finest china, silver goblets, elaborate flower arrangements, and stuffed foxes and pheasants were also used as centerpieces.

"I couldn't believe sometimes that this was all taking place outdoors in a field," Erikson said.

Jerry Vondas, who covered the events for 15 years for the now-defunct Pittsburgh Press, recalled Mrs. Peter Burrell arriving via an elegant, horse-drawn coach, from which she often viewed the races.

"It was the biggest social event of the year. People used to come in from all over the country ... friends, relatives and business acquaintances," said Vondas, who now writes for the Tribune-Review.

"I rarely wrote about the horses. It was the people. You had the Mellons, Rockwells, Scaifes, Hunts and Heinzes ... anyone who was anybody was there," Vondas said.

Scaife quipped that the weather often was as unpredictable as the winners. After a stretch of particularly poor weather -- including snow, sleet and rain in the 1970s -- race organizers moved the meet from October to September in 1980 in hopes of landing more sunshine.

"The weather was either really terrible or terribly nice," Scaife said.

Regardless of the weather, Vondas recalled the vintage Rolls Royces, Mercedes and other antique cars that often paraded east on Route 30 to Ligonier on a race day and then later lined the parking areas and served as the backdrop for tailgate parties.

Vondas said another memory that stood out was Pittsburgh attorney Raymond Moreland opening his box to children from the rehabilitation institute.

"Every year he would open up Box 1 for the kids, and they would have entertainment, food, candy, pop there. And they just loved the racing ... as much as everyone else," Vondas said.

It was in 1934 that philanthropist Richard King Mellon, an avid fox hunter and sportsman, decided to bring the steeplechase meet to Ligonier.

"It was during one of the Great Depression's worst years that Richard K. Mellon devised a way to satisfy his keen sporting instincts and also to enhance the economy of his hometown and raise money for charity," according to a private Mellon family history.

"Joining with his cousin Paul Mellon, he accomplished all these goals and more by spending approximately $30,000 to construct a steeplechase race course at Rolling Rock Farms -- and by establishing the Rolling Rock Hunt Racing Association in September 1934. He specified that proceeds from the annual Rolling Rock Hunt Race Meeting would go to the Home for Crippled Children," the memoir states.

Mellon patterned the course after that of the Grand National at Aintree -- a race he always wanted to win -- near Liverpool, England. It had numerous jumps over timber, brush and water.

Also in the 1930s, the Grasslands Steeplechase Gold Cup meeting in Tennessee was abandoned because of financial difficulties. Because Mellon had won the perpetual challenge trophy, the King of Spain Gold Cup, he received permission to hold that race at Rolling Rock. The horse finishing first in the Gold Cup automatically qualified for entry in the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree, which was widely acknowledged as the height of steeplechase racing.

The annual meets in Ligonier quickly attracted the attention of national media outlets, including The New York Times and Fortune and Town & Country magazines.

The two-day event in Ligonier eventually grew to account for more than 10 percent of the total prize money awarded in U.S. steeplechase racing.

Richard P. Mellon believes the atmosphere of the races changed over the years. During the early years, the races were attended primarily by people with a keen interest in the sport, he said.

"These were horse people from mainly the East Coast. There was strong competition with a fine sense of camaraderie," he said.

"In later years, through advertising, people saw the races as an opportunity to spend the day in the country, enjoying lavish picnics and watching an occasional race," Mellon said. "The crowds grew, and the races seemed to become secondary to the picnic mania."

Vondas concurred.

"It got to be 8,000 to 10,000 people for a meet, and you could handle that. Then it got to be 15,000 into the 20,000s each day, and you had a difficult time managing that size of crowd," he said.

Still, Vondas admitted he was surprised when the announcement came less than a week after the Sept. 17, 1983, meet that it had been the last one. Race organizers and trustees of the Mellon Trust canceled the races, citing increased financial and security concerns.

"It was a very sad day for me when they made the announcement. I really looked forward to it every year ... the magnificent horses, the people, and that time of year it was usually absolutely beautiful out there," Vondas said.

"And at the end of the day, all the proceeds went to the kids. It was a great event, and it benefited children and that's what counts," he said.

Mellon admitted to missing the races, too.

"Yes, I miss the races, the friendships acquired, the thrill of the race, but not the crowds," he said.

Additional Information:

Map

This late-1930s map shows Ligonier, Rector and the location of the steeplechase race course (near the center) for the Rolling Rock Hunt Racing Association?s race. The event was sanctioned by the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association.