If the Kentucy Derby, Preakness or Belmont Stakes seem a bit tame, check out their their cousin the Maryland Hunt Cup. Timber racing is one of the most dangerous forms of horse racing. The Maryland Hunt Cup is the prima donna of timber racing and dates back 114 years.
Here's an excerpt:
"On New Year's Day Jason Griswold, a 36-year-old owner of a Boston aviation leasing company, weighed his customary 200 pounds. The next day that started to change. For the better part of the last four months the 5-foot-11 Griswold has restricted his daily diet to 800 calories. He's jogged 3 miles a day and endured three "hot" yoga classes a week, during which he's worn a sweat suit "to make it hotter," he says. Griswold now weighs 160. "I have to be careful these days," he admits. "If I stand up too fast I'll pass out."
Griswold goes through this process so he can take a Thoroughbred over 5-foot fences at speeds of up to 35mph. Griswold is a timber racer, a member of a small, blue-blooded band of obsessive amateur jockeys who compete in races across grass fields and up and over post-and-rail wooden fences. The competitions are held on the estates of the landed gentry in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania."
Read the entire article here.