Tradition Reigns the Reins at Genesee Valley Hunt Races

GENESEO – The annual Genesee Valley Hunt Races thundered on the turf once again on Saturday, bringing newcomers and regulars under the October sun with the valley’s gorgeous fall colors.

Races feature the 87th running of the NSA-sanctioned Genesee Valley Hunt Cup. Geneseo Rotary and a variety of organizations sponsor the event, keeping the tradition running, the excitement racing, and gathering the great minds of Livingston County year after year.

“It’s nice to see the people, see the town,” said Timothy Thompson, of Pittsburgh, traveled from Paris to Geneseo to see the Hunt Races for the first time.

Dr. Robert Doggett, on the other hand, who teaches English at SUNY Geneseo, has been coming to the races for 10 years. “It’s become a tradition,” said Dr. Doggett while surveying the luxurious, Parisian-themed pastries spread laid out with the help of friends. “People think we’re running a restaurant because we’ve got the ‘Cafe de Cheval’ sign up…I’m like, yeah right, ‘cafe of the horse.'”

Many race sponsors and attendees represent major businesses in Livingston County, like American Rock Salt, Nothnagle Realtors, and Tomkins Bank of Castile.

Penny Truax with the Bank of Castile said that she has been coming to the Hunt for many years and seen many different weather conditions on the track. “We have been here in all types of weather, when it’s snowing, when it’s 75-80.”

More than a century old and ever-growing, the races were among the first in the country to offer sanctioned steeplechase racing. The races also blazed the trail for gender-neutral competition. This was one of the country’s first races in which female jockeys competed with males, expanding both the competition and the crowd.

The purse for the legendary Genesee Valley Hunt Cup race, sponsored by Joseph Bucci and Donnan Farms, was a hefty $25,000. Be Great, owned by Welcome Here Farm, took that prize as the only jockey of five left on his horse.

Walking through the crowd, you sift through people young and old, the perfume of meat smoked and brined wafting through the air, surrounded by pastries, wines of all kinds, and apple cider.

This year’s races were, as ever, a chance to to eat, chat, and feel hooves shake the weathered Genesee Valley earth, which is protected by the Genesee Valley Conservancy.