In the rolling countryside of Virginia, where horse racing and hunting are a way of life, one photographer has spent decades capturing the heart and soul of steeplechase racing. Douglas Lees, a photographer and son of a former Master of Warrenton Hunt, has documented more than five decades of equestrian history, preserving moments of grace, power, and frequent drama on the racecourse. Much of the action and pageantry has centered around the Virginia Gold Cup, which celebrated its 100th running in May.
Until 1978, the race was run for only a trophy, albeit a gold one, which went to the first owner to win the race three times. The inaugural purse that year was $7,500. In 1987, it rose to $30,000, and this year the top five horses split a $100,000 purse, only part of the reason the challenge now draws more than 50,000 attendees. Over the years the sport has become more professional, with fewer amateur riders and more international jockeys, particularly from Ireland and England. Horses, jockeys, trainers, and owners now vie to win a variety of races on the day’s card, while attendees assemble elaborate tailgate and tented parties. There’s even a hat contest.
For Douglas, it’s always been about the horses, and the real prize comes from capturing the best photo. He’s won two Eclipse Awards and countless honors from American Horse Publications for capturing the spirit of a sport—the relationship between horse and rider, the excitement of the race, the beauty of the landscape—over half a century.
Douglas’s photographic journey began in the mid-1960s, deeply rooted in a family tradition of hunting and racing. His father, D. Harcourt Lees Jr., Master of the Warrenton Hunt for 13 years, instilled in him a love for equestrian culture that would shape his life and profession. Harcourt was on the Gold Cup Committee for 50 years, eventually being honored with a Virginia Gold Cup medal for his service to the sport. The family also had its own dark room, making picking up the camera a foregone conclusion. But for Douglas, photography wasn't just a livelihood; it was a way of preserving a vanishing world of tradition and pageantry.
Starting in the late 1960s, Douglas’s photos were appearing in local papers. In 1970, he captured the fall of Haffaday and Paddy Neilson at the 21st fence of the Virginia Gold Cup, which caught the eye of the Richmond Times-Dispatch editor.
“I gave them permission to run through the AP the next day [Monday],” Douglas said. The photo appeared in papers across the country and sparked a lifelong competitiveness for capturing that one photo that best depicts the thrill of the chase.
Today, technology has transformed the craft, with remote triggers and high-speed cameras capturing split seconds of equine athleticism. In the early days, it was a more manual affair. Douglas says he would go out the night before with a sickle to trim the front side of the fence facing the camera, a side the horses couldn’t see.
“From the camera’s standpoint, if you had a lot of grass growing in front, that made the fence look smaller and also made it look more ragged, so basically I cleaned it up,” he explains. “It was also a good time to walk the course. It was usually very cool and dark, and it was different when nobody was there, you know?”
One of his favorite subjects was Saluter, a legendary timber horse who won six Virginia Gold Cups between 1994 and 1999 and two International Gold Cups (held on the same course but in the fall). Saluter’s rider-trainer, Jack Fisher, won the Cup 12 times as a trainer and nine times as a rider. He was famously captured cradling the cup he retired in 1998 after his first five wins, in a shot the “Steeplechase Times” called “My Cup.”
Evolving Sport
From the original course at an estate called Oakwood near Warrenton to Broadview Farm in Warrenton and finally to Great Meadow in The Plains, each location represents a chapter in Virginia's equestrian history. Over the years, Douglas’s images bear witness to a landscape and a tradition fighting to survive.
Development and traffic forced the move to Great Meadow. In 1982, philanthropist and media executive Arthur W. (Nick) Arundel bought a 500-acre site on an abandoned farm about 10 miles north of the Broadview course near The Plains that had been scheduled to become a massive housing development. The longtime horse enthusiast not only established a racecourse but preserved a key bulwark of open space, enticing a new generation of steeplechase devotees.
Modern races see fewer falls and stricter drug testing. The national fence replaced manually stuffed brush fences, making races safer and the jumps more consistent. Photographers like Douglas documented this transformation too, capturing both the traditional and the modern aspects of steeplechasing, and the rare glimpses of local, landholding luminaries whose accomplishments are better known in the worlds of banking, news, and politics.
Changing Times
Douglas captured societal change as well. For nearly seven decades only gentlemen raced, clad in foxhunting jackets or their military uniforms in the early days. Douglas was there to catch the first female winner, Sanna Neilson, in 1991 on Joe's O.K.
Other “society” shots like that of Arundel on his 1986 Virginia Gold Cup winner Sugar Bee foxhunting with Jackie Onassis, are part of the historical tapestry too. But Douglas’s own photographic journey is deeply personal. He recalled several foxhunting experiences, including falls that could have been disastrous. He shared the story of his mother Eleanor, whom friends called Scottie. She was a frequent presenter of the trophy in its early days when she was wife of the Warrenton Hunt master. A passionate rider, she was paralyzed in a hunting accident in 1980—a stark reminder of the dangers of the sport.
One of Douglas’s few regrets is missing the 1977 event, when his mother presented the cup. He’d decided to go fishing instead. Decades later, he still rues his only missed Gold Cup of 56 years, but there’s a silver lining. Now 75, he’s made fishing his passion and enjoys the more leisurely sport with his girlfriend.
Douglas’s work preserves a rich tradition, with each image telling a story of skill, courage, and the timeless connection between horse and rider. As development threatens open spaces and time reshapes long-held traditions, his photographs serve as a powerful testament to what makes steeplechasing more than a sport—it's a living culture, deeply rooted in Virginia's landscape.
As the 100th running of the Virginia Gold Cup entered the history books this spring, so too did the legacy of a visual storyteller—one who has immortalized moments of beauty, drama, and triumph that might otherwise have been lost to time.
Over the years, Douglas’s images bear witness to a landscape and a tradition fighting to survive.