Overview The Aiken Steeplechase is two days of jump racing a year in Aiken, South Carolina: a spring meet built around the Imperial Cup and a fall meet that features the Holiday Cup. Both are sanctioned by the National Steeplechase Association, and the spring card opens the national season. The races are run by the Aiken Steeplechase Association, a nonprofit that gives its proceeds to local charities. Together the two days draw more than 40,000 people. On site Race day runs from a nine o'clock gate to six races over hurdles in the afternoon, on a racecourse of about 140 acres built for the sport. Fans tailgate along the rail, in second-row spaces and in trackside chalets, while the Chairman's Club watches from the two-story Overlook and the Winner's Club tent sits at the finish line. The infield adds a Village of Shops, a live music stage, corgi races, children's stick horse races and a hat and costume contest. Audience It is a local crowd. 93% of race-goers comes from Aiken and the Central Savannah River Area, around Augusta and Columbia. It is a family crowd across generations, with grandparents at the rail, kids in the stick horse races and friend groups dressed up for a day of tailgating. Horse owners and trainers from the national circuit travel in. Talent and Influencers The cards draw leading jump trainers and riders. Recent winners came from the barns of Arch Kingsley Jr., Keri Brion and Neil Morris, ridden by Freddie Procter, Bernie Dalton and Stephen Mulqueen. Aiken is a horse town. Thomas Hitchcock, the dean of American steeplechasing, trained here. Track record The spring meet drew a crowd estimated at more than 30,000, and the most recent fall meet drew 14,000 to 15,000, which the association's president called its biggest fall crowd yet. Purses across the two meets total $300,000. The association has given more than $1 million to local charities and awards five $5,000 community grants each fall. Brand presence Budweiser, Honda Cars of Aiken, Aiken Regional Medical Centers, Meta, Security Federal Bank, E-Z-GO and EquipmentShare are among more than 20 current sponsors. A brand can present the meet, put its name on a feature race or sponsor a race on the card. Below that, it can own the live stream, the Village of Shops, a hospitality tent or lounge, or the music stage, corgi races, stick horse races, contests or the drink of the day.