"Unlike horse racing on the flats, a steeplechase is a risky obstacle course. The French version is based on the English and Irish steeplechase, which is an informal race run in the countryside. A group of men on horseback would choose a steeple--a visible, fixed goal--and race toward it, riding over everything--bridges, fences, hedges, and streams--between the starting point and the end. People fell, frequently injuring or even killing themselves. In France "le steeplechase" was a somewhat more organized event, with a specific distance and course. It was very much a gentleman's race, designed for aristocrats, not for professional jockeys, and was a way for men to demonstrate their sangfroid, their ability to keep a cool head in dangerous circumstances. Certain places specialized in steeplechases, including Le-Pin, a racetrack in Normandy near the estate of the Valpinçons, friends whom Degas frequently visited.
In the early 1860s there were a few paintings at the Salon showing the steeplechase, but no one had painted anything like this. Instead of a modest genre painting of "a gentleman's race," it is epic, ambitious, and full of high drama. Degas has taken an ordinary event--the steeplechase--and turned it into a history painting. It's Alexander and Bucephalus, but in reverse. In this battle between man and horse--man and nature--man has lost. A fallen jockey lies in the foreground while the race continues."
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