The Carolina Cup was held in Camden, South Carolina on April 1st. The annual event started all the way back in 1930. Crowds nearing 70,000 in number arrived in their finest spring attire to tailgate and watch some horse races.
Upon arrival at the Springdale Race Course, attendees are greeted by vendors selling food and various head-to-toe attire ranging from water-proof boots to giant, sun-blocking hats. Jockeys were posing for pictures in exchange for donations to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation.
In the middle of the race track are tailgaters, grilling food and staying hydrated. Friends and families are together having a good time, enjoying the event’s atmosphere. One attendee, Richard Tate from Wyoming, says, “I’ve been to every racing track in the world and there’s nothing like this. The atmosphere, the people. The people are so nice. You don’t run into people on the race track this nice.” He’s been coming to the Carolina Cup off and on since the 70s to enjoy the races and South Carolina’s weather. “What a day. Look at this day. I come from Wyoming and it’s raining and it’s pouring and it’s 40 degrees.”
Enjoying the weather on the other side of the track were the college students in College Park. They came from schools all around to enjoy the day’s racing festivities. It’s the louder side of the event. Music blares, people cheer, and good times had by all.
“This is almost like a dress up event for us,” Duke student Shane Cashin says. He’s at the Carolina Cup this year with friend Mitch Goldhagen, who acknowledges that most college students at the event are here for the partying and not the races.
The Carolina Cup events officially kicked off at noon, opening with the national anthem, a color guard march, and an aerial show from the Special Forces Parachute Team. By one o’clock the horses were at the paddock. By 1:30, it was off to the races.
For most of the crowd at Carolina Cup, the day is all about fun in the sun. For jockeys, like Ross Garrity, it’s a pivotal day for racing season. “For the jockeys it’s the first major stakes race of the season,” Garrity says. “It’s building block for the rest of the season.” That season will conclude on this very same racetrack in November for the Colonial Cup.
Since its inception nearly ninety years ago, the Carolina Cup has served as an unofficial kickoff for the spring season in the South. It consistently ranks with the Carolina-Clemson football game and the Southern 500 as one of the state’s most popular sporting events. It also does a great deal for the Camden community, with profits from the event benefiting local charities like KershawHealth. Margaret Clay, editor at Columbia Metropolitan Magazine, a sponsor for this year’s event, sums up the day nicely. “What other event is there like this in the whole state? It always seems somehow to be beautiful weather and fun friends, drinks, food, beautiful horses and fashion and hats, what more could you ask for?”
