The steeplechase is a form of horse racing (primarily conucted in the United Kingdom, United States, France and Ireland) and derives its name from early races in which orientation of the course was by reference to a church steeple, jumping fences and ditches and generally traversing the many intervening obstacles in the countryside. In the UK and Ireland the term steeplechase is not used, even though the word originated in Ireland: the term (and formal code of racing) is National Hunt racing.