The 50th Stoneybrook Steeplechase last Saturday drew between 18,000 and 22,000 spectators, and officials say they are swamped with calls from people wanting to reserve space and sponsor races for next year.

The standing date for Stoneybrook from now on is the first Saturday in April at Five Points Horse Park in Hoke County.

“I’m pretty confident we’ll be in the black,” said Roger Secrist, president of the Sandhills Equestrian Conservancy Board of Directors, the nonprofit group that raised money to build a $2 million horse park in Hoke County and conducted the steeplechase in its new location. Once start-up debts are paid, the Conservancy hopes to be able to provide some proceeds to other charities.

Michael G. “Mickey” Walsh Sr. started the Stoneybrook Steeplechase in 1947 at his farm on Youngs Road in Southern Pines. The races were held every year through the 1996, the year Walsh’s six children sold the farm. Walsh died in 1994.

Gate receipts from general admission ticket sales alone on race day brought in $20,000, organizers said. Those tickets were $15 each.

About $220,000 had already been raised from advance ticket sales, hospitality tents and sponsorships. The original investment in the race was roughly $500,000, including the one-time $100,000 cost of building the judges’ observation tower, Secrist said.

Final figures on revenues and expenditures are still being tallied, Secrist said. It might be a week or two before the net result is known, he said.

Several nonprofit groups in Hoke County are receiving payments from the Conservancy — some in return for providing volunteer help, such as Boy Scout groups that cleaned up the trash and after the races. Others benefiting from the proceeds include the Women of Weymouth in Southern Pines.

Other volunteers included Moore County Sheriff Frank Johnson and some of his officers, who gave off-duty Hoke County sheriff’s deputies the benefit of their many years’ experience in handling Stoneybrook in years part.

This year’s corporate sponsors are pleased and expect to return next year, officials said. Some even want to be assured they’ll have the very same location.

Improvements will be made in traffic and pedestrian handling, Secrist said. The N.C. Department of Transportation will probably designate one or more one-way roads to expedite traffic flow during arrival and departure.

There was only one DWI arrest Saturday — minimal, compared to Stoneybrook’s later years in Southern Pines, when it became known as the World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. The new sponsors tried to provide a family atmosphere, mingling entertainment with education about equestrian events, while still allowing people to have a good time, drink and socialize if they wanted to.

A $5,000 savings bond helped the sobriety effort. It was awarded to Kelly Hopkins of Raeford, as the top prize of three given to the designated driver blowing the lowest on a breathalyzer test at the end of the day.

Secrist is also hard at work on two “surprise” events that will interest the general public, he said, between the next event this weekend and September.

Up next, on April 14-15, is the Polocrosse Rally and Clinic for the United States Pony Club Carolinas Region, sponsored by the Moore County Pony Club, for USPC polocrosse teams and clubs from North and South Carolina.

The next scheduled event after that is the horse trials in mid-September, but Secrist said the public will be “pleasantly surprised” at the events he hopes to schedule during the summer.