Ten Thoroughbred steeplechasers and 15 hounds used in fox hunting were killed Feb. 16 when fire destroyed a barn at the Waterman family’s Clifton Farm near Leesburg, Va. According to published reports, four horses and dozens of hounds were rescued from the 100-year-old structure valued at more than $100,000.

Dennis Foster, director of the Leesburg-based National Masters of Foxhounds Association, said the fire, at the time of the year just before the steeplechase season was set to begin, claimed the lives of some well-bred Thoroughbreds.

Pedigrees of the horses that died were not released by the Waterman family, among the leading participants in steeplechasing and fox hunting in Virginia. Foster said the blaze, apparently electrical in nature, was discovered by a farm employee who arrived at about 5 a.m. EST