Here’s today’s Final Jeopardy (in the category Sporting Events) for Wednesday, December 22, 2021 (Season 38, Game 73):
In 1752 one of the first races in this sport was run—4 miles from Buttevant Church to St. Mary’s Doneraile
(correct response beneath the contestants)
Today’s contestants:
Krystina Alfano, a grants management specialist from Hyattsville, Maryland
|
Jamal Rogers, a mobile software engineer from Astoria, New York
|
Amy Schneider, an engineering manager from Oakland, California (15-day total: $606,200)
|
Andy’s Pregame Thoughts: Amy Schneider is now at 15 victories; Jamal and Krystina will attempt to keep her from reaching 16 wins. One thing that will make it tougher for them: Amy’s now up to 10 correct responses in a row in Final Jeopardy. Only 3 have had a longer streak—James Holzhauer (28), Ben Ingram (12), and Tom Cubbage (12).
PSA: The best way to keep COVID-19 at bay (and keep Jeopardy! producing new episodes) is for everybody to get their vaccinations as soon as they are able to, including any boosters as recommended. When wearing a mask, please ensure that your mask covers both your nose and your mouth.
Are you going on the show and looking for information about how to bet in Final Jeopardy? Check out my new Betting Strategy 101 page!
(Content continues below)
Correct response: What is steeplechase?
More information about Final Jeopardy: (The following write-up is original content and is copyright 2021 The Jeopardy! Fan. It may not be copied without linked attribution back to this page.)
As its name implies—”chasing steeples”—the steeplechase originated as a cross-country horse race between two churches, especially in Ireland in the 18th century. Nowadays, the term is used both in horse racing and athletics to refer to competitions where obstacles are jumped. The most famous horse racing steeplechase is the Grand National at Aintree Race Course near Liverpool. The most famous athletics steeplechase is the Olympic distance, the 3000m steeplechase, where runners jump a high hurdle-water jump every lap of the track.
At this time, we are past our Christmas ordering deadline. That being said: we have many new offerings at The Jeopardy! Fan Online Store! Proceeds from the sale of the “Doctor Oz’s Fast-Acting Snake Oil Elixir” T-shirt are being donated to The Trevor Project:
Looking to find out who won Jeopardy! today? Tonight’s results are below!
Scores going into Final:
Amy $35,200
Jamal $12,000
Krystina $2,000
Tonight’s results:
Krystina $2,000 + $1,951 = $3,951 (What is the steeplechase?)
Jamal $12,000 – $345 = $11,655 (What is bicycling?)
Amy $35,200 – $10,000 = $25,200 (What is) (16-day total: $631,400)
Scores after the Jeopardy! Round:
Amy $16,400
Jamal $1,200
Krystina $0
Opening break taken after: 15 clues
Daily Double locations:
1) MAMMALS $600 (clue #13)
Amy 5200 +4000 (Jamal 800 Krystina 400)
2) ‘TIS THE SEASON, ERA OR EPOCH $1600 (clue #12)
Jamal 3600 +3600 (Amy 21600 Krystina 2000)
3) U.S. GEOGRAPHY $1200 (clue #17, $17600 left on board)
Amy 24000 +4000 (Jamal 7200 Krystina 0)
Overall Daily Double Efficiency for this game: 194
Unplayed clues:
J! Round: None!
DJ! Round: None!
Total Left On Board: $0
Number of clues left unrevealed this season: 11 (0.15 per episode average), 0 Daily Doubles
Game Stats:
Amy $29,000 Coryat, 34 correct, 0 incorrect, 52.63% in first on buzzer (30/57), 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 4 rebound opportunities)
Jamal $10,000 Coryat, 13 correct, 2 incorrect, 24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57), 0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Krystina $2,000 Coryat, 8 correct, 3 incorrect, 17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57), 0/1 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
Combined Coryat Score: $41,000
Lach Trash: $8,200 (on 5 Triple Stumpers)
Coryat lost to incorrect responses (less double-correct responses): $4,800
Amy Schneider, career statistics:
501 correct, 29 incorrect
29/32 on rebound attempts (on 60 rebound opportunities)
50.11% in first on buzzer (455/908)
24/27 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $81,200)
14/16 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $25,450
Jamal Rogers, career statistics:
13 correct, 3 incorrect
0/0 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
24.56% in first on buzzer (14/57)
1/1 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,600)
0/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $10,000
Krystina Alfano, career statistics:
9 correct, 3 incorrect
0/1 on rebound attempts (on 2 rebound opportunities)
17.54% in first on buzzer (10/57)
0/0 on Daily Doubles
1/1 in Final Jeopardy
Average Coryat: $2,000
Amy Schneider, to win:
17 games: 92.344%
18: 85.275%
19: 78.746%
20: 72.717%
21: 67.150%
Avg. streak: 28.062 games.
Today’s interviews:
Krystina was Tom Sawyered by her now-husband (yes, staining a fence.)
Jamal got his first job rejection letter from a video game company at the age of 6.
Amy has been to TIFF seven times.
Andy’s Thoughts:
- I understand that Jeopardy’s internal style guide renders an em dash as “–“; however, I render it here as “—”.
- Today was only the second time Amy has gotten Final Jeopardy! incorrect.
- Amy passes Matt Jackson for #7 on the all-time winnings list, including tournaments. Larissa Kelly—also the all-time winningest woman—sits #6 at $660,930.
- At 501, Amy remains behind Matt Jackson for #8 on the “most correct responses” list; Amy should pass Matt tomorrow; the clue at SHORT POEMS $1600 was Amy’s 500th correct response.
Contestant photo credit: jeopardy.com
When commenting, please note that all comments on The Jeopardy! Fan must be in compliance with the Site Comment Policy.
If you are going to quote any information from this page or this website, attribution is required.
Andy, I guess horse racing. Do you think the judges would’ve accepted that less specific answer?
On the show, I’m guessing not, as (flat-track) horse racing would have had a different history than this.
Thanks.
P.S. That’s what I thought, too🙂.
Ionically, I would have gotten it right saying steeple chase, but I was thinking of humans.
Nuts… I hate it when my FJ losing streak increases :/
This is a good test of Amy’s resolve. She has (I think) the right idea to trust her knowledge and bet enough to maximize her winnings while covering the 2nd place player in case they are right and she is wrong. That you were, in fact, wrong should not be considered an indication to retreat from that strategy.
I hope Amy makes it to one million dollars
Well even though Amy didn’t get this one but it didn’t hurt her chances of incresing her winning streak. I am just hoping that the other two would know about steeplechase. A good test of Amy’s resolve as she didn’t want to lose too much money to cover 2nd place. I think Amy might regain what she has lost tomorrow and surpass Matt Jackson.
You jinxed her! /s
I think Amy’s getting this wrong should not deter her from trying to answer other sports-related questions, but if any “equine” categories come up she might should avoid betting much on those because I’d assume that anyone who knows any more than just the basics about horses would have gotten this one right.
Andy, perhaps it does “go without saying” but I was a bit surprised that you did not note that the races “between two churches” were because the steeples would be the most visible landmark when racing overland jumping all obstacles in the way rather than racing on a road (or merely jumping such obstacles during fox-hunting without a set ending location or winner).
I too thought of horse racing but in retrospect realize that horse racing is far older than the 1752 date the clue references.
That’s what steered me away from horses because I knew horse racing was going on way before 1752. Like Jamal, I said bicycling because I couldn’t of what else it might be. I’m impressed with Krystina for getting what was a pretty tough clue.
Not at all tough if you like horse racing and to me steeplechase races are the best of all. As they always say on here: If you know the answer, it’s easy! And so it was.
Just don’t ask me about Shakespeare, geography, and certainly not pop culture.
I’m still waiting for a Shakespeare category to be about low cost fishing rods. I might get some of those.
I would absolutely love it if that sort of category came up by the end of the season.
I pretty much knew that it was the horse racing steeplechase since I figured that the two locations were churches. I like watch steeplechase racing on the local OTB channel in Albany, but think that Saratoga wimpified the steeplechase racing in their summer meet by reducing the number of fences at the normal 2 1/16 mile distance from 12, then to 9, and now 8.