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Joe Clancy From the December edition of Steeplechase Times.
Bea and Tucker Geraghty were on a late-summer holiday in 2009. Their son Ross, fed up with the racing game at home in Ireland and his place in it, made a decision about America. He could ride there, couldn’t he? Especially with a contact with leading trainer Tom Voss.
From the December edition of Steeplechase Times.
Jack Fisher gazed and appraised Three Hundred and Popplestone after his duo finished second and third in the maiden at the Colonial Cup. Two maidens, blowing hard, checks earned, going home. “I can’t believe they let the winner up the inside,” Fisher said, half to himself, half to his jockeys. Then Fisher turned toward owners Andre Brewster and Sheila Williams.
From the December edition of Steeplechase Times.
Racehorses, especially steeplechase horses, place owners at the intersection of good news and bad news. Every owner waits for the collision. For every good call, there is a bad call. Actually, it’s more like a 1-5 ratio. No owner is immune. The more horses you own, the more collisions.
From the December edition of Steeplechase Times.
Matt McCarron handed the saddle towel to the clerk of scales, slid two pounds of lead from his leather pad, and stepped on the scale for the final time. McCarron had just won the Colonial Cup with a last-to-first sweep from Jacqueline Ohrstrom’s Demonstrative.
From the December edition of Steeplechase Times.
Bernie Dalton turned and pointed to a bay filly in a corner paddock in Camden, S.C. “There’s the champ,” he said. Then he pointed to another bay filly in another paddock. “And there’s the linebacker,” Dalton said. The champ, Cat Feathers, and the linebacker, Lillehammer, never looked up.
I don’t endorse candidates, but if you’re a voter make sure you go to the poll. Every year, many Eclipse voters abstain from the jump category – using the excuse that they don’t know enough to make an educated decision. Well, get educated. Read up, study some video, look at the past performances and make a decision. Or read this. And if you aren’t a voter, read anyway and understand the work that goes into the process.
Editor’s Note: This Steeplechase Times profile of 2012 3-year-old hurdle champion More Tea Vicar won first prize (Personality Profile) in the American Horse Publications editorial contest for 2012.
Monday’s Child, a broodmare at Lisa and Zohar Ben-Dov’s Kinross Farm in Virginia, lay on her side, hurt and exhausted. She’d struggled in the cold and rain and mud, a long way from a straw-bedded stall, warmth and human attention.
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From the December edition of Steeplechase Times.
Brian Crowley laughed at the question.
“What will I miss?” he repeated, and took a long breath. “. . . the money? To be fair, I’ve had a good relationship with the lads in the weighing room. They’re a good bunch of people. And just the excitement of going out there and riding racehorses. The whole aspect of it, being involved in the schooling and the training, the racing, the lads, all of it.”
From the December edition of Steeplechase Times.
By Sean and Joe Clancy
Another roiling season has come to a close. There were enchanting days, deflating days. Good moments, bad moments. Promising developments, tragic developments. You know about Pierrot Lunaire’s return, Demonstrative’s rally, Irv Naylor’s reign, Jack Fisher’s title . . . Here are some of the most entertaining, enlightening and disturbing stories from 2012.
Yes, it’s been a while for an update in this space. So it goes in small business. We’re hard at work selling calendars, crafting a Steeplechase Times newspaper, producing magazines for Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred and organizing the future. Oh, and it’s December. Lots to do before the end of the year.
