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Joe Clancy 
It’s Kentucky Derby Day. Everybody knows that and you can certainly follow along with all the goings on at Churchill Downs – if you can keep up – but the steeplechase schedule rolls (jumps?) on with the Virginia Gold Cup at Great Meadow Saturday afternoon and a timber meet at Winterthur in Delaware Sunday. The seven-race … Read more
Pack the traps, wrap the halters, load up the trucks and trailers and hit the road. Literally, that sentence was typed as “On the Road Again” by Willie Nelson played via WXPN’s birthday tribute to the legendary singer/songwriter. Happy 90th birthday, Willie. We should all listen a little more. The steeplechase circuit hits the road … Read more
The acceleration continues. Saturday’s two-stop steeplechase lineup includes the first open hurdle stakes of the year, a key timber test, classy allowance hurdlers and plenty to see at two meets. Start in Virginia with the Middleburg Spring Races at Glenwood Park. If you’ve never been, get there someday. Glenwood, which hosts racing in the spring … Read more
It was March 16. Jack Fisher talked about the four gray cats – not 17 like the rescue organization wanted him to take because he’s not “a crazy cat woman” – who just joined the roster at the barn and finally, with some prodding, turned to the topic at hand. “He had his first work … Read more
As good as he was as a racehorse, I will always remember the eye and the expression of 2004 steeplechase champion Hirapour. When the Irish-bred looked at you, he looked at you. Retired since 2006 and 27 years old, Hirapour died Sunday in Virginia. Trainer Doug Fout called it one of his “saddest days of … Read more
Now we’re talking. The fledgling steeplechase season finds third gear with two meets Saturday. As much as we don’t really like double meets, these co-exist just fine with hurdlers headed to Tryon, N.C., for the Block House meet and the timber horses aiming for My Lady’s Manor in Monkton, Md. Next week is more of … Read more
Week Three and it’s a new (well, old) stop as the NSA sanctions three races at the Old Dominion Hounds Point-to-Point at Ben Venue Farm in Washington, Va. The 49th race meet includes a total mixed bag of races on the flat, over hurdles and over timber. Post time for the first is noon, but … Read more
Round Two. The steeplechase season rolls on to Springdale Race Course in Camden, S.C. for Saturday’s Carolina Cup. The race has been around since 1930, and run in pretty much every configuration you can think of – timber, brush, National Fences, open stakes, Grade 1, novice. The novices give it a go Saturday as part … Read more
Be careful with the condition book. When the National Steeplechase Association created starter maiden races, the idea was to give horses a mid-level opportunity between maiden special weights and maiden claimers. The races are restricted to horses who started for a claiming price of $20,000 or less on the flat or over jumps and theoretically … Read more
As the Wright Brothers put it, crank up the flying machine. It’s steeplechase time. The 2023 National Steeplechase Association season begins in Aiken, S.C. Saturday with a boutique, six-race card. Thirty-three horses make up the whole lineup, so the entry box doesn’t exactly overflow but that’s business as usual. By May, races will overfill, and … Read more
