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Joe Clancy 
Everybody in the van to Charlottesville. The Foxfield Races, spring and fall, are a fixture on the steeplechase circuit – home to signature performances by Victorian Hill, an Eclipse Award-winning photograph by Douglas Lees (Master’s Degree and Buzz Hannum wiping out over timber) and even a few runnings of the American Grand National. Ask an oldtimer … Read more
Let’s get back to work. After more than three months of jump racing at Saratoga, Colonial Downs and Aqueduct, the schedule turns to its more traditional stops with a full schedule of autumn race meets through Nov. 13. The action starts Saturday at Shawan Downs outside Baltimore, where eight races fill the card. The horses … Read more
Retired trainer Peter Howe, one of just four people to train an American champion over jumps and on the flat, and the father of Colonial Downs vice president of racing Jill Byrne, died Thursday night in Charlottesville, Va. He was 83. Howe was born in Hartford, Conn., and became an accomplished rider of show horses … Read more
Of all the things to come out of a night on Caroline Street in Saratoga, Noah And The Ark might be one of the most unlikely – and now most successful – after Thursday’s Grade 1 upset in the Lonesome Glory Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack. English jump jockey Harrison Beswick takes an annual holiday with … Read more
When you run off and win a Saratoga Grade 1 by 13 1/4 lengths – geared down – while carrying 164 pounds, there isn’t much to do afterward but bask in the performance and get ready to do it again. And that sounds like the formula for steeplechaser Snap Decision, who blitzed six foes in … Read more
Jump racing goes to the big city. For the first time in 48 years, New York’s Aqueduct Racetrack hosts a steeplechase race – two actually – as construction at Belmont Park shifted NYRA’s fall racing dates a few miles southeast to the Big A. Thursday is Opening Day and, as happened at Belmont, steeplechasers will … Read more
They ever have jump racing at Aqueduct? The question arose in early July – even before NYRA announced the shifting of Belmont Park’s Fall Championship meet to The Big A – and gained steam as Saratoga’s 2022 season unfolded. The answer, of course, is yes. But not for a while. Officially, the most recent steeplechase race … Read more
That’s that. The final edition of 2022 includes Saturday previews – Jockey Club Gold Cup, Flower Bowl, etc., the Bill Mott Stable Tour (DO NOT MISS IT), recaps from Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. How about that Thin White Duke? Amazing finish in the 5 1/2 furlong Lucky Coin Stakes. Open it up, start scrolling and enjoy … Read more
Epicenter leaves no doubt who the top 3-year-old of 2022 is with a victory in Saturday’s Travers Stakes, the first in Steve Asmussen’s storied career. Owned by Winchell Thoroughbreds, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness runner-up went 2-for-2 at the meet with a Jim Dandy win to start the double. Saturday’s jammed stakes lineup also saw … Read more
Big horse for a big day. Jim Dandy Stakes winner Epicenter tackles the Travers while looking to take hold of the 3-year-old division in a strong field which includes Haskell winner Cyberknife, Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike, Preakness winner Early Voting, Curlin winner Artorius, Blue Grass winner Zandon, Iowa Derby winner Ain’t Life Grand and … Read more
