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Joe Clancy Queen’s Cup Steeplechase co-founders Carrington and Bill Price got a call from a friend who said she was throwing a tailgate party, socially distanced of course, and enjoying the day even if the races were canceled. Some race-day volunteers said they were going to miss their rewarding, if hectic, assignments. Then Prices’ daughter Brent Gallagher, the meet’s part-time director of social media, jumped in.
Trainer Mark Casse and two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan headline the 2020 class elected to the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame announced Wednesday. The two contemporary inductees join jockey Darrel McHargue and racehorse Tom Bowling via the Historic Review Committee; and pillars of the turf selections Alice Headley Chandler, J. Keene Daingerfield Jr., and George D. Widener Jr.
Already limited by the coronavirus outbreak, the National Steeplechase Association’s spring calendar took one more hit this week with the cancelation of the Iroquois Steeplechase in Nashville, Tenn.
A few nights ago, Bruce Fenwick was riding his bike down Tufton Avenue – he does that in the evenings when the weather is nice – and saw a small group of people walking the Maryland Hunt Cup course. They were down by the sixth fence, walking along and no doubt talking race strategy and approach.
I have emails from Jack and Mary Dixon Hutcheson going back to 2013. The first is about an April Fools’ Day article I wrote about Animal Kingdom becoming a steeplechaser. Jack laughed, which was the goal. There’s one about Moreno upsetting the 2014 Whitney (the subject is “Musta’ been the gumbo”), another about reading The Saratoga Special while stuck at home in Virginia and others offering thanks, tips, encouragement.
The Special in May? Yeah, The Special in May. We’re almost as surprised as you are, but add another entry in the column of “Stuff I Never Thought I’d See” for 2020.
Back in 1990, I only occasionally wrote about horse racing. Mainly, it was high-school sports – football, basketball, wrestling, baseball, softball, whatever was in season, plus some semi-pro baseball (the Cecil Johnies were pretty strong) – while working for the Cecil Whig newspaper.
Maybe horses aren’t supposed to win the Maryland Hunt Cup four times.
Run. Rest. Run. Rest. Run. Rest. Run. Rest. Run. Rest. Run. Rest. Run. Rest. Run. Rest. Run. Rest. Run. Rest. Run. Rest. Run.
Sleep.
Rest assured that the story of a racehorse, almost any racehorse, meanders like an old Adirondack creek. And Gucci Factor’s goes back to a field in Kentucky in 1993 with the purchase of Satin Promise by Jeff Morris from Roy Coffey.
