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Joe Clancy Guy Torsilieri is the co-chair of the Far Hills Races, president of the National Steeplechase Association and the man behind the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. If that’s not enough to make you listen, you’re in the wrong podcast.
Breeders’ Cup moments arrive every year. All you have to do is wait and watch. Thoroughbred racing’s championship day celebrated its 35th running at Churchill Downs Friday and Saturday and left nothing on the track.
John Velazquez does John Velazquez things. Then he tries to explain them. Saturday’s Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf was no different as the Hall of Fame jockey engineered a textbook come-from-behind move with Sistercharlie.
With cameraman Tom Stone walking backward and aiming a big lens in his face, trainer John Sadler put up a mock stiff arm and laughed. “He’s a good guy now, it’s fine,” Sadler said about Stone, whose job frequently involves stalking the trainers of Breeders’ Cup contenders win or lose.
Sadler and Stone know all about losing, on camera.
In nine days he will run in the most important race of his life, but on this day – Thursday, Oct. 25 – Glorious Empire is just another horse.
A Marylander who now lives in California, Steve Hankin brings a background in sports video production to his new role with the National Steeplechase Association, where HD video is changing the way people see American jump racing and opening new opportunities.
Originally published in the Aug. 5, 2018, Saratoga Special.
Rick Violette slammed his right fist down on the ledge of his front-row box and yelled one word – one sharp, definitive, door-slamming, declaration of a word.
“Yes,” the trainer said.
The second division of the Foxbrook doesn’t look as strong as the first, but again mixes experience – Gibralfaro’s 14 starts, Ice It’s 17 and Detroit Blues’ 14 – with relative newcomers Cite, Amschel, Swellelegent and others. Trainer Jack Fisher runs four of the nine. If you’re so inclined, this is the first leg of the Far Hills/NYRA Pick Four.
In a good sign, Far Hills split the Foxbrook novice hurdle into two divisions worth $125,000 each. The race, then worth $75,000 a division, was also divided in 2013 so it’s not unprecedented but it matters. Kudos to the race meet and to the horsemen. On paper, this is the deeper of the two with stakes winners Surprising Soul and Boss Man leading the way. Tactics and pace will matter as the favorites both like to race up front. Weight will matter too as Surprising Soul totes 162. That’s 20 more than City Dreamer.
Want to break your maiden? Might as well do it for $50,000 and that’s what’s on the line in the second at Far Hills. Surprised this race only attracted eight runners, two short of the maximum. The result will hinge on a battle of experience vs. promise. Khafayya (seven starts), Motivational, Snuggling and Special Relation (five each) take on newcomers Zeppelin Ride, Elmutahid, Highly Prized and Inverness (four starts combined).
