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Joe Clancy 
The very first horse I syndicated in the first stable I set up to race horses owned by a group of racing partners was Political Ambition, the latest in This Is Horse Racing’s Horse Who Changed Everything feature, presented by EMBRACE THE RACE.
As the horses came off the final turn and rolled to the final fence in Saturday’s My Lady’s Manor timber stakes, trainer Cyril Murphy was riding hard – while standing on the ground. “Go on, Gus . . . Go on, Gus . . . Go ON, Gus,” Murphy implored in a deep Irish accent.
Dawalan, North America’s champion steeplechaser of 2015, will not get a chance to repeat his Eclipse Award-winning season this year due to an injury in a point-to-point flat prep April 2.
With a final bid of $44,000 from trainer Jack Fisher on behalf of new client Matt Groff, three-time hurdle winner Selection Sunday topped a select sale of steeplechase horses and prospects Sunday at Great Meadow Race Course in The Plains, Va.
Effinex gave his connections reason to be proud after a gallant run at Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic. He validated the performance a month later winning the Grade 1 Clark Handicap and was honored as the best from New York Monday night.
In his hurdle debut at the 2015 Queen’s Cup last April, Special Skills was battling. He’d eased into contention up the rise on the backside, followed Maserati around the final turn, jumped the second-last, took a bump from his rival a few strides later and fought on to the final fence.
Where he fell like somebody tripped him.
A select group of Thoroughbreds make up the catalogue for the second annual Go Jump Racing Steeplechase Sale Sunday, April 10 at Great Meadow Racecourse in The Plains, Va.
The dozen (and counting) horses, all either current steeplechasers or chosen for their potential as such, are part of a new idea designed to spur interest and affect the equine inventory in American jump racing. And there are no slouches.
The veterinarians talk like it’s routine, or at least common, to slice into a horse’s shoulder, move muscles and nerves, find bone fragments, drop those fragments in a cup and put everything back together again.
Ask a silly question . . . You don’t need to be Carnac The Magnificent (look it up, kids) to guess Arthur Hancock’s Horse Who Changed Everything. The Kentucky horseman foaled, raised, owned and raced Hall of Famer Sunday Silence, whose 14-start racing career included nine wins and five seconds (with four of those runner-up efforts coming by less than a length). Sunday Silence changed the lives of plenty of people – some who knew him and some who only saw him.
Aiken? Already? Yes, steeplechase fans, the NSA season kicks into gear – for real – Saturday at the Aiken Steeplechase’s annual spring meet in Aiken, S.C. Entries are pretty light, which happens sometimes, but the six-race card includes plenty of competition and interest.
