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Joe Clancy A player has a chance to think about those who matter most in his life, who’ve helped him most to get where he is – his parents, his wife, his coaches, one coach, his friends, one friend – and for that day to share the Cup with them. To thank them.
This time of year, racing is about opinions. They’re like ears, everybody has them, and some stick out more than others. Who’s your Horse of the Year? I tell ya who I’d vote for… Who’s your 3-year-old of the year? You know, it really ought to be… Champion jockey? It’s gotta be… Champion trainer? No doubt about it, it’ll be…
Demonstrative and Divine Fortune. Divine Fortune and Demonstrative. It seems like this CD has been playing for a while. Nobody touch the repeat button. It’s too cool of a track.
Jonathan Sheppard: 25 championships. Mikey Smithwick: 10 championships.
They are the measuring sticks when it comes to American steeplechase trainers, though even they may eventually have to move over. Jack Fisher won 23 races in 2014, eight more than nearest rival Sheppard, to collect an eighth National Steeplechase Association championship and move to third on the all-time list. Fisher’s crowns, based on races won, have all come since breaking through with his first in 2003.
If you want the full effect, close your eyes and have someone read the next paragraph to you…
Horses like Divine Fortune defy logic. Rules don’t apply. He’s 11, as good as he was at 5 (only different). He’s absorbed some hard falls and ugly losses, thrown some wild pitches and even struck out a few times. But he keeps stepping in and taking his cuts.
The jumpers are back in Camden, S.C. for the steeplechase finale Saturday at Springdale Race Course. Six races bring down the curtain on the season with a first post time of 12:30 p.m. The star of the show, Demonstrative, eyes a fourth consecutive Grade 1 win and second Colonial Cup in three years.
It’s come down to this. The 2014 National Steeplechase Association’s final race day heads to the post Saturday with the Colonial Cup Races at Springdale Racecourse in Camden, S.C. After Saturday, it’s rest, recover, regroup until March.
They’re jumping for another two weekends on the National Steeplechase Association circuit – this weekend at Charleston and next week at the Colonial Cup. Both meets are in South Carolina and put a lid on the 2015 season.
You can hear them all over Fair Hill Training Center – conversations about Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Main Sequence. The talk spans the horse’s early days, when he was sick and on antibiotics, to his training sessions, his races, his Horse of the Year chances.
