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Joe Clancy 
Leave it to American jump racing to throw three stops into the mix on Breeders’ Cup Weekend, whew. Pretty busy here, Thoroughbred fans. Oh well, the racing is great (even if the fields are small) at Callaway Gardens in Georgia, Montpelier in Virginia and the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup in, well, Pennsylvania.
The coolest horse you’ve never heard of runs Saturday. He runs fast, he jumps high, he wins pretty much all the time. He’s also a 12-year-old steeplechaser who will be nowhere near Santa Anita Park and the Breeders’ Cup. No, this star Thoroughbred is Decoy Daddy.
Owner Hank Nothhaft was in the market for horses in England this winter and set a budget of about $100,000. The idea was to buy a well-bred filly, see if she could improve in a different program, move her to the United States and after a season or two retire her to his broodmare band.
In the midst of Breeders’ Cup fever in Thoroughbred racing, the National Steeplechase Association circuit turns its final corner with three weekends to go in the season. Let’s play catch up from the weekend.
Eddie Graham trains steeplechase horses, and knows what he’s looking for when he goes over a prospect. And he loved Hardest Core when he saw him at the Keeneland Sales last fall.
Like plenty before her, Ageless heads to Hollywood in search of her big break – only she’s not looking for a part in a movie.
Get right back on the horse. After a Saturday of championship races at the richest stop on the circuit last week at Far Hills, the steeplechase crowd goes racing in Virginia and South Carolina Saturday.
There is a rare peace to a racehorse loose in a paddock. He’s relaxed, and can choose to do what he wants. He can eat grass, scuff at dirt, watch, take note. He’s fenced, in but free.
Eddie Graham and Jody Petty have taken plenty of walks like this in their lives with horses – coming in from the gallop or heading back to the barn from the track.
A day at the races, or days at the races. Saturday was one day but it felt like far more as Thoroughbreds went to work on big days at Laurel Park, Far Hills, Belmont Park, Charles Town, Keeneland and pretty much anywhere else you wanted to look on a sunny, breezy October day.
