Steeplechase stars clash in Grade 1 Iroquois
Divine Fortune and Demonstrative. Demonstrative and Divine Fortune. For the better part of three years, the two Thoroughbreds have been a big part of the conversation at the top of American jump racing.
Joe Clancy
California Chrome’s Idaho connection
Wait, Idaho? Yes, Idaho. The state known for potatoes apparently can produce top-level Thoroughbreds too.
Elm Tree Farm turns a rare Derby double
Michelle and Jody Huckabay drove home from the Kentucky Derby like any other racing fans last Saturday when an unlikely connection to their farm dawned on them.
Maryland Hunt Cup notebook
There’s nothing quite like the Maryland Hunt Cup. The race gets run for the 118th time Saturday. The fences are like no others, the course crosses a public road (which is closed, then reopened) for the race. People have specific reasons for watching in specific spots – no reason or spot is the same. And on and on.
Big field ready for Maryland Hunt Cup
Jack Fisher would ride Battle Op. Or maybe Twill Do. Either way, he wants experience because experience matters at the Maryland Hunt Cup. Like no other place.
Steeplechase legend Flatterer dies at 35
Steeplechasing’s grand old man is gone. Four-time champion steeplechaser Flatterer, the oldest Eclipse Award winner and Thoroughbred Hall of Famer, died Tuesday at owner Bill Pape’s My Way Farm near Unionville, Pa. The Pennsylvania-bred was 35.
Ring Weekend tries to punch Derby ticket
In brogues and accents, they’re laughing again in trainer Graham Motion’s shedrow at Fair Hill Training Center. The barn might have another Derby horse, and Johnny, Robbie, Adrian and the rest make sure visitors know it.
Foyle gets back to work in Grand National
Bruce Fenwick tries to cover all the details with his horses. He plans, trains, studies, trains, talks about the making of a timber horse being a “four-year deal.”
A Small Road Trip
Plenty has been written about trainer Dickie Small, who died of cancer April 4. Plenty of other stories have been told, but not written, by friends and family over the past 10 days or so. Here’s one from longtime friend Ted Mudge about a trip to Camden, S.C. a few years ago. Small loved it there and told Mudge to tag along, that he’d love it too. Finally, Mudge agreed and Small said they were leaving at 7 in the evening.
Lucy’s Bob Boy aims high in CT Classic
Wednesday morning at Charles Town the racing office was struggling to fill the Confucious Say, a $50,000 stakes for West Virginia-breds going 7 furlongs on Saturday’s Charles Town Classic undercard.
