Sean Clancy 
And it comes down to this. The final meet on the final weekend of the steeplechase season. The Aiken Steeplechase pulls the curtain with a five-race card worth $130,000, including the featured $35,000 Holiday Cup for 3- and 4-year-olds. Most of the titles are done and dusted. Irv Naylor secured the owner’s title a month … Read more
Where did summer go? The autumn steeplechase season is back and we’re back with picks and previews from Shawan Downs Saturday and Foxfield Sunday. If you were keeping score this spring, Joe got the case of New England IPA. Slate’s clean for the fall. Play ball. The Legacy Chase at Shawan Downs. Hunt Valley, Md. … Read more
I wrote the Cup of Coffee tepidly, unsure if it was the right thing to do or not. It was about George Weaver and his wife Cindy after a racetrack accident that rocked all of us last summer. Eleven months later, George and Cindy stood in the winner’s enclosure at Royal Ascot after Crimson Advocate … Read more
(Originally published in May 19 edition of The Irish Field) Paul Townend wrapped a wet towel over his bare shoulders and hailed a golf cart quicker than a New Yorker flags a yellow cab. “I’m pretending to be a flat jockey a little bit for a while. We have a big meeting in France next … Read more
The end of the National Steeplechase Association’s spring slate is right around the corner and the jumpers double up Saturday, heading to Nashville’s Percy Warner Park for the 82nd Iroquois Steeplechase and to Kennett Square, Pa., for the Willowdale Races. The Iroquois card features seven races – three stakes – worth $445,000, the richest meet … Read more
Turn the page. Another memorable Kentucky Derby in the books – for both the right and a few wrong reasons – and time to look ahead to next week’s Preakness Stakes. If it were only that simple. Some of the shrapnel from Derby Week remains, with five scratches including the morning-line favorite and an uncomfortable … Read more
The final countdown is seriously on now. A mere two weeks to go until the first Saturday in May and the 149th Kentucky Derby. All the prep races are done and now it’s time for the final workouts. Be wary of those touting who looks good and who looks bad. Wait, nobody ever seems to … Read more
Here we go. The second weekend of April, time for the Master’s, opening weekend at Keeneland, Easter Sunday, baseball in full swing and buds on the trees. Some say it’s the best time of the year. Hard to argue, considering the slate of racing action across the country Saturday. Kentucky Derby preps galore with the … Read more
Happy April Fool’s Day. Or as we prefer to say, Happy Birthday Joe. Our man Joe Clancy turns, well, we’ll leave that for another day or let him tell you. Either way, it’s April 1 and the start of the second quarter of 2023. With the start of April comes crunch time on the Derby … Read more
Spring is here and we couldn’t be more thankful. The first full week of the new season packs a big punch, with the start of the National Steeplechase Association season, Dubai World Cup, Louisiana Derby Day, Jeff Ruby Steaks, New York Claiming Championship and so much more on tap. We’ve got it all and more … Read more
