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Sean Clancy All we ask for is clarity. That’s what the Colonial Cup was designed to provide. Clarity. One defining race to put a lid on the year. Mrs. Marion du Pont Scott nailed it when she created the $100,000 classic in 1970. She wanted a championship race and she got a championship race.
Ross Geraghty leaned over the left side of Dawalan and summed up the Colonial Cup.
“It’s not too often you worry about reaching the front too soon in a Grade 1,” Geraghty said as Ronnie Raymond led the 5-year-old in circles after the $100,000 stakes.
Colonia Cup morning. For American jump jockeys, this is it, the end of the line, the end of a long season that began in March and meandered through a dozen states, a weekend jigsaw puzzle of air miles and hard miles, highs and lows, bruises and bonanzas.
Goodbye, Pat Eddery. Sad end to a long, slow slide for one of the greats. Daring and definitive in the saddle, flawed and fragile out of it, the 63-year-old died Tuesday. Alcoholism. His daughter, Natasha, blamed alcoholism on Instagram, she didn’t sugarcoat it. Tough loss. Tough post.
Back to reality after the Breeders’ Cup. Whew, big difference going from standing on the rail with a microphone as Golden Horn, Runhappy and American Pharoah jaunt around Keeneland to walking around the farm with Miles, looking at retirees and rehabbers, although, Eagle Poise still moves like a machine as he gallops around the backfield. He’s still the track record holder at a mile and three quarters at Woodbine, as I was reminded on Twitter this week. That’s cool. Now, to find another…
The trips have simply gotten harder to make. Miles, Annie, farm, expectations, life…
My first Breeders’ Cup lit up my world, 1997. I figured I could break even if I bought a plane ticket, slept on a couch and wrote a feature about jockeys for The Blood-Horse. Skip Away won the Classic with Mike Smith. I spent the afternoon in the jocks’ room and wound up with a honorable mention for the Eclipse Award – and better yet – I broke even on the trip
Barry Geraghty wanted to congratulate his brother Ross. There was just one problem.
“I couldn’t catch him,” Barry Geraghty said.
Good way to start the day – Irv Naylor, Cyril Murphy and Ross Geraghty lit the match early at Far Hills, winning the Peapack Filly and Mare Stakes to start the card with British import One Lucky Lady. A winner of four hurdle races and one chase in England, the daughter of Lucky Story made her American debut at Far Hills. A winner at longer distances in England, One Lucky Lady used speed and stamina to establish and keep a spot in second or third, behind an usually tepid pace set by Bau Bai Gold. Leaving the backside the final time, One Lucky Lady slipped through on the inside to gain a half-length advantage on Bau Bai Gold coming up the hill. The pacesetter clawed back to lead briefly when landing over the last but One Lucky Lady fought back to earn a half length win. Maggie Neary, making her first jump start since 2012, closed to be third, a head in front of Foxfield maiden winner Ivy Mills.
Early in the Foxbrook Champion Hurdle, leading trainer Jack Fisher stood on the hillside and watched Schoodic, Syros and Scorpiancer in the novice stakes. Asked how it was going, Fisher, as always, was curt in his appraisal.
“Good,” Fisher said.
Two horses. One hurdle. Two misses. One winner. Buckrail and Ice It met the last in the Gladstone together. The former made a mistake and landed on his nose. The latter made a mistake and landed on his back hooves. Unflustered, Ice It stayed up and drew off to win the 3-year-old hurdle for Jack Fisher, Dash Stable and jockey Sean McDermott. The win capped a triple for Fisher.
