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Sean Clancy Home. Finally. Middleburg, Washington Dulles, London Heathrow, Newmarket, Chepstow, Newmarket, London Heathrow, LAX, Pasadena, Santa Anita, Pasadena, Santa Anita, Lax, New Jersey, Manassas, Middleburg. Home. Four planes. Five taxis. Two hotels. A lot of horses. Whew, a lot of horses.
Breeders’ Cup Saturday. The good news of traveling from England to California is you tend to wake up early, as your body is seven hours ahead. The bad news is you’re a little off your game at the end of the day. Well, I was off my game all day yesterday, including a disastrous stint on HRRN. Hopefully, it’s not archived somewhere. But, we move on…
A long journey, halfway complete. Thirty minutes before boarding Virgin Atlantic flight to Los Angeles, just a skip over an ocean and a continent, perhaps I’ll wave to Annie and Miles as we fly over Virginia. We do fly over Virginia, don’t we? My British friends asked me all week, “Who do you like in the Breeders’ Cup?” I thought, “Hmmm, who’s in the Breeders’ Cup?” Radio tomorrow afternoon, guess, I better study.
Ah, the horses in training sale at Tattersalls. Long lists become short lists. Short lists become very short lists. Vet lists become no lists. Wish lists become fit lists…we begin day two. Brought one home so far, a 2-year-old son of Munnings. Yes, Munnings, in England. Hello, dirt. We shall bring more home today. In … Read more
Ouch.
Valdez fell at the second-to-last while traveling strongly in the feature chase at Chepstow Saturday. Unsure to go short or long, he and jockey Tom Bellamy clouted the fence, slid, flipped over. That’s the facts. The emotions, well, they run deeper.
Tea’s brewed. Racing Post at the doorstep and downloaded), car is ordered, passes waiting. Newmarket, Heathrow, Chepstow (just over the bridge) and back to Newmarket. My kind of day. Luca Cumani’s horses walk and graze just outside my window. My kind of town. A doorstop of a catalog for the Tattersalls Horses-in-Training Sale, mostly 3 and 4-year-old turf horses with pedigrees which would make Federico Tesio salivate. My kind of sale.
“What did you think of Far Hills?”
The question has been asked many times since Saturday. The best day of steeplechasing has come and gone. What did I think?
As the sun fades on another epic day at the Far Hills Steeplechase, six horses line up in the finale, the New Jersey Hunt Cup. Lacking quantity, there is quality. The $50,000 stakes attracted the winners of this year’s Virginia Gold Cup and Mason Houghland timber stakes, the winner of the 2012 New Jersey Hunt Cup and three others looking for their breakout moments.
Time for Far Hills. The biggest day in American steeplechasing racing. Seven races worth $580,000. Talented horses. Beautiful course. Ground should be fair. Race chairman Guy Torsilieri sent a photo to me, taken from the bottom of the turn, showing the sweeping uphill finish, the amphitheatre in the cold light of day. Saturday, it will be in the searing heat of race day. Not necessarily the temperature. Torsilieri texted, “Must bring back memories.”
