News

Happy Valentine’s Day. I woke up like normal, helped Nolan get ready for school, made the bus (barely), then changed everything. First Maggie sent a text to say she couldn’t make it to the office today – she’s a two-day-a-week office manager/business specialist.

Then my dad called.

In a perfect world, I’d live on a place big enough to have a private indoor gym like the one I’m sitting in now. Cecil Arena (formerly Sonic and formerly something else…) is the big brick structure on Route 272 just south of the 273 intersection at Calvert. Horse vans pass it on the way to I-95 South from Fair Hill. Nine-year-old son Nolan participates in a pitching clinic here on Friday nights with the Cecil College baseball team – learning crow-hops and mechanics and stretches and throws from the patient young men in green and yellow. Someday, we’ll say it all started here . . . if he ever learns to bend his back the way they’re telling him.

(Update: A memorial service for Thoroughbred owner and breeder Cary Jackson has been scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19 at St. James Church in Monkton, Md. with a reception to follow at Elkridge-Harford Hunt Club).

By Joe Clancy

Cary Jackson and Nick Arundel? On almost the same day? And they weren’t together?

The two steeplechase men passed away this week, Jackson (left) while traveling from Kentucky Monday and Arundel at home Tuesday. A Marylander with a deep background as an owner, breeder, horseman, Jackson was 88. A Virginian who founded the Great Meadow Race Course, served in the Marines, graduated from Harvard and owned Sugar Bee, Arundel was 83.

“We lost two great supporters of the sport,” said Jack Fisher, who trained horses for both men. “In different ways they did a lot for steeplechasing.”

Eagle Poise pulls his left shoe while grazing, in slow motion, I watch him do it, helpless, he couldn’t have done it cleaner with a boot jack, he sees the blacksmith every day. Blue won’t come in for his dinner because he’s scared of Border, we have to traipse across the field to hand-deliver his feedtub. Marscoponi looks and acts like a cornered deer. Teddy’s knee is getting smaller. Under Shirt is the star of the stable right now. Uh oh.

Updated with funeral service information – see end of article.

Longtime steeplechase participant Arthur W. "Nick" Arundel died today at his home in The Plains, Va. Arundel was 83. He presided over the Virginia and International Gold Cup steeplechase races held each spring and fall at Great Meadow Race Course in The Plains. Arundel purchased the property in 1982 and transformed it into the new home for the spring Virginia Gold Cup and adding the fall International Gold Cup meet.

Mail the brochures, sell the ads, set the meetings, pay the bills, think about a story, upgrade the computers, shuffle the website a little, write, sell, ship, plan, organize. The winter to-do list at ST grows every day, but we are gradually checking off a few things as the publishing season grows ever nearer.

Calendar time is slowing down – still a few orders coming in and still a limited number of calendars remaining (buy one for your Valentine). The 2011 advertising brochure is back from the printer and going into envelopes. Look for yours in the mail soon. In the meantime, you can see it online. We survive on advertising so think about us for your farm, business or what have you.

No Hassle Returns: Capt. Candyman Can returned to the races for the first time since finishing eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in 2009 to win Tampa Bay Downs’ Super Stakes on Saturday. Trained by Ian Wilkes (left), the 5-year-old gelded son of Candy Ride knocked off the rust with a rallying victory under Freddie Lenclud.