News

Longtime horseman Noel Twyman, whose career took him to success as a trainer, steeplechase jockey, foxhunter and preparer of young racehorses, passed away Sunday after battling with cancer. Twyman was a fixture at the Montpelier Hunt Races near Orange, Va. and other stops on the circuit.

You watch the horses, you take your notes, you do your interviews, you write your story. Right? I guess, but I’m 16 years in to Steeplechase Times and can’t get over some things that happen along the way. Like today at the Maryland Hunt Cup. Twelve horses came into the paddock for America’s oldest steeplechase … Read more

They say you must take the good with the bad. Veteran trainer and amateur jockey Billy Meister dealt with the bad April 17 at the Grand National when emerged from a fall from Bug Eyed Willy with a broken pelvis. Saturday, the good arrived as Meister (on crutches) watched his charge Twill Do win the 114th Maryland Hunt Cup timber stakes at Glyndon.

On Tuesday, March 30, 2010, Mrs. John B. "Nancy" Hannum, of Unionville, peacefully passed on to her reward. She was fortunate to have been spared any great suffering during her final illness. The myriad horse-related injuries she suffered more than satisfied her fair share of that.

Steeplechase Times sat down with NSA president and Far Hills director Guy Torsilieri to discuss the state of the sport after one year on the job. Read an excerpt from the interview here. For the rest of the interview, read the next Steeplechase Times, due out next week.

Ernie Oare bought Pick Six last fall with a Sport of Kings maiden hurdle race in mind.

That plan has changed.

Qualifications are complete, drug tests passed, passports stamped. The Steeplechase Winter Olympic Team has been named.

***Updated with photo gallery link – see end of article.***

Bloodstock agent John Stuart called his friend, Douglas Joyce, about a horse. Well, the call was actually about money, but . . . “I owe you some money from that breeding deal, but I’ve got another idea,” Stuart said. “Let me buy you a horse instead.” Joyce asked, “You got one in mind?” Stuart, of course, did: “ Yeah, I’m looking at him.”

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Two-time champion Good Night Shirt, who has been out of work since ankle surgery in the fall, continues to mend at Jack Fisher's Maryland barn.