News

Pull out the condition book, check the stakes schedule, go to the races.

CAMDEN, S.C. – Jockey Jody Petty met with trainer Sanna Hendriks before the Colonial Cup and talked strategy.

WELLINGTON, Fla. – Halfway through the $75,000 Palm Beach Stakes, trainer Tom Voss is just another guy at the races. He’s standing behind a woman in an orange-white-and-brown Thanksgiving dress, he’s taking six drags on a cigarette, he’s watching, he’s leaning on a fence (one foot on the lower rail).

Matt McCarron, the two-time champion steeplechase jockey, has retired from racing after suffering multiple injuries as the result of a fall at the Palm Beach Steeplechase in Wellington, Fla., Nov. 29. He exits with 187 career wins, ninth on the all-time list.

 The 2008 NSA season, which came to a close Saturday with the inaugural Palm Beach race meeting, set new highs in total and average purses. Total purses reached a record $5,359,100, up $1,455 from last year, while the average purse of $27,483 also broke new ground, topping last year's mark of $26,655.

The 2008 season ended with a slew of exciting equines capturing divisional crowns. That excitement should carry over well into 2009, as all but one of the winning horses will be back in training next year.

In a stretch battle royal, Good Night Shirt denied Preemptive Strike an upset in the Grade I stakes.

Good Night Shirt heads into this weekend unbeaten and virtually untested in four Grade I starts this season. The drive for five leads to the Colonial Cup at Camden, where a win would cap one greatest seasons ever in American steeplechasing. How did he do it? The Times asked The Shirt’s regular jockey Willie Dowling that very question.

Legendary jump jockeys from different shores, Ireland's Eddie Harty and America's Joe Aitcheson, met at the 1970 Colonial Cup.

Good Night Shirt wrapped up the steeplechase Eclipse Award months ago; Sonny Via's champion aims for perfection Sunday, when he starts as a heavy favorite in the Grade I Colonial Cup. The $150,000 contest anchors the 39th Marion du Pont Scott Colonial Cup meeting, the penultimate stop on the NSA schedule. Held at the historic Springdale Race Course in Camden, S.C., the meet offers $240,000 in total purses and often attracts crowds in excess of 15,000.