Happy Thanksgiving. Before we get to the turkey and the stuffing, put a bow on the 2023 National Steeplechase Association season. The circuit wrapped up its year with five races at Aiken Saturday, and the traditional South Carolina finale showcased a few fresh faces with promising futures. The featured Holiday Cup – a $35,000 hurdle … Read more
And it comes down to this. The final meet on the final weekend of the steeplechase season. The Aiken Steeplechase pulls the curtain with a five-race card worth $130,000, including the featured $35,000 Holiday Cup for 3- and 4-year-olds. Most of the titles are done and dusted. Irv Naylor secured the owner’s title a month … Read more
This isn’t the end of the steeplechase season, but you can see it from here. After carding 17 races last weekend, the circuit goes to South Carolina for the Steeplechase at Charleston Sunday afternoon. The five-race card starts at 1 p.m. and is the second-to-last meet of the season as Aiken finishes things up next … Read more
Cody Dorman woke up at 2:32 a.m. Saturday and asked for the tablet he uses to communicate. He had something to say to his parents, Kelly and Leslie. “He said ‘Thank you for taking me out here,’ ” Kelly Dorman said, standing outside the paddock at Santa Anita Park about an hour before the horse … Read more
The stars came out, and delivered, during Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships card at Santa Anita Park. White Abarrio won the Classic, probably locking up Horse of the Year honors. Irad Ortiz Jr. rode three winners, picking up his fifth Bill Shoemaker Award for the weekend’s leading rider and likely solidifying his fifth Eclipse Award. … Read more
The weather certainly felt like Southern California for early November, but the flavor of the day trended East Coast and European as the Breeders’ Cup World Championships kicked off with Future Stars Friday at Santa Anita Park. New York-based runners swept the main track Breeders Cup races – Just F Y I in the Juvenile … Read more
The main event, Championship Saturday caps a turbulent North American racing season with nine marquee Breeders’ Cup events on tap at Santa Anita Park. Several divisions, including Horse of the Year, hang in the balance before a Breeders’ Cup marked with plenty of defections and withdrawals. Strong fields remain, with Cody’s Wish, White Abarrio, Goodnight … Read more
Where were you last week? While you were busy running a half-marathon, mowing the lawn, walking the dog, packing your bags for the Breeders’ Cup or sorting out a ride to basketball practice, Snap Decision was reminding everyone who he was. America’s top steeplechase horse over the last four – maybe five – seasons got back … Read more
The Breeders’ Cup World Championships kicks into gear with Future Stars Friday at Santa Anita Park, kicking off the two-day extravaganza on the West Coast. Five stakes are on tap, including the marquee Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Three other Breeders’ Cup turf stakes compliment the day, which begins at 11:30 a.m. … Read more
Back on the horse. Back on the road. Back on the keyboard. A week after the biggest race meet on the steeplechase circuit, horses and people turn their attention to another major stop – Saturday’s International Gold Cup meeting at Great Meadow in The Plains, Va. It’s the companion to the spring Virginia Gold Cup … Read more
