You ready for some jump racing? The National Steeplechase Association’s autumn (let’s not say fall) racing schedule comes to life Thursday at Belmont Park and extends into racing Saturday at Shawan Downs in Maryland and Sunday at Foxfield in Virginia.
Belmont hosts its two fixtures – the $75,000 William Entenmann Memorial novice stakes and the $150,000 Lonesome Glory hurdle stakes. Each race attracted a field of eight. The Entenmann starts the card at 1:30 p.m., followed by the Lonesome Glory as the day’s second race on a 10-race card.
Saratoga winners Hardrock Eleven, Special Skills and Detroit Blues lead the Entenmann field while the Grade 1 Lonesome Glory lured the Grade 1-placed Scorpiancer, Charminster and Schoodic along with recent imports Hisaabaat and Swansea Mile.
Getting started in Maryland, Virginia
Over-subscribed fields were the rule for Saturday’s eight-race card at Shawan Downs, run just outside Baltimore in Hunt Valley, Md. Two maiden hurdle races overfilled with 11 runners each (maiden fields are capped at 10) including Castle Hill, Meteoroid and Atherton in one and Tricky Hat and Hooded in another.
The handicap hurdle attracted a dozen led by All For Us and Balance The Budget. The open timber race attracted stakes runners Grinding Speed and Straight To It. Training flat races will help several stakes hurdlers get started including Rawnaq, Parker’s Project, Diplomat and Martini Brother.
A $25,000 optional claiming hurdle takes the showcase spot at Sunday’s Foxfield Races in Charlottesville, Va. Veterans Orchestra Leader, Hishi Soar, Cognashene, Bodie Island, Hooping, Kingofalldiamonds and Bau Bai Gold meet 4-year-olds As You Like It, Buckrail and Lake Champlain. Post time at Foxfield is 1:30 p.m.
Small Book, Big Money
The autumn condition book includes just 12 stops spaced over a little more than eight weeks, but offers more than $2 million in purse money.
Far Hills leads the way at $700,000 Oct. 15. The card includes the $350,000 Grand National for open stakes horses, the $100,000 Foxbrook for novices, a $50,000 maiden hurdle, the $50,000 Gladstone for 3-year-olds, the $50,000 Peapack for fillies/mares, a $50,000 handicap hurdle (maximum rating 140) and the $50,000 New Jersey Hunt Cup timber stakes.
A week later, the International Gold Cup meet cards $410,000 worth of races – over jumps and on the flat. The $75,000 Zeke Ferguson hurdle stakes and the $90,000 International Gold Cup timber stakes provide the headlines. Flat races worth $40,000 (allowance), $45,000 (open) and $35,000 (Virginia-bred or -sired) add depth to the day.
The season-ending Colonial Cup offers $260,000 in purses at Camden, S.C. Nov. 19. The Grade 1 feature will be worth $150,000.
The Charleston meet slated for Nov. 13 was canceled, as was the inaugural race meet at a new course in Tryon, N.C. originally planned for Oct. 2.
Betting Can Wait
With the signing of a bill last week, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie cleared the way for pari-mutuel wagering at the Far Hills Races. The steeplechase meet will have to wait until 2017 to process its first legal bet, however, as the signing date left little time for the Oct. 15 race meet and the New Jersey Racing Commission to sort out details.
Instead, the 2016 meet will be run under the supervision of the commission with an eye toward assessing what’s necessary for full wagering in 2017.
“After the legislation was signed, we knew it would be a practically impossibility to push ahead with live wagering this year,” said Guy Torsilieri, Far Hills chairman and president of the National Steeplechase Association. “At its suggestion, the Racing Commission will supervise this year’s meet and provide a preview of what a pari-mutuel meet will entail. That will be a great help to us as we plan for live wagering in October 2017.”
Also attending next month’s Far Hills Races will be Dennis Drazin, adviser to Darby Development, which operates Monmouth Park for the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. He and Monmouth Park executives will be assessing needs for next year. Wagering at Far Hills will be conducted under Monmouth’s license.
In addition to Christie’s signature, the wagering bill was supported by Assemblymen Ronald Dancer, John Burzichelli, and Jon Bramnick. Co-sponsors were Assemblymen Erik Peterson and Robert D. Clifton and Assemblywoman Amy H. Handlin. The Senate sponsors were Republican Leader Tom Kean and Senator Kip Bateman.
Run for the 96th time this year, Far Hills is the richest race meet on the NSA calendar with purses of $700,000 headlined by the $350,000 Grand National. Proceeds from the race meet benefit health care in Central New Jersey, including the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Somerset. Over the years, Far Hills has contributed more than $17 million to the hospital and its Steeplechase Cancer Center.
Standings Look
Headed to Thursday’s openers, owner Irv Naylor can start dreaming of a third consecutive (and sixth in seven years) owners’ championship with $551,200 earned from 15 wins. Naylor leads Bruton Street-US by $330,100. Among the trainers, Jack Fisher (14 wins) leads Cyril Murphy by one. Fisher’s big barn (80 starts to Murphy’s 32) will be difficult to catch, though Murphy could have something to say about the money crown as he’s just $106,860 behind Fisher and has several major stakes horses lined up for lucrative stops. Jack Doyle (11 wins) leads the jockeys’ race by two over Ross Geraghty and Connor Hankin (who won’t ride the rest of the year). Kieran Norris, Gerard Galligan and Gus Dahl have six wins each while five-time champion Paddy Young lurks with four wins.
