Dear NSA supporters,  The book is closed on the 2024 season, and the trip home from Aiken gave time for reflection on the spectacular accomplishments we have experienced this year.  For the first time in our history, we reached the 7-million-dollar mark for purses distributed to our horsemen, with a growth of over 1 million…

Aiken Fall Races 2023 © Tod Marks Jump racing returns to where the National Steeplechase Association season began last spring, in horsey Aiken, S.C., with an enhanced seven-race $220,000, featuring the $50,000 Holiday Cup four-year-old hurdle stakes. Following the final race, the Aiken Steeplechase Association will host the NSA’s Annual Awards gala in which the…

Colonial Cup 2016 © Tod Marks The $332,000 six-race card gets underway Sunday at 1 p.m. and will be live streamed via the NSA’s website, www.nationalsteeplechase.com. The heralded Colonial Cup, the first hundred-thousand-dollar steeplechase in the U.S., returns to the fall calendar at Springdale Race Course in Camden, S.C., after an eight-year hiatus, giving the…

Westerland winning at Callaway © Tod Marks Plenty of major moments after last Saturday’s 14-race doubleheader, including Graham Watters’ 100th NSA victory, and three-win days for both Jamie Bargary and Gerard Galligan. Trainer Leslie Young, too, was prolific, and her combined four wins at both venues put her in a tie at 27 with Jack…

Audrey Riker visiting multiple grade stake winner Irish Strait at Fair Hill,Maryland in 2017 (Credit: Isobel Ellis) Former thoroughbred owner and stakes winning trainer Audrey Riker died October 30th at her home in White Hall, Maryland. Riker trained horses over fences and on the flat for five decades, beginning in the late 1950’s until her…