Cool Jet, Jimmy P, and Little Trilby expected to fight it out for Lonesome Glory Award in $150,000 Colonial Cup

©Tod Marks

The National Steeplechase Association has combined the Aiken Fall and Colonial Cup meets on the closing weekend of the season, a 12-race, $500,000 extravaganza in which several championships will be decided. First race post time both days is 1 p.m.

There’s plenty of drama left in the 2025 NSA season as the jumpers head to South Carolina for a weekend doubleheader, with the Aiken Fall Steeplechase on Saturday and the Colonial Cup Races 85 miles away in Camden on Sunday, to be followed by the annual Awards Dinner in which horse and human champions will be honored.

The race for leading trainer (Jack Fisher), rider (Graham Watters), timber horse (Keys Discount), filly or mare (Avakate), novice (Swore), are all but determined, however, it’s still a contest for leading apprentice, three-year-old, and Lonesome Glory Award for the top earner. And it’ll be a while before the votes are in for the ultimate prize, the Eclipse Award.

In Aiken…

Six races worth $190,000 have been carded, headlined by the $50,000 Holiday Cup four-year-old stakes. A classy field of eight has been assembled, including recent stakes winners who could become the stars of tomorrow. Here’s a quick rundown:

• Erdenheim Farm Thoroughbreds’ Chortal (trained by Richard Hendriks and ridden by Conor Tierney), captured the $75,000 Harry Harris four-year-old stakes at Far Hills in his U.S. debut when trained by Gordon Elliott.
• Green Valley Construction’s We’re Back Again (Barry Foley/Sean McDermott) is exiting a victory in the $70,000 McDynamo Maiden stakes at Far Hills in his U.S. debut when also trained by Elliott.
• Butler Hall Racing Stables’ Take Your Seats (Tom Garner/Evan Dwan) is a winner of two straight, most recently a 115 handicap at Great Meadow last month.
• Shannon Hill Farm’s Naturally Nimble (Neil Morris/Bernie Dalton) was a sharp second best to Chortal in the Harry Harris, which was his U.S. debut.
• Rebecca Shepherd’s Our Finest Hour (David Bourke/jockey to be named), was the surprise winner of the $75,000 Marion DuPont Scott Memorial filly & mare stakes at Montpelier earlier this month in her second NSA start.
• Matthew T. Groff’s Starlifter (Jack Fisher/Graham Watters) broke his maiden at Colonial Downs this summer and was third in the Harry Harris.
• Adam Newman, Tom Rice, and James Stainbrook’s Gossiper (Arch Kingsley/Freddie Procter), an English Channel filly, broke her maiden over jumps in her first try at Foxfield in October and was sixth in her next start, in the Marion DuPont Scott Memorial.
• Leipers Fork Steeplechase, Paul and Molly Willis, Atlantic Friends Racing, and Steven Poorman’s Sea the Ocean (Keri Brion/Stephen Mulqueen), a son of seven-time group stakes winner and British-bred multimillionaire Crystal Ocean, tired badly in his career debut in a maiden event at Great Meadow.

The rest of the card consists of a $20,000 maiden claiming hurdle; $25,000 starter allowance/optional claimer; $30,000 maiden special weights contest; $30,000 filly and mare maiden special weights event; and a $35,000 handicap for horses rated at 115 or less.

For full entries, click here: https://nationalsteeplechase.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Aiken-Monday-Overnight.pdf

And at Springdale Race Course in Camden…

The Colonial Cup, the first hundred-thousand-dollar steeplechase in the U.S., returned to the fall calendar last year after an eight-year hiatus and as of this year re-established its standing as a championship race.

The 2 ⅝-mile fixture, in which all seven entries will carry 156 pounds, is likely to decide the Lonesome Glory Award winner as the season’s top earner. Riverdee Stable’s Cool Jet (trained by Jack Fisher), a Grade 1 winner and the only three-time graded stakes winner of the campaign, is expected to square off against fellow Grade 1 winner, Madaket Stable and Paul and Molly Willis’ Jimmy P (Keri Brion), who took the Jonathan Sheppard at Saratoga, and Del Rio Racing’s Little Trilby (Ricky Hendriks), who is coming off back-to-back wins in the Michael G. Walsh novice stakes at the Spa and the G2 Will Allison at Great Meadow in October. With a win, any of the three will leap to the top of the earnings board. Should Cool Jet, in particular, be victorious, it could also bolster his chances for the Eclipse Award.

Six other formidable runners are also likely to contest the Colonial Cup, which will run as the fourth of six races on the $316,000 card.

Michael A. Smith’s Foxy Walk (Leslie Young) is having a bang up year. He defeated Cool Jet in the Good Night Shirt stakes, before Cool Jet turned the tables on him in the G3 Mariann De Tejada Memorial; he then finished a close second to Little Trilby in the Will Allison. Morningstar Farm’s accomplished European runner Fil Dor came stateside under the care of Gordon Elliott to contest the Grand National at Far Hills, where he finished off the board. He is staying in the U.S. and will compete with Ricky Hendriks at the controls.

Young also saddles Leipers Fork Steeplechase’s Vae Patron, who finished second and third in the past two runnings of the G1 Iroquois, and finished seventh in the Grand National.

Tom Garner is another trainer with a pair of entries. Ballybristol Farm’s Noble Anthem won handicap races over jumps both in Europe and on the NSA circuit. He finished second to Cool Jet in both the G1 Commonwealth  Cup and G3 Noel Laing at Montpelier. Gill Johnston’s Zarak the Brave was competitive in the A.P. Smithwick and Jonathan Sheppard, both G1s at Saratoga, but didn’t fare as well in the G1 Lonesome Glory at Aqueduct.

Irv Naylor’s Belfast Banter (Cyril Murphy) is trying to regain the form that he showed in winning the 2023 A.P. Smithwick. Following a lengthy layoff, Belfast Banter made two starts, both off the board finishes in G1 and G2 competition.

The Colonial Cup is one of three stakes on the day, the others being the $50,000 Raymond G. Woolfe for three-year-olds and $56,000 Hobkirk Hill for runners who have never won an open/unrestricted stakes. The Woolfe will determine the juvenile championship with the division leader, Riverdee Stable’s Ethics, squaring off against his arch-rival, Gill Johnston’s Scorpius, who has finished second twice to Ethics. Both are trained by Jack Fisher. But it’s hardly a two-horse race. A full field of 11 is expected.

A highly competitive field of six is expected for the Hobkirk Hill, including two-time 2025 novice stakes winner (Carolina Cup and Green Pastures) St. Rita Racing’s China Beach (Kate Dalton), and Del Rio Racing’s Coutach (Ricky Hendriks). The latter defeated three of the contenders in the Hobkirk Hill along with the highly regarded Cyber Ninja in the Foxbrook Champion novice stakes at Far Hills in his first U.S. start (for then trainer Gordon Elliott).

The remainder of the card features a $30,000 maiden special weights race; $30,000 handicap for horses rated at 115 or less; and training flat event for apprentice riders.

For full entries, click here: https://nationalsteeplechase.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Colonial-Monday-Overnight.pdf

Both meets will be live streamed via the National Steeplechase Association’s web site, www.nationalsteeplechase.com.