Swore locks up novice crown with declarative score in $75,000 Aflac Supreme

©Tod Marks

Stone Farm and Upland Flats Racing’s Swore, who captured the Grade 1 Lonesome Glory at Aqueduct in September, proved his mettle against less-experienced foes as much the best in the Aflac Supreme novice stakes, Saturday’s feature at the Pine Mountain, Ga., course.

With Stephen Mulqueen riding for trainer Keri Brion, the six-year-old son of Broken Vow — making only his fifth start over jumps, asserted himself from the start, taking the lead, and fighting off multiple challenges.

The biggest threat came from Silverton Hill’s gallant Two Past Eight (Luke Carberry), who shadowed Swore from the flag drop. He actually passed Swore briefly in the latter stages of the race, and still had enough in the tank to finish second, 5 ¾  lengths behind the winner, who was clearly best. Gill Johnston’s Smart Uncle (Graham Watters) also tracked Swore early on, and it appeared as if Leipers Fork Steeplechase’s Rampoldi Plan (Jamie Bargary), another Grade 1 winner (2024 Commonwealth Cup) would be in the hunt following a late rally before running out of gas. James B. Steele’s King of the Kids (Bernie Dalton), a winner of two of his three 2025 starts, rallied for third in his first stakes appearance.

The victory assures Swore — who runs in the Stone Farm colors of the great Sunday Silence — the title of leading novice, with $181,800 in earnings. His only significant blemish was a DNF in the G1 $250,00 American Grand National at Far Hills, a race where he set the pace over a course not particularly to his liking and was pulled up.

After the race, commentator Megan Connolly interviewed trainer Brion, who said she thought highly of Swore since the day he joined her barn, noting that she was looking for a successor to her Eclipse Award winning jumper, The Mean Queen, and may very well have found him.

“I’m really excited for next year,” she said, citing the near-future goal of a trip to the Iroquois Races in May — either in the G1 Iroquois or Green Pastures novice stakes — and hopefully down the road, “a nomination for an Eclipse Award.”

In other action

Animal Kingston takes $20,000 steeplethon and brings  Watters closer to fourth jockey title

William Russell’s Animal Kingston rallied late to overtake longtime leader Crealion in the opener, the steeplethon at 3 1/2 miles.

Trained by Neil Morris, Animal Kingston sat in fourth (of five) for most of the going, rallied heading uphill to the stretch, and powered by Armata Stables’ Crealion and Virginia Korrell in the final strides to score by two lengths. Gill Johnston’s Anzio, who stalked in second most of the way, was third.

The victory was jockey Graham Watters’ 25th of the season, one shy of his 26 winners last year when he captured his third riding crown in four years. He’s on the precipice of his fourth championship as his closest competitor, Bernie Dalton, has 13. The $12,000 Animal Kingston earned for the win also brought Watters close to the million-dollar mark in earnings; Watters was the first NSA rider to reach that plateau in a single season in 2024.

For the winner, a 10-year-old son of Animal Kingdom, the victory was his first in more than a year and a half. Prior to switching to timber (the steeplethon features a combination of timber, brush fences, and a water jump) Animal Kingston was a four-time winner over hurdles. Among those tallies was a 120 handicap over the Callaway course in 2023.

Lydford surges late to take $30,000 handicap

Finding the winner’s circle for the first time in nearly four years, Maranto Manor’s Lydford came from far back only a few jumps from the wire to overtake previous leader Anador, and late closing Bright Eyed Eagle to score in the handicap for horses rated at 115 or less.

For jockey Evan Dwan, the victory gave him 13 on the season, bringing him ever closer to the title of leading apprentice. The winner, trained by Tom Garner — who used to ride the horse — was his first in eight starts on the NSA circuit dating back to the summer of 2022. Before that, he ran 14 times in England with three wins.

The race began with  Sharon Sheppard’s King of Tsavo (Jamie Bargary) seizing the lead and holding it for much of the way, with Paul and Molly Willis’ Anador (Graham Watters) and Leipers Fork Steeplechase’s Artistic Choice (Luke Carberry) in closest pursuit. Racing through the stretch with a lap to go, King of Tsavo veered sharply when he came to the water jump in front of the tower, tossing Bargary.

At that point, Anador inherited the top spot and held in until deep stretch the last time around, when he was passed by Nancy Reed and Jack Griswold’s Bright Eyed Eagle (Freddie Procter), who gained the place spot, and Lydford, who was closing fastest of all. The margin of victory was 1 ¼ lengths.

Philip My Dear breaks maiden with gritty determination

Commonwealth Racing’s Philip My Dear, a black type stakes winner of nearly $350,000 on the flat at Woodbine in Canada, went wire to wire to take the third, a $30,000 maiden special weights event, by a neck.

Showing marked improvement from three off-the-board finishes in his first three NSA tries at Colonial Downs and Foxfield, the Ontario-bred five-year-old, trained by Kathy Neilson, broke fast under Freddie Procter and had to dig down in the final strides to hold off Leipers Fork Steeplechase’s hard-charging Yes Sir Jack (Jamie Bargary), who looked like he was about to blow past the winner. Kim Valerio, Tony Murabito, Jimmy Sheridan, and The International Venture’s Arturo Toscanini (Stephen Mulqueen) was third.

Fouroneohsmokeshow gives Mulqueen, Brion two in a row

Devon Smith’s Fouroneohsmokeshow capped off the five-race card with an easy win in the $25,000 maiden claiming hurdle.

With jockey Stephen Mulqueen and trainer Keri Brion joining forces following their victory in the Aflac Supreme novice stakes with Swore, Fouroneohsmokeshow broke on top along with Gill Johnston’s Big George (Graham Watters), and the two ding-donged back and forth, running alongside each other for most of the 2 3/8 miles.

Big George took a narrow lead heading down the back straight the final time around, but his nemesis was never far behind.

Heading uphill toward the second to last fence, Fouroneohsmokeshow out jumped Big George, and the pair drew clear of the rest of the field by open lengths. Paul and Molly Willis’ That’s Not Funny (Eric Poretz) put in a late bid for third, but wasn’t a serious threat, and through the stretch it was all  Fouroneohsmokeshow, who eased across the wire by about six lengths.