Posts by National Steeplechase Association
Keys Discount goes for fifth straight; Large field to contest $100,000 Will Allison
©Tod Marks The second richest program on the National Steeplechase Association fall calendar takes place on Saturday at Great Meadow in The Plains, Va., with the 88th running of the International Gold Cup Races. Highlighting the eight-race $365,000 card is the $100,000 Grade 2 William H. Allison stakes, a handicap hurdle at 2 ⅛ miles,…
Read MoreA great day for the Irish
©Tod Marks In a display of utter dominance, the Irish contingent swept Saturday’s entire six-race Far Hills card. Trainer Gordon Elliott went five for five in the jump races and his main jockey, Jack Kennedy, was four for four. Kennedy would have made it a perfect five for five, but a rider change in the…
Read MoreTimber features top Geneseo, Middleburg
Three stakes – two over timber and a $50,000 hurdle event for three-year-old jumpers – highlight this Saturday’s National Steeplechase Association doubleheader in New York and Virginia – the one and only time two meets will share the same date on the fall calendar. At the Genesee Valley Hunt Races in Geneseo, N.Y., the only…
Read MoreNSA welcomes Keith O’Brien
©Tod Marks O’Brien, who has deep roots in the sport, will fill the role of assistant racing secretary, working alongside longtime director or racing and racing secretary Bill Gallo. A name familiar to many in the steeplechase community has been tapped for the newly created position of assistant racing secretary for the National Steeplechase Association,…
Read MoreKeys Discount stamps himself a star with third straight timber stakes score
©Tod Marks The National Steeplechase Association kicked off its fall calendar on Saturday with a six-race $160,000 card in Hunt Valley, Md., and the star of the show was a horse who rose out of obscurity at Shawan Downs exactly a year ago to become the sport’s most exciting timber runner. When Dolly Fisher’s 2023…
Read MoreSaratoga allowance stands alone in this week’s NSA action
This is a light week for jump racing, with only a single contest on tap, a $70,000 allowance for non-winners of two, at Saratoga on Wednesday. A field of eight is expected to face the starter, with Bruton Street-US’ St. John’s (pictured), a winner on the flat and over fences, the morning line 2-1 favorite…
Read MoreHistoric Heart outduels Proven Innocent in Smithwick for the ages
©Tod Marks Atlantic Friends Racing’s Historic Heart completed a long road back from injury with a spectacular nose victory over Bruton Street-US’ Proven Innocent in today’s Grade 1 $150,000 A.P. Smithwick at Saratoga. With visiting Irishman Danny Mullins aboard for trainer Keri Brion, Historic Heart sat in second for most of the 2 3/8 mile…
Read MoreLaurel Recap
©Jim McCue Holey Moley captures first jump race at Laurel since 2000 Paul and Molly Willis’ Holey Moley, who made eight starts on the flat at Laurel before today’s $40,000 maiden hurdle event, must have felt right at home as he took command over Lightup Lightup on the final turn to score by 1 1/2…
Read MorePLEASE JOIN US AT THIS YEARS SIRO’S CUP ON JULY 9TH AT 6:30 P.M.
Proven Innocent guilty of first G1 win in Beverly R. Steinman
©Tod Marks The third time was the charm for Bruton Street-US’s Proven Innocent in Grade 1 company as the 7-year-old Blame gelding notched his first top-level score in Wednesday’s $150,000 Beverly R. Steinman, a 2 3/8-mile steeplechase test for older horses, on Opening Day of the five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.…
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