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Titles on the line as Aiken rings out 2024 NSA season
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…
Read MoreSnap Decision gets his curtain call in return of Colonial Cup
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…
Read MoreWesterland, Noah and the Ark star in busy weekend Three stakes on tap in weekend doubleheader
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…
Read MoreAudrey Riker
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…
Read MoreThree stakes on tap in weekend doubleheader
Going Country at Far Hills © Tod Marks The jumpers land in Georgia and Virginia on Saturday as the 2024 National Steeplechase Association season heads toward the finish line at Aiken, S.C., on Nov. 23. At the Montpelier Hunt Races, run on the front lawn of President James Madison’s historic home in Montpelier Station, Va.,…
Read MoreMystic Strike, Carloun sparkle at reimagined Gold Cup Races
Gerard Galligan and Todd McKenna © Tod Marks On a picture-perfect autumn afternoon, the National Steeplechase Association returned to Glenwood Park in Middleburg on Sunday, just two weeks after the Virginia Fall Races, the traditional October fixture at the site. The running of back-to-back meets at the same venue is highly unusual, and came about…
Read MoreGround Conditions Force Cancellation of 2024 Steeplechase of Charleston presented by Lexus
(Hollywood, SC) – Out of deep concern for the safety of our equine and human athletes, Steeplechase of Charleston presented by Lexus, announces the cancellation of this year’s event originally scheduled for Sunday, November 10, 2024, at Stono Ferry Racetrack in Hollywood, SC. The prolonged drought in our region has left the ground overly hard,…
Read MoreSnap Decision finally gets his ‘Grand’ moment
Snap Decision © Tod Marks After six seasons of scintillating performances that included 15 victories (13 stakes) facing top-flight competition, Bruton Street-US’ Snap Decision finally landed the biggest prize that had eluded him, the $250,000 American Grand National at Far Hills. With the hard-fought victory on Saturday — his first in four tries in the…
Read MoreStage set for steeplechasing’s “Grand” day
Large Crowd at Far Hills 2023 © Tod Marks American steeplechase racing’s crowning day features a six-race, all-stakes lineup and $720,000 in prize money. The races will be broadcast nationally on America’s Day at the Races on Fox Sports. First race post time is 12:50 p.m. They don’t call the Far Hills Races steeplechasing’s championship…
Read MoreVirginia Gold Cup Association Statement
The National Steeplechase Association (NSA), the national governing body for jump racing, has revoked the sanction for the running of the 2024 International Gold Cup at Great Meadow, scheduled to run on October 26. The NSA has deemed the Great Meadow racecourse to be “in disrepair and unsafe.” Without the NSA sanction, the races cannot continue…
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