Race Preview
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 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 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 MoreTimber features top Geneseo, Middleburg
Schoodic leads over last in National Sporting Library & Museum Cup © Tod Marks A pair of timber stakes featuring veteran jumpers – and a new feature honoring a beloved racecaller – headline this Saturday’s National Steeplechase Association doubleheader in New York and Virginia. At the Genesee Valley Hunt Races in Geneseo, N.Y., the only…
Read MoreBrion saddles two in first running of G1 Beverly R. Steinman
Trainer Keri Brion will saddle two strong contenders in Freddy Flintshire and Jimmy P for Sunday’s inaugural running of the Grade 1, $150,000 Beverly R. Steinman, a 2 3/8-mile handicap for older steeplechasers, at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course. The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which spans Thursday through Sunday, is highlighted…
Read MoreRadnor wraps up season
By Tod Marks The curtain comes down on the National Steeplechase Association Spring season on Saturday with the 93rd running of the Radnor Hunt Races in the picturesque Brandywine Valley of Chester County, Pa. As has been the case for much of the Spring, there’s a chance of showers in the forecast; temperatures are expected…
Read MoreIroquois & Willowdale preview
By Tod Marks The jumpers head to Tennessee for the richest and most significant meet of the Spring, while opportunities abound for timber and hurdle runners along with apprentice riders in Pennsylvania. On the penultimate weekend of the National Steeplechase Association spring calendar, many of the top horses in training head to Nashville for 83rd…
Read MoreVirginia, Delaware to host 13 races on Kentucky Derby weekend
By Tod Marks Saturday’s Virginia Gold Cup meet boasts the NSA’s newest Grade 1 stake, which has drawn a prospective field of 10. The Winterthur Point-to-Point on Sunday, outside of Wilmington, Del., will feature its traditional four-race card, three over timber. Though the 2024 Maryland Hunt Cup is in the history books, another major timber…
Read MoreMiddleburg/Grand National preview:
By Tod Marks Snap Decision, Noah and the Ark, and timber champion Schoodic return to action at the Middleburg Spring Races, while Maryland hosts the second leg of the Timber Triple in Butler featuring reigning Maryland Hunt Cup champion Withoutmoreado. Glenwood Park hosts stars and stakes action at the Middleburg Spring Races on Saturday with…
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