Race Preview

©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,…

©Tod Marks The key contenders, based on the morning-line odds $75,000 Harry Harris Four-Year-Old Stakes; 2 ⅛ miles Gordon Elliott has the 2-1 morning line favorite in Erdenheim Farm Thoroughbreds’ Chortal, who will be ridden by Jack Kennedy. The son of Golden Horn exits an allowance win over hurdles at Perth in England as the…

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…

©Tod Marks The stage is set for American steeplechasing’s richest showcase day. The 104th Far Hills Races in Somerset County, N.J., will feature a star-studded, six-race, all stakes lineup and $795,000 in prize money.  Post time is 12:50 p.m. This year’s Far Hills Races will feature many of the best American jumpers, as well as…

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…

Molly Willis and Paul Willis’ Grade 1-winner Carloun will look to notch his second victory at that level 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. The Steinman is slated as the first race on…

©Tod Marks History is on the line as Snap Decision headlines the biggest meet of the spring at Percy Warner Park in Nashville. An unprecedented fourth win in the Grade 1 Iroquois would make the Eclipse Award winner the richest American steeplechaser of all time. Meanwhile, six racing opportunities abound for timber specialists, mid-level hurdlers,…

©Tod Marks Despite some ominous weather in Virginia and Delaware, fan turnout was undeterred as the Virginia Gold Cup celebrated its 100th anniversary and Winterthur enjoyed its 47th renewal with a combined 10 races worth $465,000. Six races were on tap at Great Meadow Race Course – a seventh was cancelled when storms blew in…

©Tod Marks Saturday’s Virginia Gold Cup meet at Great Meadow Race Course features the first of nine Grade 1 National Steeplechase Association hurdle stakes, which has drawn a prospective lineup of nine. The Winterthur Point-to-Point on Sunday, outside of Wilmington, Del., will feature its traditional four-race card, three over timber. Though the 2025 Maryland Hunt…

©Tod Marks Maryland and Virginia take center stage for this weekend’s National Steeplechase Association stops. In Glyndon, nine horses are expected to face the starter for the 128th Maryland Hunt Cup, America’s oldest, longest, and most challenging timber race. Meanwhile hurdlers will be spotlighted at Foxfield in Charlottesville, where $240,000 in purses are on the…