Race Preview

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…

©Tod Marks Glenwood Park hosts stars and stakes action at the Middleburg Spring Races on Saturday with an eight-race, $310,000 card, anchored by the $100,000 Temple Gwathmey stakes and $30,000 Middleburg Hunt Cup stakes over timber. The Grade 2 Gwathmey, at 2 ½ miles, is shaping up as an early season blockbuster. The nine nominees…

©Tod Marks Eight races worth $185,000 are on tap for Saturday as steeplechasing returns to Maryland and Virginia. The historic Maryland Timber Triple gets underway in Monkton, about 30 miles north of Baltimore with the $50,000 My Lady’s Manor stakes, the marquee event on the four-race, $105,000 card. The race, first contested in 1902, has…

©Tod Marks Six races worth $195,000 are on tap for South Carolina’s premier spring social event, while timber specialists head to Pennsylvania for four additional contests worth $65,000. Racing returns to historic Springdale Race Course in Camden, S.C., on Saturday for the 90th running of the Carolina Cup Races. Anchored by the $75,000 Carolina Cup,…

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…