Race Preview

The 2023 Saratoga steeplechase season begins with a bang on Wednesday with the Grade 1 $150,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial handicap at 2 1/16 miles, a race that’s drawn a competitive field of nine as well as an international array of visiting riders.

$1.39 million in prize money is up for grabs in the National Steeplechase Association summer season at the flat tracks, which begins on Friday.

The curtain comes down on the National Steeplechase Association Spring season on Saturday with the 92st running of the Radnor Hunt Races in the picturesque Brandywine Valley of Chester County, Pa.

The jumpers head to Tennessee for the richest and most significant meet of the Spring, while opportunities abound for apprentice riders in Pennsylvania.

After some rough patches of weather the past few weekends, it looks like the sun will come out for Saturday’s stakes-stacked Virginia Gold Cup Races and Sunday’s more laid back Winterthur timber card in Delaware.

This weekend promises to be a bonanza for jump racing fans as three National Steeplechase Association meets will run concurrently for the one and only time this spring.

Snap Decision, Andi’amu return to action at the Middleburg Spring Races, while Maryland hosts the second leg of the Timber Triple in Butler.

A nine-race doubleheader is on tap for Saturday as timber specialists head to Monkton, Md., while hurdlers travel toward the mountains of Western North Carolina for the 75th Tryon Block House races in Columbus.

Six races worth $160,000 are on tap for Camden’s annual rite of spring and one of South Carolina’s premier social events.

The National Steeplechase Association Spring campaign gets underway Saturday in South Carolina at Aiken’s sprawling new showcase racecourse on Richland Avenue, while the Mid-Atlantic timber season begins with a family-fun day at Cheshire in Pennsylvania on Sunday.