Race Recap

©Tod Marks Racing returned to Virginia for the third of four times this fall, and on a picture-perfect autumn afternoon, one of the sport’s rising superstars cemented his place as a champion. At the International Gold Cup Races at Great Meadow Race Course in the Plains, Va., on Saturday, Dolly Fisher’s Keys Discount turned heads…

©Tod Marks In a display of utter dominance, the Irish contingent swept Saturday’s entire six-race Far Hills card. Trainer Gordon Elliott went five for five in the jump races and his main jockey, Jack Kennedy, was four for four. Kennedy would have made it a perfect five for five, but a rider change in the…

©Tod Marks The National Steeplechase Association kicked off its fall calendar on Saturday with a six-race $160,000 card in Hunt Valley, Md., and the star of the show was a horse who rose out of obscurity at Shawan Downs exactly a year ago to become the sport’s most exciting timber runner. When Dolly Fisher’s 2023…

©Tod Marks Atlantic Friends Racing’s Historic Heart completed a long road back from injury with a spectacular nose victory over Bruton Street-US’ Proven Innocent in today’s Grade 1 $150,000 A.P. Smithwick at Saratoga. With visiting Irishman Danny Mullins aboard for trainer Keri Brion, Historic Heart sat in second for most of the 2 3/8 mile…

©Jim McCue Holey Moley captures first jump race at Laurel since 2000 Paul and Molly Willis’ Holey Moley, who made eight starts on the flat at Laurel before today’s $40,000 maiden hurdle event, must have felt right at home as he took command over Lightup Lightup on the final turn to score by 1 1/2…

©Tod Marks The third time was the charm for Bruton Street-US’s Proven Innocent in Grade 1 company as the 7-year-old Blame gelding notched his first top-level score 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.…

©Tod Marks For the first time since 2000, Laurel Park in Maryland will host National Steeplechase Association hurdle races, on Father’s Day, Sunday June 15. The races, to be run over the turf course at 2 ⅛ miles, include a $40,000 maiden special weights contest and $45,000 allowance for non-winners of two races. The races…

©Tod Marks The two-month National Steeplechase Association spring season came to an end on Saturday with a pair of easy wins in the featured events at the 94th Radnor Hunt Races in Malvern, Pa. In the $35,000 National Hunt Cup, contested at 2 1/8 miles as an allowance hurdle, Irv Naylor’s Sultan Pierji earned his…

©Tod Marks Abaan, China Beach, and Gold Charm sparkle in Nashville, while Mr. Fine Threads triumphs in Willowdale’s timber feature. With 13 races and $690,000 in purses, Saturday’s meets drew more than 90 hurdle and timber entries from maidens, claimers, and ratings handicappers, to novice, allowance, and stakes stars, looking to increase their bankrolls as…

©Tod Marks Trainer Mark Beecher earns his first Hunt Cup score as a conditioner, while jockey Conor Tierney edges the horse he rode to victory in the historic contest in 2023. In a thrilling renewal of $100,000 Maryland Hunt Cup, American timber racing’s most celebrated and demanding event, Daniel Baker’s gutsy Road to Oz took…