Keys Discount goes for fifth straight; Large field to contest $100,000 Will Allison

©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, and the $50,000 International Gold Cup timber stakes at 3 ½ miles.

The Allison, which made its debut in 2024 as a $150,000 Grade 1, has drawn 10 solid contenders including the inaugural winner, Leipers Fork Steeplechase’s Rampoldi Plan, and three other G1 winners: Riverdee Stable’s Cool Jet, the 158-pound co-highweight, captured the Commonwealth Cup over at Great Meadow at the Virginia Gold Cup Races in the spring; Madaket Stables and Paul and Molly Willis’ co-highweight Jimmy P is a two-time winner of the Jonathan Sheppard at Saratoga; and Irv Naylor’s Belfast Banter, who is on the comeback trail after a long layoff following his tally in the 2023 A.P. Smithwick at Saratoga.

The field also consists of other stakes winners. Del Rio Racing’s Little Trilby was triumphant in the Michael G. Walsh novice stakes at the Spa at 17-1; Riverdee’s Welshman, who scored in the G2 David Semmes at Great Meadow in 2023, just missed by a neck in the recent G1 Lonesome Glory at Aqueduct; and Michael A. Smith’s Foxy Walk who won the Good Night Shirt stakes at Foxfield in the spring and returned to finish second to Cool Jet there in the G3 Mariann De Tejada Memorial earlier this month.

Although two of the prospective starters are still seeking their initial stakes success, they’ve had their shining moments. Gill Johnston’s Active Duty was victorious in a non-winners of two allowance at Great Meadow in the spring, while Daniel Baker’s Decisive Triumph at age 12 has had a long and successful career having banked more than $300,000. Ballybristol Farm’s Noble Anthem was second to Cool Jet in the Commonwealth Cup, finishing ahead of three G1 winners – Proven Innocent, Belfast Banter, and Too Friendly – in the process.

In the Gold Cup, Dolly Fisher’s Keys Discount looks to maintain his perfect 2025 record that has seen him annex the Middleburg Hunt Cup, Virginia Gold Cup, Brown Advisory and National Sporting Library & Museum Cup stakes. Keys Discount, who has more than twice the earnings of the next richest timber runner and is the front runner for year-end honors, will face mostly familiar foes, whom he has defeated.

Bruton Street-US’ Track and Trace captured his first two NSA starts in the spring, and was fourth in his stakes debut in the Brown Advisory, where he passed a number of foes at the shorter 3 ⅛ mile distance. Riverdee Stable’s Queens Empire won the 2024 Brown Advisory and gained ground to finish nine lengths behind Keys Discount in September’s running.

Potter Group USA, Gaskells Waste Services and Ashwell Stable’s Uco Valley has been a DNF in three of his past four starts, all stakes. He captured a non-winners of three allowance at the Iroquois Races in May, but was disqualified for going off course. His best race this year was a sharp second, beaten two lengths, by Keys Discount in the Middleburg Hunt Cup in April.

Will Russell’s Animal Kingston, broke his maiden over timber in the spring of  2024, and has been competing in mostly allowance contests since, coming closer and closer to a major breakthrough. He finished strongly in the Brown Advisory to be second, four lengths behind Keys Discount. 

Similarly, Hyggelig Haven’s Druid’s Altar lone victory over timber came in maiden company, and he wasn’t a threat in either the Brown Advisory or recent National Sporting Library & Museum Cup. He finished eight lengths behind 2024 timber champ Mystic Strike in last year’s International Gold Cup when it was run at nearby Glenwood Park, but it was an odd race as only three started and two finished.

Former stakes-placed hurdler The Hero Next Door, owned by Michael A. Smith, broke his maiden over timber at Shawan Downs last month by 20 lengths and could be a serious threat.

Upland Partners’ Shootist had his crowning moment when finishing a neck behind Blackhall in the 2024 Maryland Hunt Cup. Since then, he was third in an allowance contest, a DNF in the My Lady’s Manor stakes, and unplaced in the Genesee Valley Hunt Cup two weeks ago. He’s looking for his first score in three and a half years.

The rest of the card consists of a $45,000 maiden special weights hurdle; $20,000 steeplethon over mixed obstacles; $50,000 allowance hurdle; $40,000 handicap for horses rated at 115 or less; and a pair of $30,000 optional maiden starter/maiden claiming hurdle events.

For the complete entries, click https://nationalsteeplechase.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/International-Gold-Cup-Overnight.pdf

If you can’t make it to the races, you can watch via live stream from the NSA website, www.nationalsteeplechase.com.