Star-studded Gwathmey headlines weekend tripleheader in Virginia, Maryland 

©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 — every one a stakes winner — is headed by Bruton Street-US’ 2024 Eclipse Award winner Snap Decision, who kicks off his 11-year-old campaign much as he has in previous seasons. He’ll be seeking his third straight Gwathmey, and fourth in five years. His opponents include Grade 1 winners  Jimmy P, Noah and the Ark, and Too Friendly, who upset the champ in the year-ending Colonial Cup in November, as well as Abaan, Zabeel Champion, Howyabud, Zarak the Brave, and Who’s Counting.

Also, as in past years, Snap Decision will be giving away weight to his Gwathmey opponents under the race’s handicap conditions, from six to 18 pounds.

A victory by the champ, who last year became the second richest jumper in U.S. steeplechasing history, would put Snap Decision within striking range of all-time leader McDynamo, whose record he could then surpass with a score in the Grade 1 $250,000 Iroquois in Nashville. If all goes to plan, Snap Decision will seek an unprecedented fourth victory in the great race at Percy Warner Park on May 10.

The third richest meet of the National Steeplechase Association spring season, Middleburg ranks behind only the Iroquois and Virginia Gold Cup races in purses. Post time is 1 p.m.

The supporting card

Timber racing has been front and center early this spring, and with the retirement of Mystic Strike and Schoodic – the division’s past two champions – the Middleburg Hunt Cup at 3 ¼ miles is wide open. Only four horses have been entered, two of whom are trained by Neil Morris: Sherry Fenwick’s Anticipating, age 10, was bred and originally trained by the late Jonathan Sheppard. He broke his maiden over timber at Glenwood Park last fall, but went off course and was pulled up in his stakes debut in the International Gold Cup over the same course. His Morris-trained stablemate, Family Tree, owned by Irv Naylor, closed well to be second to Schoodic in last year’s Middleburg Hunt Cup, beaten only a couple of lengths in his lone timber stakes start.

Potter Group USA, Gaskells Waste Services, and Ashwell Stable’s Uco Valley, trained by Leslie Young, steps up to stakes competition following consecutive maiden and allowance scores. Dolly Fisher’s Keys Discount broke his maiden at Shawan Downs last fall and led in his stakes bow in the Genesee Valley Hunt Cup before losing his rider early on. Jack Fisher is the trainer.

The rest of the card consists of four hurdle races at 2 ⅛ miles, including a rich $50,000 allowance for non-winners of two races; two $30,000 maiden special weights contests, one restricted to fillies and mares; a $25,000 maiden starter for horses who have started for a claiming tag of $25,000 or less. There’s also a $20,000 steeplethon over mixed obstacles at 2 ⅝ miles and a 1 ½-mile training flat event.

You can download the full entries here.

And at the Grand National…

Six to contest second leg of Maryland Timber Triple

Timber racing returns to Maryland hunt country for the second Saturday in a row as six runners are expected to go to the post in the 122nd running of the historic contest in Butler.

The Grand National, at a distance of 3 ¼ miles over 18 fences, carries a purse of $35,000. The event is restricted to amateur riders. Gates open at noon, and the four-race, $85,000 card gets underway at 2:30 p.m. The Grand National is the first race.

Five of the runners entered in the race are among those nominated to the longest and most demanding leg of the series, the 128th Maryland Hunt Cup, which will be run at 4 miles on April 26. Daniel Colhoun, Achsah O’Donovan, and Harvey Goolsby’s Bogey’s Image, winner of the My Lady’s Manor stakes, the first leg of the series last Saturday, is neither entered in the Grand National nor nominated to the Hunt Cup.

The Grand National field includes Armata Stables’ Mr. Fine Threads, trained by seven-time Maryland Hunt Cup winning conditioner Joe Davies. Mr Fine Threads prepped for the Grand National with an allowance win over timber at last week’s Manor Races. He also captured an allowance contest at the 2024 Grand National Races. Davies also saddles Kinross Corp’s Great Road, who has one allowance win in 10 starts over timber.

Riverdee Stable’s 2024 Brown Advisory stakes winner Queens Empire, trained by Jack Fisher, makes his first start of the year, while Michael A. Smith’s Wrestlingwithrae makes his third for trainer Leslie Young. Wrestlingwithrae was an allowance winner at Cheshire in March and finished second after relinquishing a brief late lead to Mr. Fine Threads in the My Lady’s Manor. Merriebelle Stable’s Irish-bred and England-raced Wagner has made four NSA starts, breaking his maiden in his first stateside run at the 2024 Manor races, followed up by a pair of DNF’s at the Grand National and in the Maryland Hunt Cup. He was a non-threatening fourth in his first start in 11 months, at Cheshire.

Completing the rest of the all-timber card is a $15,000 maiden at 3 miles; a $20,000 non-winners of two allowance at 3 ¼ miles; and a $15,000 allowance at 3 miles (for non-winners of a stake in 2024-2025) restricted to apprentice riders.

Click here for the full entries.

And at Loudoun…

As part of the National Steeplechase Association’s new and enhanced point-to-point schedule, Morven Park in Leesburg, Va., will for the first time host a trio of sanctioned races on Sunday as part of the 56th Annual Loudoun Point to Point: A $20,000 maiden claiming hurdle at 2 ¼ miles, $25,000 handicap for horses rated at 110 or less, and a $15,000 hurdle for runners who haven’t captured a stakes race since 2023. The latter is restricted to apprentice riders. Full fields have been entered for all of those races. The sanctioned races will be contested as the third (at 2:05 p.m.), fourth (2:40 p.m.) and fifth (3:15 p.m.) race on the card. The event-filled day itself runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For entries, click here.

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