Swore roars home a winner in Carolina Cup; plus the return of Tom Foley, and Virginia Korrell loses her bug
©Tod Marks
Stone Farm and Upland Flats Racing’s Swore, the National Steeplechase Association’s leading 2025 novice, proved he’s more than ready for the big boys as he romped by 6 3/4 lengths over Leamington Racing’s Chortal in the 91st running of the $75,000 Carolina Cup at Springdale Race Course in Camden on Saturday.
Trained by Keri Brion and ridden by Stephen Mulqueen, Swore won for the the fourth time in six NSA outings since beginning his steeplechase career last summer after a dozen trips to the post on the flat. In just his third jump racing start, Swore captured the Grade 1 $150,000 Lonesome Glory at Aqueduct in September before closing out the season with a score in the Aflac Supreme novice stakes at Callaway Gardens.
The Carolina Cup began with Silverton Hill’s Two Past Eight (Evan Dwan) spurting to a lead of as many as five lengths, closely followed by Swore, along with Chortal (Dan Nevin). The field edged closer to the leader up the backside the second time around the sweeping course, and Swore swooped to the front at the sixth fence, with four remaining.
At the eighth fence, Chortal made his move on the rail, rallying alongside Swore, and the duo drew clear of the pack by three lengths as they raced toward the far turn.
Approaching the final jump they were neck and neck, with Swore maintaining a slight advantage over his gallant foe. Entering the long Springdale stretch, Swore suddenly accelerated, opening up by daylight as he cut left at the elbow and aimed toward the wire.
Chortal, who captured the Harry Harris four-year-old stakes at Far Hills last October, was second best, 2 3/4 lengths ahead of Del Rio Racing’s Coutach (Bernie Dalton). Coutach was seeking his fifth straight win, and third stakes in a row on the NSA circuit.
After the race, trainer Brion said she would point the Stone Farm and Upland Flats Racing’s color bearer to the G1 $250,000 Iroquois at Percy Warner Park in Nashville in May.
In other action:
On the Couch is no slouch in $25,000 maiden claiming opener.
In the first of four hurdle races at 2 1/8 miles at Springdale, Keystone Thoroughbreds On the Couch got up in the final strides to eke out a narrow three-quarter-length win over Atsamy Racing Club’s Beyond Reproach, who had led until deep in the stretch.
With Jamie Bargary riding for trainer (and owner) Todd McKenna, the nine-year-old NY-bred son of Freud not only won, but hit the board for the first time in four NSA starts in nearly two years.
But the win didn’t come easy. Beyond Reproach, with Freddie Procter aboard, had held the lead from the flag drop, opening up by double-digits along the way. The field of six began to tighten up the second time around the course, with On the Couch sitting pretty in second all the way, and Joe Fowler and NBS Stable’s Ten Bucks a Glass (Bernie Dalton) moving into contention on the outside.
Turning for home, it was a two horse race with On the Couch drawing even at the final fence, followed by a nose-to-nose fight through the stretch. On the Couch didn’t manage to seize the lead until a couple of strides from home, as the pace-setting challenger dug in.
China Beach’s little brother Pleasant Fantasy has dream trip in $40,000 maiden blowout
Last year Ted and Rita Thompson’s St. Rita Racing’s China Beach became a star on the NSA circuit with a pair of stakes scores in the spring at the Carolina Cup and Iroquois Races.
The small, Tennessee-based owners rolled out another potential good one in Pleasant Fantasy, a four-year-old Florida-bred half brother to China Beach by Curlin’s Honor, who skipped home an easy 5 3/4-length winner in maiden company.
With the local Camden-based trainer-rider team of Kate and Bernie Dalton at the controls — who also were behind China Beach’s ascension — Pleasant Fantasy sat off the early lead set by Anytime and Gray’s Fable, picked up the pace second time around the course, and took charge at the second-to-last fence. Heading into the far turn, Pleasant Fantasy extended his advantage, coasted over the last hurdle and, as Dalton looked back at the competition, cruised home without urging.
The win came in Pleasant Fantasy’s second NSA start following six tries on the flat, where he had a single score in a maiden claimer at The Meadowlands in 2024. He made an ambitious jump racing debut in the Raymond G. Woolfe Memorial 3YO stakes last November at Springdale where he was a DNF.
King him! King of Tsavo notches first score in handicap competition
Sharon Sheppard’s King of Tsavo stalked the early pace set by Starforce, then inherited the lead when the leader fell, and went on to score by 2 1/4 lengths over late-closing Anoint in third, a handicap for horses rated at 115 or less.
With 2025 leading apprentice Evan Dwan riding for trainer Leslie Young, the eight-year-old son of Dubawi won for the second time in his previous three outings, his other tally coming in an optional claimer for maidens at Great Meadow in Virginia in October.
Anoint (Stephen Mulqueen), who runs in the colors of Paul and Molly Willis, Dark Horse Racing, and The International Venture, was second to King of Tsavo in her last outing, which followed a brilliant second to the heralded Emily Love in the $100,000 Peapack Stakes at Far Hills in October.
Kinross Farm’s Outperform (Graham Watters) was third.
Welcome back, Tom Foley
A familiar name on the NSA circuit from 1998 to 2010, and then again briefly in 2014 and 2015, jockey Tom Foley was back in action at Springdale Race Course on Saturday, aboard another accomplished runner who hasn’t been seen in a while.
Foley, an 11-time graded stakes winner, piloted 2023 Eclipse Award winning jumper, Hurricana Farm’s Merry Maker, to an easy score in the finale, a training flat race on the turf.
Merry Maker was off for a year after finishing second in the 2023 American Grand National (G1), then went to the sidelines again for another seventeen months following an unheralded effort in the 2024 Grand National.
Curiously it was almost 23 years to the day that Foley captured the 2003 Carolina Cup, when it was a Grade 1 open stakes, aboard Al Skywalker.
After the race, trainer Arch Kingsley said Merry Maker, now age nine, would resume his career over hurdles.
And at Cheshire…
On Sunday, racing resumed in Unionville, Pa., in Chester County for the 79th Cheshire Races at Plantation Field. The day’s activities included a mix of pony races, a parade of Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds, flat races, side-saddle races, and timber events, highlighted by four NSA sanctioned events at 3 miles worth $65,000.
Uco Valley much the best in Cheshire Bowl.
Potter Group USA, Gaskells Waster Services, and Ashwell Stable’s Uco Valley was the runaway winner of the $20,000 Joseph Walker III Memorial Cheshire Bowl, an allowance race.
With Freddie Procter aboard for trainer Leslie Young, Uco Valley controlled the pace and fought off challenges from Gill Johnston’s Anzio and Motley Crew Racing’s Marcel Magic to power home by about 10 widening lengths.
It was Uco Valley’s first win since November 2024, though he finished second in several big races. Last season the then-seven-year-old finished just behind timber champ Keys Discount in a pair of stakes.
De Nordener tops Recoup in $15,000 Louis “Paddy” Neilson Memorial
In the second NSA event, this one restricted to apprentice riders and runners who failed to win a stakes race in 2025, Armata Stables’ newcomer De Nordener put in a late run to overtake and hold off a gutsy Recoup under Sophie O’Brien.
De Nordener, who came stateside from Ireland to break his maiden at Willowdale last Spring for trainer Joe Davies, made his second NSA start another winning one in the field of four.
EHB Racing’s Huyana (Elizabeth Scully) set the early pace, and was challenged by Recoup (Virginia Korrell), and the duo seesawed for the lead for much of the contest, though the entire field was never more than about five lengths apart. Recoup, who runs in the Irv Naylor colors, took the lead in the latter stages, but couldn’t quite withstand the onslaught of De Nordener, who prevailed by a length and a half. Huyana was third.
Harrenhal takes thriller in $15,000 Rainbows for Luck maiden
After dueling Lightning Ridge for most of the three miles, Del Rio Racing’s Harrenhal, with Virginia Korrell in the irons, pulled clear in the final strides to overtake that foe along with Noble Stables’ Total Joy by four lengths.
The race began with Stewart Strawbridge’s Lightning Ridge (Stephen Mulqueen) taking charge, but it wasn’t long before Harrenhal moved up, and the two battled back and forth, with challenges from Total Joy, High Deff, and British Royalty.
Lightning Ridge appeared to retake the advantage at the second-to-last fence as Total Joy moved into contention, and Harrenhal loomed large. Heading uphill toward the wire, the Ricky Hendriks-trainee had the most left, and earned his first tally in 10 NSA outings.
For Virginia Korrell it was her 15th NSA win, and thus she loses her apprentice bug. In an interview after the race with Parker Hendriks, Korrell said she would continue to retain her amateur status this season. Korrell secured the mount on Harrenhal after Conor Tierney, who was supposed to ride, was injured at the Carolina Cup Races on Saturday.
For the Parish is unstoppable in $15,000 Ashwell Stable maiden
Trainer Leslie Young and jockey Freddie Procter took their second NSA race on the card when Leipers Fork Steeplechase’s For the Parish crushed his four foes by 32 lengths in his first career start over timber.
Scanden Stable’s Make A Stand (Evan Dwan) was away alertly, and led by as many as 30 lengths before fading three fences from home. For the Parish, who had stalked in second, then took the lead and increased the margin at the last fence from 10 lengths to more than 30 at the wire. Turks Head Turf’s The Red Fox (Elizabeth Scully) was second; Armata Stables’ The Ballybreen Fox (Teddy Davies) was third.
For the Parish, an eight-year-old Irish-bred, began his career in 2023 and hit the board in five of his seven starts over hurdles, with a pair of wins, including a 120 handicap score over a classy field at the Iroquois Races last spring. He was also third to last year’s Eclipse Award winner, Cool Jet, in the Grade 3 Noel Laing stakes at Montpelier in November.