Timber features top Geneseo, Middleburg

Three stakes – two over timber and a $50,000 hurdle event for three-year-old jumpers – highlight this Saturday’s National Steeplechase Association doubleheader in New York and Virginia – the one and only time two meets will share the same date on the fall calendar.

At the Genesee Valley Hunt Races in Geneseo, N.Y., the only steeplechase in the Empire State away from the flat tracks, three races have been carded, all over posts and rails. Topping the day is the $25,000 Genesee Valley Hunt Cup, at 3 ½ miles. The other races are a $15,000 maiden and a $15,000 allowance restricted to amateur or apprentice riders. Both of those events are at 3 miles.

In the stakes feature, six veterans are expected to face the starter. Upland Partners’ Shootist, who finished second to champion Andi’amu in the 2022 Genesee Valley Hunt Cup, returns to the upstate course for the first time in three years, while Armata Stables’ Goodoldtimes makes his fifth trip to the track where he previously finished third twice and a close second in last year’s running to 2022 Maryland Hunt Cup star Withoutmoreado.

Potter Group USA, Gaskells Waste Services, and Ashwell Stable’s Uco Valley broke his maiden at Geneseo last year and is coming off of a DNF in the recent Brown Advisory stakes at Shawan Downs. Greenlights’ The Butler Yates, who finished fourth in last year’s Hunt Cup, exits a solid second to Mr. Fine Threads in the Willowdale Steeplechase in the spring.

Hard Game’s eponymous Hard Game was an allowance winner at the Grand National Races in April and makes his second start in stakes company. Runnymoore Racing’s maiden winner Eternal Story makes his first trip to Geneseo; he was off the board in his only previous stakes try, the Virginia Gold Cup in May.

The races are only part of festivities at Genesee. There are many activities featuring dogs, pony races, along with a parade of foxhounds. There are also events for younger spectators, including stick horse races and pony rides. For adults, there’s food and drink vendors, wine and craft beer tasting, shopping, music, and more. Gates open at 9 a.m.

For full entries, click here: https://nationalsteeplechase.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Genesee-overnight-Tuesday.pdf

And at Middleburg…

The Virginia Fall Races at Glenwood Park in Middleburg will be run for the 72nd time. Eight races worth $275,000 are on the line in a mix of timber and hurdle races, anchored by the $50,000 National Sporting Library & Museum Cup timber stakes at 3 ¼ miles and the second running of the $50,000 Will O’Keefe Memorial three-year-old hurdle stakes at 2 ⅛ miles (the distance of all hurdle contests at Glenwood).

The timber stake has drawn a field of five led by Dolly Fisher’s burgeoning star Keys Discount, who stamped himself the leader of the division with a third straight stakes score two weeks ago at Shawan Downs in the $25,000 Brown Advisory. Earlier, he won the Middleburg Hunt Cup and Virginia Gold Cup.

Keys Discount’s biggest threat may come from Michael Smith’s The Hero Next Door, a lightly raced, multiple-stakes placed hurdler who made a seamless transition to the timber circuit at Shawan Downs with an eye-popping 20-length maiden romp. Motley Crew Racing’s Marcel Magic and Hyggelig Haven’s Druid’s Altar were both pulled up in the Brown Advisory, but ran well before that. Merriebelle Stable’s Wagner hasn’t had much success since breaking his maiden in his U.S. debut in the spring of 2024, but ran well in the Grand National stakes until the final stages of the race.

A field of seven is likely for the O’Keefe, six of whom are exiting the same maiden race at Shawan Downs. Riverdee Stable’s Ethics won that race, edging another first-time jumper, Gill Johnston’s Scorpius, by three lengths. Parkland Thoroughbreds’ Moreperfectunion, another steeplechase newcomer, was fourth in the race after dueling for the lead into the stretch. Betsy Mead’s Safe at Home weakened after dueling for the lead; Runnymoore Racing’s Beau Ciel wasn’t a factor; and Pecks Caprice’s Middle Ages tired in the same race. The only runner not coming out of that Shawan maiden race is Woodslane Racing’s Cooper, who makes his NSA bow following eight maiden special weights tries on the flat.

The remainder of the program includes a $40,000 maiden hurdle; two $30,000 maiden/optional claiming events for horses who have started for a $25,000 tag; $35,000 handicap for horses rated at 115 or less; $20,000 maiden over timber; and $20,000 steeplethon over mixed obstacles.

Gates open at 10 a.m., and first race post time is 12:30 p.m. For full entries, click here:

https://nationalsteeplechase.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Virginia-Fall-Overnight-Tuesday.pdf

You can watch Saturday’s races via live stream from the link on the NSA homepage, www.nationalsteeplechase.com.