'Jump' Newsletter - Edition 3 (July 21st, 2023)
'Jump' Newsletter - Edition 3 (July 21st, 2023)
'Jump' is committed to providing the most comprehensive and up-to-date news coverage of steeplechasing around the USA.
Welcome to the third issue of 'Jump.'
It's the stuff of nightmares for Paul Willis, the head honcho at Atlantic Friends Racing (AFR). Those unmistakable green and yellow silks of Irv Naylor seem to haunt him like a recurring dream straight from 'Groundhog Day.'
Our inaugural issue highlighted Barry Foley's audacious performance at Colonial Downs. Riding Irv Naylor’s Gold Charm, he casually pulled up next to Atlantic Friends Racing’s Lacey Underall just 50 yards from the finish line. A nonchalant glance at Mell Boucher, and he was off, leaving the ‘AFR’ runner in his wake.
The narrative took an uncanny twist just five days later. The stakes were higher, the cast slightly altered, but the plot was eerily similar. This time, it was Danny Mullins, the Irish jockey, wearing the ‘AFR’ colors.
Once again, just as ‘AFR's’ Historic Heart hit the front, Barry Foley emerged on Belfast Banter. Adorned in those notorious green and yellow silks of Irv Naylor, he exchanged a casual glance with his Irish compatriot and then, as quick as a flash, he was gone!
Barry Foley's triumph in his first Grade 1 stakes race was a momentous achievement, leaving the Atlantic Friends Racing team dreaming of what might have been. Round three in the Jonathan Sheppard?
Riders up!
Steve Coxon - USASteeplechase
In Case You Missed It: This Week's Top 5 Jump Racing Stories
Contents
Belfast Banter breaks through in the A.P. Smithwick Memorial
Irish trainer, John McConnell has American Grand National in mind for Seddon
Eclipse Award Voting for Steeplechaser of the Year
Patrick lewis - Saratoga Bound
Colonial Downs Entries - Friday July 21st
BELFAST BANTER BREAKS THROUGH IN A.P. SMITHWICK MEMORIAL
by Mary Eddy
Chelsea Durand Photo
After hitting the board in 3-of-6 graded starts, Irvin S. Naylor’s Belfast Banter broke through at the highest level with a smart score in Wednesday’s Grade 1, $150,000 A.P. Smithwick Memorial, a 2 1/16-mile hurdle test for older horses, at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Cyril Murphy and expertly piloted to victory by Barry Foley, the 8-year-old son of Jeremy entered from third-place efforts in the Grade 2 David Semmes Memorial Handicap in May at Great Meadow and the Grade 2 Temple Gwathmey Handicap in April at Middleburg. He made his fourth start at the Grade 1 level after finishing off-the-board in a trio of prestigious events last year and visited the winner’s circle for the first time since taking the 2021 Betway Top Novices at Aintree.
“In his overseas races, he was most successful when he had a strong, true-run race to sit behind and arrive there late,” said Murphy. “He’s one of those horses that flatters to deceive. As long as he’s traveling against you, you’re getting something. When you drop his head and let him off, he’s come to the end of his run. It was perfect just weaving between and keeping him covered and riding him like he was the best, and today he was.”
Belfast Banter was unhurried by Foley after the start and was brought to an inside path from post 9 to track near the rear of the nine-horse field as West Newton rushed up to take command into the first turn. Gordon’s Jet sat just off the pace as Historic Heart raced comfortably in third position ahead of a headstrong Welshman down the backstretch for the first time with the order remaining unchanged throughout the first time around the good inner turf course.
Passing the stands a second time, West Newton widened his margin before veering inward over the seventh fence and losing a touch of ground to a progressing Gordon’s Jet, who matched stride with his pacesetting rival entering the final turn. Meanwhile, a rail-skimming Belfast Banter showed an impressive turn of foot under a patient Foley, who kept a firm hold of his charge as he waited for room to tip three-wide into the stretch and unleash his run at the lead.
A loaded Belfast Banter had plenty left in the tank and glided past the frontrunners with ease in mid-stretch, drawing off under a celebrating Foley to claim the victory by 6 1/2 lengths in a final time of 3:53.69.
Historic Heart overtook the tiring front duo for second with Freddy Flintshire picking up show honors over the high-weighted Noah and The Ark. West Newton, Redicean, Gordon’s Jet, Salvino and Welshman completed the order of finish.
Belfast Banter had finished third to his returning Jack Fisher-trained rivals Welshman and Gordon’s Jet last out in the David Semmes when carrying six pounds more than the former and 10 more than the latter. Murphy said a more even weight assignment to that of his familiar rivals helped lead him to victory in their rematch.
“I believe coming here, we would win, but I didn’t think he would do it like that,” said Murphy. “It gives you something to think about moving forward, but today was to be his day from my perspective.”
Foley, who won the first Grade 1 of his 18-year riding career, said a weight advantage helped his mount produce a better result at Saratoga than last year when he finished fourth in the Grade 1 Jonathan Sheppard.
“Everything went according to plan. They ran a nice gallop and we traveled very, very true to rails. Jumped brilliantly and he made my life easy,” said Foley. “He's had a couple of better runs in recent starts and he got a break at the weights today. He had a fourteen-pound spring for the two horses that were in front of him at the last, and I thought if he turns up, even halfway fair, he should be good enough to win.”
Murphy said it is possible Belfast Banter could give the 2 1/2-mile Jonathan Sheppard another try on August 16, but will wait and see how his newly-minted Grade 1-winner exits this race with the 2 3/8-mile Grade 1 Lonesome Glory on September 14 at Belmont at the Big A as another potential target.
“He ran here last year in the Sheppard and went to Aqueduct for the Lonesome Glory,” said Murphy. “I think he’s a horse that’s better with a bit of spacing. Is three weeks enough time? I’m not sure. But I do think 2 3/8 would suit him better than 2 1/2 the Lonesome Glory. We’ve got lots to think about, but we have time to think about it.”
Bred in Ireland by Seamus Cooney, Belfast Banter banked $90,000 in victory, boosting his total purse earnings to $324,103 and improving his lifetime record to 29-5-7-5. He returned $35.60 for a $2 win ticket.
Danny Mullins, who traveled from Ireland to ride the Keri Brion-trained Historic Heart, said the son of Fracas was simply second best.
“He was solid. I ended up a little closer to the pace than I initially thought I would be, but we weren't going that hard so I was happy there,” said Mullins. “He jumped well down the back and picked up off the bend. He ran a good race to be second. That's probably the first time Belfast Banter has ran to the form he showed at Aintree. So, a very solid run from my lad and hopefully we can find a race for him to win very soon.”
Irish trainer, John McConnell has American Grand National in mind for Seddon
Seddon, trained by John McConnell in Ireland, has set his sights on the American Grand National at Far Hills.
Since joining McConnell's stable, the talented ten-year-old Stowaway gelding has shown remarkable progress, securing victories at both Cheltenham and Punchestown festivals.
With a string of impressive performances under his belt, Seddon, owned by the Galaxy Horse Racing Syndicate, is now primed for a transatlantic journey.
The American Grand National at Far Hills appears to be the main target for the versatile bay gelding, as he continues to demonstrate his ability at the top level.
"All roads lead to the American Grand National in October with Seddon. It’s the race that Hewick won last year," McConnell revealed.
"He'll probably have a Flat run as a pipe opener for that, maybe in the likes of Killarney over two miles."
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Eclipse Award Voting for Steeplechaser of the Year
Two of the five Grade 1's are done and dusted, but the Eclipse Award? Still anyone's game.
Scaramanga, owned by Malcolm Denmark and trained by Willie Mullins, blew everyone away at the Iroquois Hurdle. Left big names like Snap Decision and Noah and The Ark in the dust.
The A.P. Smithwick did little to clear up the situation. Belfast Banter, cruised to victory at Saratoga. But here’s the twist – when he went head-to-head with Snap Decision in the Temple Gwathmey, earlier on in the Spring he lost by 24 lengths receiving 18lbs.
This year's Eclipse voting could be just like last year's movie. Remember Shark Hanlon and Hewick? Flew in, won the American Grand National, hit the pub, and checked out. Game, set, match!
Next up, the Grade 1 Jonathan Sheppard on August the 16th.
Saratoga Bound
By Patrick Lewis
As of one year ago today, we had just seven total horses with 25% or greater ownership featuring five jumpers and of that septet, two would never run again. We had a single win year to date through July 17th, 2022 and zero flat wins or runs. The name Red Carpet Ready had yet to be breathed into the ether and that horse who would later become a star was simply a very physically attractive two year old filly registering her first couple of works, none of which were particularly eye-catching. Upland Flats Racing was a fledgling operation with a confusing name with no majority owned flat horses and about the 25th ranked jump stable on the steeplechase circuit. There are only about 30 total.
The ensuing 12 months were nothing short of magical: we would have dozens of wins including wins at every one of the triple crown tracks, 4 listed stakes and 2 graded stakes victories, a thrilling win and 2nd at Saratoga with a bona fide Eclipse level steeplechaser and so much more. I had embarrassingly dramatic win celebrations both on national television on racing’s biggest days and at untelevised jump meets with my racing partners as well as my wife, two sons, my father and brother. I claimed a barnful of new friends, partners, mentors, allies, advisors and nearly as many characters that don’t fall into any of those aforementioned categories.
Using success and partnerships as fuel, we d̵o̵u̵b̵l̵e̵d̵ ̵t̵r̵i̵p̵l̵e̵d̵ quadrupled down and as of this writing we have 28 horses stabled in 3 different regions with a roster ranging from promising two and three year old flat horses to allowance level claimers, maiden and stakes jumpers and one of the fastest three year old fillies on the planet. And as we have grown, I stopped the bad practice of thinking of the horses as vessels to get wins and purse money, and grew to really love the animals and time spent on the backside, watching them train, graze, roll in the dirt and to give them hugs after wins AND losses.
But mostly, in this past year, I learned. I learned how to read a horse’s page for a sale and I learned a very preliminary introduction to conformation analysis. I learned how to read a condition book, and how to plan ahead for races that might fit knowing that plans and horses change constantly. I learned how to suggest to the trainer you’d like to run in a spot without making them hate you. I learned how to run a claiming operation, what a shake was and the game theory of what horses your competitors would be most likely to drop on, and for that matter which horses were most likely to end up in your stable for far longer than intended because you refused to ignore the red flags. I learned how to lose and win with grace (most of the time) and I learned to cheer for others’ horses as loudly as my own even though I had no skin in the ownership. I learned what makes a good partner and advisor and how to lean on them to the maximum acceptable level while trying to hold back and give back when at all possible. But above all else, I learned patience. From the day I wrote the buy-in check for Red Carpet Ready until her first Graded Stakes triumph was nearly one and a half years.
So with that learning, more racing success under my belt than I deserve and eyes wide open as to how hard this sport can be, I am flying up to Saratoga by way of an Allegiant plane to Albany with an almost unbelievably under-padded seat cushion. I know by the time this meet is over that I will have total heartbreak, sheer joy and everything in between. I hope by the end of the meet that I can fully convert my 6 and 4 year olds into racing addicts like their afflicted father. And if by the end of the meet any or all of my recent daydreams become fulfilled in these coming weeks — daydreams of foggy sunrise works at the Oklahoma, sensational afternoon races, Morrisey’s sushi, Siro’s martinis, Parting Glass pints, freestyle family lake dives, minor golf cart accidents, Kilwin’s ice cream, Reading Room benedict, bad karaoke, good karaoke, family and friends dinners and winner’s circle joy — well then we will have had a magical meet.
Colonial Down Entries - Friday July 21st
Don't forget! There are two big NSA races today at Colonial Downs, and if you can't be at the beautiful New Kent, Va., course, be sure to watch the live stream at www.nationalsteeplechase.com.
First post is 12:15 p.m., the second, 12:50.
We've got full fields for both the maiden hurdle and ratings handicap.
Entires Below:
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