'Jump' - Racing Weekend Spotlight: My Lady’s Manor & Tryon Races Lead the Charge; Inside Look with Megan Connolly and Charlie Fenwick's Historic Win!
'Jump' - Racing Weekend Spotlight: My Lady’s Manor & Tryon Races Lead the Charge; Inside Look with Megan Connolly and Charlie Fenwick's Historic Win!
Friday April 12th, Edition #25
In Case You Missed It: This Weekends Top 7 USA Jump Racing Stories
Contents
Weekend Preview - My Lady’s Manor and Tryon preview
Saturday’s Entries - My Lady’s Manor and Tryon Block House Races
Feature Article - It's Horses and Plenty More for Megan
Connolly
Temple Gwathmey - The G2 Race is gearing up to be a top quality contest
Throwback - The 1970 Colonial Cup: Back to the Beginning
Podcast of the Day - In 1980 American amateur jockey Charlie Fenwick rode Ben Nevis to win the Grand National
Iroquois Steeplechase - May 11th - Iroquois Introduces Grooms Bonuses
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My Lady’s Manor and Tryon preview
By Tod Marks
A 10-race doubleheader is on tap for Saturday as timber specialists head to Monkton, Md., while hurdlers travel toward the mountains of Western North Carolina for the 76th Tryon Block House races in Columbus.
The historic Maryland Timber Triple gets underway in Monkton, about 30 miles north of Baltimore, with the $50,000 My Lady’s Manor Stakes, the marquee event on the five-race, $130,000 card. The race, first contested in 1902, has drawn an accomplished and familiar field of five led by Charlie Fenwick’s Royal Ruse, who captured the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup to close out 2023, and Daniel Baker’s Road to Oz, who hasn’t started since his victory in the 2022 Grand National, the second leg of the Timber Triple. Riverdee Stable’s Maryland-bred Include It is an intriguing entry, who makes his first stakes start after taking four straight allowance contests dating back to 2021, most recently at Cheshire two weeks ago following a layoff of nearly two years.
Armata Stable’s Our Friend, a maiden and allowance winner, makes his second stakes appearance in 24 starts for local connections trainer Joe Davies and his son, jockey Teddy Davies. Fat Chance Farm’s Salamanca School, a two-time timber winner last season, prepped for his seasonal bow with a second-place finish in allowance company at the Blue Ridge point to point last month.
The My Lady’s Manor is the first of three timber races at increasing distances over three successive Saturdays. The second leg, the Grand National, will be contested on April 20 in Butler, at 3 ¼ miles. The crown jewel is the 127th running of the Maryland Hunt Cup on April 27 in Glyndon, at 4 miles.
In addition to the stakes feature at the Manor, there are a pair of $20,000 maiden events – the Thomas H. Voss Memorial – which has been split into two divisions; the $25,000 John Rush Streett Memorial and the $15,000 John D. Schapiro Memorial allowance restricted to apprentice jockeys. All are 3 miles. Armata Stable’s local legend, Vintage Vinnie, a two-time Maryland Hunt Cup winner, will make his 15-year-old bow in the Schapiro, a race he used in 2022 as a springboard to his second Hunt Cup tally.
The My Lady’s Manor stakes will be race one on the program, with a post time of 1:30 p.m. Gates open at 10 a.m. Click here for the complete entries: https://nationalsteeplechase.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Manor-April-13-Overnight.pdf
$110,000 up for grabs at Tryon Block House Races
Green Creek Race Course, one of the most picturesque properties on the National Steeplechase Association circuit, plays host to the Tryon Block House Races on Saturday.
Five races, four over hurdles at 2 miles, have been carded including the $20,000 Cannon Harmon Memorial Cup maiden claimer; the $30,000 TR & HC Mulberry Farm Cup maiden special weights contest; the $20,000 Carter P. Brown conditioned claimer for horses who have never won two races; and the $35,000 Jennifer & Roger Smith handicap for horses rated at 120 or less. The day ends with a training flat race at 1 ¼ miles.
Gates open at 10 a.m.; first race post time is 1:30 p.m. For the complete entries, click here: https://nationalsteeplechase.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Tryon-Final-Overnight-April-13.pdf
You can catch all of the excitement from Tryon and The Manor via live stream from the NSA website.
Saturday’s Entries at My Lady’s Manor and Tryon Block House Races
Feature Article
Megan Connolly and Will Allison Co-Chairman of the Virginia Gold Cup
Visit Country ZEST & Style Spring 2024 Edition to read the article
G2 Temple Gwathmey shaping up a championship-caliber contest
By Tod Marks
The nominations are out for the $75,000 Temple Gwathmey stakes at Middleburg on April 20, and the potential field of 11 is as stellar a group as you’ll find on the calendar.
Led by multiple Grade 1 winners Noah and the Ark (Keystone Thoroughbreds), who captured last year’s Grand National at Far Hills, and perennial powerhouse Snap Decision (Bruton Street-US), who is approaching the million-dollar mark in career steeplechase earnings, the 2 ½-mile handicap hurdle is also being targeted by other accomplished warriors from both sides of the Atlantic: Riverdee Stable’s Awakened, 2023 winner of the G1 Jonathan Sheppard at Saratoga and stablemates Cool Jet, a two-time novice stakes winner last year, and Zabeel Champion, who begins 2024 coming off of two straight stakes scores in the Fall; Irv Naylor’s Scorpion’s Revenge, a novice stakes winner in 2022, who also has a third in Grade 1 competition; Madaket Stables and Paul and Molly Willis’ Jimmy P, who finished second in last season’s Sheppard; Michael Smith’s up-and-comer The Hero Next Door, who has three straight runner-up finishes in novice stakes; and Hickory Made Stables and Celtic Venture Stable’s Eye of Gunfighter, a 115 ratings handicap winner who takes a big step up in class.
Also nominated are a pair of hard-knocking European newcomers. Leipers Fork Steeplechasers’ Vae Patron, a six-year-old French bred, makes his U.S. debut for two-time leading NSA trainer Leslie Young after 21 starts in his native land, where he won five times and earned more than $300,000 in claiming, maiden, allowance, and handicap competition. C and C Boultbee Brooks’ Sebastopol, age 10, is a seven-time winner in steeplechase and hurdle events in the UK, where he earned $240,000.
More to come, of course, when the final nominations and weights are announced.
The 1970 Colonial Cup: Back to the Beginning
By Joe Clancy
In 1970, American jump racing needed a boost, a push, a splash. It came from within as Marion du Pont Scott funded and founded an international steeplechase worth $100,000. And thus one of the great American races came to be.
Then one of the richest jump races in the world, Colonial Cup attracted horses from all over the world. They came to Scott’s Springdale Race Course in Camden, S.C. for the money, the prestige, the lark, the competition. American hero Top Bid, owned by Mrs. Ogden Phipps, trained by Mikey Smithwick and ridden by Joe Aitcheson, turned back them all – beating 21 others over the 2 3/4 miles and 17 packed-pine fences. Behind the Yanks came horses from England, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia.
Forty-two years later, the Colonial Cup still holds its place in American steeplechasing, even if it’s lost ground on the world’s stage and changed in a variety of ways. As it did in 1970, the race closes the racing season for the year and draws the country’s best. The foreigners, other than those imported by American owners, largely stay away – after all these years the purse is still $100,000 while other races in America and abroad have bloomed to higher figures. Springdale is largely unchanged, a flat, fair swath of Carolina grass – protected forever with Scott’s gift of the property to the state. The pine fences have given way to plastic as the Colonial Cup is run over the standard National Fences. Though the fall race holds far more importance to the sport’s participants and followers, it pales in comparison to the spring’s Carolina Cup (which hosts 50,000 or more) in local hoopla.
All these years later, the November race is the horsemen’s race, the championship race.
Back to that first rendition, the official chart reads like a history of the sport here and abroad. Starters included:
– International star L’Escargot, who raced for American owner Raymond Guest’s Powhatan and was ridden by Irish champion Tommy Carberry (the father of current jockeys Paul, Phillip and Nina). Champion in the U.S. in 1969, he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup eight months prior to the Colonial Cup, repeated that triumph in 1971 and won the English Grand National as a 12-year-old in 1975 (his fourth and final try at the race).
– Australian champion Crisp, who lived up to his nickname “The Black Kangaroo” by winning major races in his home country in addition to the Queen Mother in England. He is probably best known for a narrow loss while conceding 23 pounds to Red Rum at Aintree in 1973. He finished seventh.
– Tingle Creek. The American 4-year-old faced a tough assignment against the best horses in the world, and finished a well-beaten 14th. Sent to England, he became a legend – winning with flamboyant jumping and bold, front-running tactics.
– Herring Gull. Trained by Irishman Paddy Mullins (father of trainers Tom, Willie and Tony), the then 8-year-old won the Irish Grand National in 1968 and what is now the Royal and Sun Alliance Chase at Cheltenham. He stood at the start under another Pat Taaffe, who rode the great Arkle.
On the American side were:
– Top Bid. Bred by Wheatley Stable, he wound up champion of 1970 with victories in the Temple Gwathmey and Colonial Cup among his four wins that year. Top Bid was a half-brother to Bold Bidder, champion older male of 1966 and the sire of Spectacular Bid, Caveat, Cannonade and so on. Top Bid won 14 times over jumps and earned $229,921 back when it was difficult to do. His jockey, Aitcheson, is the yardstick for all past and future American jump jockeys. He rode from 1956-79, won 440 races and seven championships. He’s in Thoroughbred racing’s Hall of Fame.
Visit thisishorseracing.com to read the full article
The Paddock and The Pavilion
In 1980 American amateur jockey Charlie Fenwick rode Ben Nevis to win the Grand National
Catch Charlie's fascinating story - click here.
Iroquois Steeplechase
Jessica McCabe kisses West Newton in paddock - Tod Marks
Iroquois Steeplechase Introduces Grooms Bonuses
Committed to ensuring all involved within the horse racing industry are recognized for their steadfast work, the Iroquois Steeplechase is thrilled to announce the introduction of the Groom’s Bonuses for the first-place winner of every race. A $1,000 bonus will be awarded for the Iroquois Steeplechase and a $500 bonus for all other races at the race meet.
In the equine industry, Grooms are the foundation of support and training, ensuring the well-being and care of our racehorses. These individuals possess unwavering dedication and trustworthiness and receive deep respect from peers, trainers, owners, and especially the horses they tend to, making them a crucial part of the horse racing process.
When speaking with Don and Sara Jo Gill, the sponsors of this new bonus, they informed us why the Grooms are so important to them. “It’s our way of saying thank you and acknowledging the hard work and passion that Grooms bring to our beloved sport,” said Don Gill. “Without them, we would be at a significant disadvantage and would not be able to properly care for the horses.”
Sara Jo Gill is the daughter of the late Steeplechase owner Calvin Houghland and has been emersed in horse racing since a very young age. She has served as the honorary co-chair in the 2010 and 2019 Steeplechase events and was the first female Steeplechase Trustee.
“The Iroquois Steeplechase has branded itself as one of the greatest horse racing events in the equine industry, and we are honored to be a part of something so special,” said Sara Jo Gill. “We are thankful for everyone who contributes to this wonderful race and are very optimistic and delighted for this year’s Steeplechase.”
The 2024 Iroquois Steeplechase will run on May 11th, 2024, at Percy Warner Park in Nashville, Tennessee. Steeplechase is run by the 501c3 organization, the Volunteer State Horsemen’s Foundation (VSHF). Through the VSHF, the Steeplechase gives back to many charitable organizations throughout the community, with its biggest beneficiaries being the Monroe Carrell Jr. Children’s Hospital, Friends of Warner Parks, and The Foundation for the Horse. The Steeplechase attracts around 25,000 racegoers annually and is a top destination for the best horses and riders in the world.
Click Here For More Information on Iroquois Steeplechase
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