'Jump': Stormy Weather Ahead as Zarak the Brave Takes Center Stage, Remembering Jonathan Kiser + Another Grade 1 added to the NSA calendar!

Wednesday July 31st, Edition #44

Jul 31, 2024

In Case You Missed It: This Weeks Top 4 USA Jump Racing Stories

Saratoga - Zarak Unleashed: The French Bred, trained by Garner, makes his NSA debut!
Entries - This Week’s Runners at Saratoga and Colonial
The $150,000 William H. Allison Stakes - Another Grade 1 added to the NSA calendar
The Jonathan Kiser Memorial Stakes - His Race: Remembering Jonathan Kiser by Joe Clancy

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Stormy Weather Ahead as Zarak the Brave Takes Center Stage!

It wouldn't be Saratoga steeplechase without rain in the forecast.

Let's hope the skies clear up for today’s $75,000 The Jonathan Kiser Memorial Stakes. All eyes will be on Gill Johnston's import, Zarak the Brave. The son of Grade 1 winning millionaire Zarak makes his NSA debut following a highly successful campaign in Europe where he bagged over $342,000 in earnings.

In the company of Joe Clancy, we pause to honor the memory of Jonathan Kiser, whose tale brings a poignant depth to the occasion. Sadly, his life was abruptly ended at 22 in a non-equine-related accident, mere days before the 2000 Saratoga Open House meet.

In other news, The Virginia Gold Cup Association revealed plans for its second new Grade 1 fixture of the year at Great Meadow Race Course in The Plains, Virginia. The $150,000 William H. Allison Stakes, will be contested as a handicap hurdle event for four-year-olds and up at 2 1/8 miles over a dozen national fences.

Finally, the racing excitement carries on at Colonial tomorrow, showcasing the $30,000 handicap hurdle as the main event.

Riders up!

Steve

Saratoga: The Jonathan Kiser Memorial Stakes

Zarak The Brave leads over the last
© Photo Healy Racing

Zarak Unleashed: The French Bred, Trained by Garner, makes his NSA debut!

On Wednesday, weather permitting, eight horses are expected to face the starter in the $75,000 Jonathan Kiser Memorial at 2 3/8 miles. The morning line, even-money favorite is Gill Johnston's Zarak the Brave, a five-year-old French-bred trained by veteran jockey Tom Garner. The son of Grade 1 winning millionaire Zarak makes his NSA debut following a highly successful campaign in Europe that included four victories and 12 top-three-finishes in 14 career outings and $342,000 in earnings. Leading rider Graham Watters has the mount.

Zarak the Brave's challengers include Greg Hawkins' Kiyomori (listed at 4-1, trained by Todd Wyatt and ridden by Harry Beswick). Kiyomori captured the Holiday Cup Stakes (for three- and four-year-olds) at Aiken last fall and was third in his only 2024 start, in the Van Clief Memorial Stakes at Foxfield in April.

Rolling Tide's Hold Hard (6-1, Doug Fout/Bernie Dalton) is two for two this season, breaking his maiden at the Old Dominion Hounds meet in April and taking a first-level allowance race at the Virginia Gold Cup Races in May.

Clarke Ohrstrom's homebred Lightning Rod (8-1, Laird George/Gerard Galligan), was a maiden winner at the Carolina Cup Races in the spring, and makes his stakes debut. Riverdee Stable's Tuddenham Green (8-1, Jack Fisher/Conor O'Farrell) was in deep when he finished eighth to recent G1 A.P. Smithwick winner Ziggle Pops in his NSA debut, in a 120 handicap at the Iroquois Races in May. Before that, he was competitive in most of his starts in England, where he finished in-the-money in nine of his 13 starts.

A recent convert to steeplechasing, Upland Flats Racing's Hidden Path (12-1, Ricky Hendriks/Parker Hendriks), finished third to Lightning Rod in his first try over hurdles, then broke his maiden next time out in Foxfield.

The only mare in the field, Jordan Wycoff and Frank Mullins' Clara Belle (15-1, Keri Brion/Stephen Mulqueen) has divided her time between flat and jump racing. In her only effort over jumps this year, Clara Belle won a 110 handicap in Aiken.

Hudson River Farms' Cibolian (15-1, Arch Kingsley/Jamie Bargary) has racked up a quarter-million-dollars in earnings during a lengthy career, racing mostly on the flat over turf. His resume includes three starts in the Grade 2 Belmont Gold Cup at 2 miles on the turf. His only victoryincludes mostly on the turf. He broke his maiden at Colonial Downs last summer.

Here's a link to the complete entries: https://nationalsteeplechase.com/.../07/Saratoga-July-31.pdf. Post time is 1:10 p.m.

NYRA races are broadcast live on Fox2 TV, with replays available on NYRA website, https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/replays.

Read the full article at facebook.com/tod.marks.9

Summer Racing:

Saratoga

Entries for Today’s, $75,000 $75,000 Jonathan Kiser Memorial at 2 3/8 miles steeplechase at Saratoga Race Course.

Colonial

Thursday's trio of races at Colonial Downs, which are scheduled to go off at 11:45 a.m., 12:20 p.m., and 12:55 p.m., include a $50,000 maiden special weights hurdle which has drawn a field of 10; a $30,000 maiden starter allowance, which also has a prospective field of 10, restricted to horses who have run for a claiming tag of $25,000 or less; and a $30,000 handicap for horses rated at 110 or less. The finale has drawn seven entries. All of the races are at 2 1/4 miles.

Click here for the full entries: https://nationalsteeplechase.com/.../Colonial-August-1-1.pdf.

The races from Colonial are available on Twinspires.com or on TV through the TVG racing channel.

The $150,000 William H. Allison Stakes:

International Gold Cup adds another Grade 1 to NSA calendar

Dr. Will Allison at the Gold Cup Races

The Virginia Gold Cup Association revealed plans for its second new Grade 1 fixture of the year, to be run as part of the $410,000 card at Great Meadow Race Course in The Plains, Va., on Oct. 26.

The $150,000 William H. Allison Stakes, named in honor of the president of the Gold Cup Association and co-chair of both the Virginia Gold Cup Races in the spring and its fall counterpart, the International Gold Cup Races, will be contested as a handicap hurdle event for four-year-olds and up at 2 1/8 miles over a dozen national fences.

The Allison is the ninth Grade 1 on this year's National Steeplechase Association circuit, four more than the 2023 total and the most in the history of the NSA, according to Racing Director Bill Gallo.

"The Virginia Gold Cup board has been looking for a way to honor Will’s long-standing dedication and commitment to the Virginia Gold Cup Races," said Allison's co-chair Al Griffin, who also serves as NSA president. "He has followed the tradition of Warrenton Hunt masters who have also held the reins of the Virginia Gold Cup Races. (The Gold Cup Races were founded by the Warrenton Hunt.) Will led us through the effort to gain pari-mutuel wagering at Gold Cup, and serves as a board member of the Virginia Equine Alliance. I can think of no one who has done more to further the effort at Gold Cup than Dr. Will Allison.“

The Allison comes on the heels of the inaugural Grade 1 $150,000 Commonwealth Cup, which was carded as part of the Virginia Gold Cup program in May.

The Allison will take place a week after the Grade 1 $250,000 American Grand National at Far Hills in New Jersey, the seminal event on the NSA calendar. But whereas the Grand National is a weight-for-age contest at 2 5/8 miles, the Allison will be run under handicap conditions at 2 1/8 miles, thus making it an attractive option for horses who favor a shorter distance of ground.

By creating the new Grade 1, the Virginia Gold Cup Association is shifting the David "Zeke" Ferguson, previously a Grade 2 hurdle stakes, to the popular Steeplethon on the International Gold Cup card. The Steeplethon will now be run in memory of Ferguson, a local builder, developer, horseman and sportsman.

PICTURED: Dr. Will Allison at the Gold Cup Races

Read the full article at Facebook.com/tod.marks.9

His Race: Remembering Jonathan Kiser

By Joe Clancy

Article Originally Published in 2012

He’d be 34. Retired? Maybe. A champion many times over? Surely. One of the all time greats? No doubt. A name you’d put there with Aitcheson, Fishback, Adams, Smithwick, Walsh? Most likely.

About this time every year, I think about Jonathan Kiser. He was the best American steeplechase jockey of his generation – a little behind Blythe Miller, a little ahead of the Irish/English brigade that occupies the program now.

Kiser won 90 races and two championships in less than five full seasons. He died in the summer of 2000, from a freak accident that had nothing to do with horses. He was 22 and passed away a few days before the Saratoga Open House meet of 2000. He’d won 16 races at the season’s midway point that year, looked loaded for the meet and was assured of his thrid championship in four years. And then he was gone.

The jockeys honored him by wearing black helmet covers the rest of that season.

Now, Saratoga and the sport honor him with a race, his race. The Jonathan Kiser Memorial became a stakes in 2007 and was run as the first race yesterday. His family came to town. People thought of him again, told a few stories, raised a glass, laughed at a memory, walked around handicapped parking spaces for good luck.

Kiser made you think of him in life, with an attitude equal parts confidence and innocence. OK, maybe not equal. He was young, talented, daring, opinionated. He lived hard, played hard, worked hard, inspired people.

He rode horses the way the rest of us rode bicycles or walked down the street – naturally and without effort, or so it seemed.

He won races for main employer Tom Voss in great heaps – riding Approaching Squall, Brigade Of Guards, Teb’s Bend, Ironfist, Lapseng, Petroski, Soaringoverseattle. When Voss didn’t have mounts, Kiser took legs up from Jonathan Sheppard, Bruce Miller, anyone who could get him. Kiser rode a runaway named Sundin for Sheppard and they connected better than Lego pieces. Each was bold, fast, good. They won four times together. At Belmont in 2000, Kiser’s last ride, he rode Yellowroad for Miller – upsetting heavy favorite Pompeyo – in another deft, magical, sublime performance.

Kiser sat on a horse better than other jockeys. Just sat there, looking more smooth and better collected than the others. At rest. In a race, he was even better. He hovered over the saddle, connected to the horse from the stirrups, through his feet, into his legs and up to his brain. Afterward, he’d talk about wins with a mix of calculated calm and “oh-hell-I-don’t-know” glee. He was a great interview. For a kid, he worked hard to know the history – he’d talk about Joe Aitcheson (the best, ever) with reverence. At 17, Kiser rode in the Maryland Hunt Cup before he turned professional – getting around on a longshot when nobody thought he would.

As usual, the Kiser winner – in this case trainer Richard Valentine – had a connection to the kid.

“I didn’t know him well, but I remember him calling me Mr. Valentine,” he said. “I thought it was the funniest thing. I kept thinking I was as much of a young hooligan as he was. He didn’t need to call me Mr.”

Like anyone in the game, Valentine also recalled Kiser’s skill.

“What a beautiful rider, I remember picking up a magazine and he was riding in jodphurs, as a junior in the Green Spring Old Fashioned,” he said. “I remember thinking ‘Who is this kid?’ He was so stylish. It’s nice to win a race in honor of an American jockey who could hold his own with the Irish and English boys who are riding now. He’d probably still be doing it at that level. It’s nice they keep his memory going. I love running in the race, I love coming up here for it. Hopefully there are many more of these for years to come.”

Read the full article at thisishorseracing.com

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