December Steeplechase Times

Times

The A Publication of ST Publishing, Inc.

Complimentary

Steeplechase

Vol. 17, No. 12 Friday, December 10, 2010

Gray Cup

Slip Away flies to title at Springdale

2010

Championship Edition

Congratulations and thank you to Tom Voss, Paddy Young and the team for doing such a great job with Slip Away in 2010.

– Ken and Sarah Ramsey

Slip Away, en route to winning the Grade I Colonial Cup. Tod Marks

Ramsey Farm Standing in Kentucky: Kitten’s Joy. Standing in New York: Catienus.

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Friday, December 10, 2010

News & Notes from around the circuit

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Journey’s End.

Tod Marks

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Another steeplechase season drew to a close at Springdale Race Course in late November. See you in March,

steeplechase fans.

Worth Repeating “The last jumper I ran, I think my brother rode – and that wasn’t yesterday.”

Trainer Dickie Small, on Camden starter See The USA; Small’s brother (1965 champion Doug) last rode in 1982 “I can’t lose.”

Trainer Doug Fout, on being at Camden as a spectator

“I felt like saying ‘unless you’re prepared to take him tailgating, we’ve got no shot.’ ” Jockey Xavier Aizpuru, on Willie Dowling’s plan of pushing Demonstrative wide on the final turn of the Raymond Woolfe Memorial; Aizpuru finished second on Peace Fire, Dowling fourth on Union Army.

“He’s an old soul in a young body.”

Trainer Richard Valentine, on the calm exterior of 3-year-old hurdler Demonstrative

“I’m tickled pink for Paddy, but he wouldn’t have won if I hadn’t have broken my knee.”

Jockey Carl Rafter, on the championship race “Quiet, thank God.” Champion jockey Paddy Young on life after the season “Same as my on-season – there’s a lot less to deal with but plenty of horses around here.”

Trainer Tom Voss, on how his off-season was going “There was a lot of cursing, scoop throwing, close calls and a number of ‘I quits.’ ” Voss’ daughter Elizabeth, on taking a photo of Slip Away and the rest of the herd at Atlanta Hall Farm “The R stands for Runner.”

Owner Ken Ramsey, on his silks

Friday, December 10, 2010

“Just remember, two in a row is all you’re allowed.”

Aizpuru, who won titles in 2007 and 2008, to Young (the 2009 and 2010 champion) Trainer Jack Fisher, about Swagger Stick: “He looks like a Maryland Hunt Cup horse.”

Owner Gill Johnston: “I look like Miss America, but I’m not going to enter.”

“You don’t know how good they are until they get out of the novice division. They all improve because they learn how to jump better, it’s not such a big deal. He’s better than Seer, I don’t know about Tricky Me because he broke down. He’s not as good as Good Night Shirt but you never know. You never know.”

Jack Fisher when asked about champion novice All Together “I was confident. But Kathy and Laird were more confident.”

Trainer Richard Valentine comparing his confidence level to assistants Kathy White and Laird George before Demonstrative made his debut at Virginia Fall “I thought he had gotten beat, then everybody told me he had won, I was out there accepting congratulations and playing the big gun and then comes the announcement from the stands . . . ” Owner Andre Brewster about losing the photo at Far Hills with All Together “He wins a lot of races, he’s gotten used to winning, he likes winning. Honestly before I don’t think he liked winning for whatever reason. Now he likes it.”

Paddy Young about three-time timber champion Bubble Economy

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10 Number of horses passed by Bubble Economy on the leading stee-

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Best English Pub

Steeplechase Times

•3

Entries

Times

The

What’s Happening and Where To Find It Here’s your newspaper. The finale of 2010 – 48 pages ought to hold you for a while anyway (next edition, March 2011). This edition catches up on the Colonial Cup – how about that Slip Away?; profiles all the champions – Paddy Young made it two in a row, Jonathan Sheppard did it again; presents some statistics – annual and otherwise; and generally offers plenty to read. Have a great winter.

Pages 6-10 Away He Goes

Slip Away came through when it counted most, winning the Colonial Cup to clinch the earnings crown and gain the inside path to the Eclipse Award. Three-year-old champion Demonstrative also sewed up a title while Paddy Young doubled to clinch the jockey crown.

Pages 15-16

Steeplechase

ST Publishing, Inc. 364 Fair Hill Drive, Suite F, Elkton, MD 21921 In the Heart of Fair Hill Horse Country Phone: Fax: E-mail: On the Web:

(410) 392-5867 (410) 392-0170 info@st-publishing.com www.st-publishing.com

The Staff

Editors/Publishers/Staff Writers: Sean Clancy and Joe Clancy

Statistics 101

The top 15 from 2010, plus a look at the sport’s career leaders. Jack Fisher and Tom Voss are 2-3 in the latter category for trainers.

PageS 18-27 They Are The Champions

Slip Away, Ptarmigan, All Together, Demonstrative and Bubble Economy make up the class of 2010 – equine division. Find out how they did it.

Advertising: Contact the office or call Kathy Rubin (203) 650-6815 Jim McLaughlin (484) 888-0664 Michelle Rosenkilde (410) 692-5977 Reney Stanley (804) 449-2388 Contributors: Maggie Kimmitt, Jane Clark, Tod Marks, Barry Watson, Steve Graham, Sam Clancy, Anne Clancy, Joe Clancy Sr., Ruth Clancy, Ryan Clancy, Jack Clancy, Nolan Clancy, Miles Clancy.

2011 Publication Dates March 11 April 8 April 22 May 6

PageS 28-34

May 27 June 17 July 8 September 16

October 7 October 21 November 11 December 9 *Subject to change

Don’t Forget to Advertise!

So Are They

Paddy Young, Jonathan Sheppard, Irv Naylor complete the human categories with jockey, trainer and owner championships – the second for Young, the umpteenth for Sheppard and first for Naylor.

Pick Six The

Pages 39-41 Stable Game

Times

American Horse Publications is the nation’s only association of equine periodicals. AHP’s more than 200 members are dedicated to promoting better understanding and communication within the equine publishing industry. www.americanhorsepublications.org

An AHP General Excellence Award Winner

Like some of the other races, the Pick Six contest came down to the wire with Preemptive Strike holding off Tax Ruling for second in the Colonial Cup – thwarting the comeback hopes of Bob Lunny and rewarding grand champion Bill Hutchinson.

Steeplechase

Member: American Horse Publications

I PICKED UP THE TIMES AT:

________________

On the Cover Paddy Young gunned Slip Away to the lead leaving the backside of the Colonial Cup and made the lead stand up for a championship.

Photo by Tod Marks

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Steeplechase Times

•5

Coming Through

Slip Away (left) pulls away from the field in the Colonial Cup. Tod Marks

Slip Away charges to Grade I score, title by joe clancy CAMDEN, S.C. – Second at the Iroquois. Third at Saratoga. Second at Monmouth Park. Second again at Far Hills in the Grand National.

Paddy Young and Slip Away were good together – they just couldn’t win. The races went predictably, with the gray gelding galloping along nice and relaxed near the front, Young sitting still as a mannequin at a jockey store. They turned for home looking like winners, fought gallantly but lost. To Tax Ruling, Divine Fortune, Arcadius, Percussionist. The only bad race, and it wasn’t that bad, was a fifth behind Sermon Of Love in the New York Turf Writers Cup. And then came the Colonial Cup. Slip Away and Young dominated the year’s final Grade I, taking control six fences from home and winning by 25 3/4 lengths over Preemptive Strike and Tax Ruling at Springdale Race Course Nov. 13. Achieved in 5:14.80 for 2 3/4 miles, the victory clinched the NSA earnings title for Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s stable star, put a grip on a likely Eclipse Award and rewarded a true professional.

“Every time I get off him I know there’s nothing left,” said Young. “It’s all out there on the course. Every time I ride him he gives 120 percent. He walks away with his head down, he gives his all. And he

colonial cup Saturday, November 13 keeps getting beat. How can it not break his heart to walk away like that time after time? Today was his day.”

As it has since 1970, the Cup provided the final stage for title hopefuls – drawing nine runners including championship players Slip Away, Percussionist and Tax Ruling. Last year’s winner Mixed Up, bold veteran Preemptive Strike, 2009 runner-up Red Letter Day and Grand National third Lead Us Not added talent and depth.

From the start, Preemptive Strike and Slip Away took the first two spots on the chart, followed by Tax Ruling and Swagger Stick. Repacked in the off-season, the Springdale fences offered 17 tests – stiffer and a little taller than usual. Lead Us Not fell at the fifth. Red Letter Day went at the sixth. Mixed Up, Percussionist and Orison labored with their leaps. Up front, Preemptive Strike jumped like a 2-mile chaser at Sandown – standing off a stride out, rising high and landing long.

Slip Away figured out the fences early and tracked the leader with an effective – if a little less daring – style.

Tax Ruling and Swagger Stick completed the contending quartet, leaving the others to try to keep pace.

Preemptive Strike led down the long, flat and fast Springdale backside – soaring over the ninth and 10th.

At the 11th, Slip Away inched closer and to the leader’s outside. They landed over the 12th on even terms

as the pace increased. Slip Away took a 1-length lead into the 13th, powered over the 14th, flew the 15th and steamed for the stretch. Swagger Stick moved to third and briefly got to Preemptive Strike’s flank before the second-last. Slip Away summoned another quality leap, as did Preemptive Strike, and the race was over.

“They’re two really good jumpers,” Voss of his horse and Preemptive Strike. “That was some performance, a good enough race on the front end, but it was frightening to watch until he got in front. Once he got in front, I thought it was all over. He was going so easily and jumping so well and he was running as fast from the last fence to the wire as he was at any part of the race.”

Making the final quarter-mile a coronation, Slip Away widened the margin in the stretch and pulled up with his ears pricked.

“As much as I’m delighted to win, I’m just so happy for that horse,” said Young. “If ever a horse deserves it, it’s him. His jumping was impeccable. He was fantastic, he was brilliant.”

After all the near-misses, Young wanted to try something different at Camden. Hence the early attack of Preemptive Strike.

“I’ve been saving him all the time, in every race, to make sure he gets home,” Young said. “Today, I was thinking flat track, last race, he should be able to get there. As tired as he’s been before, he’s going to be more tired today. It was going to take 125 percent.

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Steeplechase Times

•7

Colonial Cup – Continued from page 6

maximum effort to put the pressure on the other ones.”

And that’s what won the race. Slip Away went after Preemptive Strike early, which made a quick race even faster at a key moment. Mixed Up and Percussionist, the fastest horses in the race, never made an impact. Iroquois winner Tax Ruling kept up for a while and stayed on late to take third. Swagger Stick, off two timber starts, handled the jumps and the distance but didn’t have enough speed late.

Young sweated the decision the night before, when he asked for help on the social networking website Facebook of all things, but decided he had no choice.

“If he gets beat, it’s a bad ride; if he wins, it’s an excellent ride,” he said.

“But we just had to go for it. I had to take the chance.”

• From Demonstrative’s point of view, he’s still perfect. Jacqueline Ohrstrom’s 3-year-old hurdler won his debut at Virginia Fall in October and added the $25,000 Raymond Woolfe Memorial Stakes at Camden to clinch the NSA 3-year-old championship.

In between, he took a body check at the start of the Gladstone at Far Hills – not that it fazed him.

The son of Elusive Quality rated just off the early pace of St Of Circumstance and Hiwasee Gem and was well back as the big field of 14 started up the backside. Demonstrative (Matt McCarron) let others make plays for the lead, found space outside and roared alongside Peace Fire coming to the last fence.

Demonstrative landed running and scored by 3 1/4 lengths over Pace Fire with Far Hills winner Class Skip third.

The winner covered 2 miles in 4:08.60 and impressed his trainer.

“I thought he was dropping out of it on the backside, he kind of lost touch with them up front a little bit,” said trainer Richard Valentine. “Then he just came running. For a horse to go from being handy, to getting detached and then make a run into the pace like that – confidently – is nice to see.”

McCarron put it more simply.

“If I could ride that horse every day for the rest of my life, I’d give up riding races, he’s that much fun,” he said.

“I could have ridden him better, should have gotten him outside sooner, but he makes up for things like that.”

• When stablemates Sunshine Numbers (Bernie Dalton) and Riddle (Jody Petty) touched down over the last fence of the Hobkirk Hill, a starter allowance over the Cup fences, trainer Arch Kingsley knew he had a winner. But picked sides anyway.

“I said ‘Go get him Jody,’ ” Kingsley said. “I wanted Riddle to get it just because Sunshine got the last one and Riddle has been through a lot and deserved one.”

Sunshine Numbers hung on, defeating Riddle by a length in 4:29.40 for 2 1/4 miles. Saluda Sam rallied to claim third, but was no match for the Sue and George Sensor runners – also 1-2 at Aiken two weeks earlier.

The winner set the pace most of the way, responded to pressure from Riddle late and won the race for the second consecutive year after placing third (to Slip Away) in 2008.

“Sunshine is a big brute of a horse, he probably outweighs Riddle by 300

Demonstrative (left) touches down over the last in front of Peace Fire in the Woolfe.

pounds, maybe 400,” said Kingsley.

“They both like to run on the front end, and they’re both classy, old horses. They are a blast to train, fun to ride. Those kind make my job very, very easy.”

Sunshine Numbers, whose dam Saturday Sunshine won over jumps, improved to 6-for-16 over jumps and 3-for-5 in 2010.

• Owner/trainer Karen Gray wasn’t sure she wanted to run Eye Said Scat Cat in Camden’s open timber, until Carl

Colonial Cup

Camden, S.C. Saturday, Nov. 13. Turf Firm.

1st. $25,000. SOK Mdn. hurdle. 2-1/4 miles.

1. Good Request L 154 Young 2. Fog Island L 148 Geraghty 3. Wild For Gold L 154 Dalton 4. Lake Placid L 154 McCarron 5. White Holiday L 154 Rafter 6. Heldover L 148 Dowling PU. Logaritimo (Arg) L 154 Aizpuru PU. Belarion L 154 Crowley PU. Ajeed 148 Nagle PU. Waltzing Bear 148 Petty Mgn: 4 1/4. Time: 4:27 4/5.

O: Coppertree Farm. T: Tom Voss.

B. g. 6, Dynaformer-Skimble, Lyphard.

Bred by Juddmonte Farm (Ky.) 2nd. $25,000. 3YO hurdle stakes. 2 miles.

Raymond G. Woolfe Memorial.

1. Demonstrative L 148 McCarron 2. Peace Fire L 148 Aizpuru 3. Class Skip 152 Boucher 4. Union Army L 148 Dowling 5. Dr. Wheat L 148 Crowley 6. Be Great L 148 Mackenzie 7. Hiwasee Gem 142 Dalton 8. See The U S A L 148 Geraghty 9. Worried Man L 148 Hodsdon 10. Witham L 148 Young F. Class Moon 148 Torres PU. St Of Circumstance L 148 Rafter PU. Faction L 148 Nagle PU. Great Halo L 148 Petty Mgn: 3 1/4. Time: 4:08 3/5.

O: Jacqueline Ohrstrom. T: Richard Valentine.

B. g. 3, Elusive Quality-Loving Pride, Quiet American. Bred by Gainsborough Farm LLC (Ky.)

Sunshine Numbers flies a fence early in the Hobkirk Hill.

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Steeplechase Times

Tod Marks

3rd. $20,000. Open timber 3 1/2 miles.

1. Eye Said Scat Cat L 150 Rafter 2. Gather No Moss 150 Watts 3. Brands Hatch L 160 Young 4. Plum Brush L 160 Dalton 5. Fieldview L 165 Nagle LR. Gypsy Beads 144 Petty Mgn: 1-1/4. Time: 7:44. O/T: Karen Gray.

Dk. B./Br. g. 6, Adcat-Apple Of My Eye, State Dinner. Bred by Mary Anne Stroup (Fla.).

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Tod Marks

Rafter turned on the sales pitch.

“I had to make a lot of phone calls to get her to run him,” said the jockey. “She was worrying about it. I was meant to ride Fieldview, but Darren (Nagle) got back on him. I didn’t have a ride and I twisted her ear a bit.”

Gray listened, relented and brought a ready horse from her Tennessee base.

Eye Said Scat Cat galloped strongly, See colonial cup page 10 4th. $100,000. Hurdle stakes. 2 3/4 miles.

Colonial Cup (Gr 1). Brush course.

1. Slip Away L 156 Young 2. Preemptive Strike L 156 Petty 3. Tax Ruling L 156 Nagle 4. Swagger Stick L 156 Dowling 5. Mixed Up L 156 Hodsdon 6. Percussionist (Ire) L 156 O’Farrell F. Red Letter Day L 156 Dalton F. Lead Us Not L 156 Crowley PU. Orison L 156 Mackenzie Mgn: 25 3/4. Time: 5:14 4/5.

O: Ken and Sarah Ramsay. T: Tom Voss.

Gr. g. 7, Sip Away-Aurora Slew, Slew’s Royalty.

Bred by Glencrest Farm, Trontz & Madison (Ky.) 5th. $20,000. Str. allow. hurdle. 2-1/4 miles.

Started for a clm. price in 2010 1. Sunshine Numbers L 154 Dalton 2. Riddle L 150 Petty 3. Saluda Sam L 146 Rafter *DQ. Canardly L 148 McVicar F. Twister Crossing L 146 Slater PU. General Roanoke 146 Watts PU. Sparkled L 150 Hodsdon PU. The Editor L 146 Young *-From 4th for failure to weigh in.

Mgn: 1. Time: 4:29.2/5 O: Sue Sensor. T: Arch Kingsley Jr. Dk. B./Br. g. 8, Polish Numbers-Saturday Sunshine, Dahar.

Bred by Dresden Farm (N.Y.) 6th. Training Flat. 1 1/2 miles.

Amateur Jockeys.

1. Tifone (Chi) L 168 Waterman 2. Jacob’s Little Bro L 168 Nagle 3. Golden Slammer 168 Washer 4. Naughty Sarava L 168 Dahl 5. Crookshane Lad L 168 Durkee 6. Class Grind 157 Ruch Mgn. 5. Time: 2:34 2/5.

O: Augustin Stable. T: Jonathan Sheppard.

Ch. g., 7, Hussonet-Dona Oli, Settlement Day. Bred by Haras Limari (Chile).

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Steeplechase Times

•9

Colonial Cup – Continued from page 8

jumped boldly and responded when battling Gather No Moss over the final stages to win by 1 1/4 lengths in 7:44 for 3 1/2 miles.

Brands Hatch finished third.

Rafter enjoyed the trip.

“Karen said he chips in, he’s settled so I jumped off handy and I was swinging for 3 miles,” said the jockey. “He didn’t chip into one, running away with me. If I’d have lost the race it would have been my fault. He was flying. He fleeewww the second last – the last three fences were faster than the first three in the 3-year-old race.”

Eye Said Scat Cat came to Camden off a third in the maiden timber at Callaway Gardens a Tod Marks week earlier, with apprentice Gus Eye Said Scat Cat (right) and Gather No Moss battle late in the timber race.

Dahl aboard.

“I feel bad because he rode a Placid and Wild For Gold early, traveled into position on great race down there,” said Gray. “It’s so fast here, not the backside and emerged at the top of the stretch. Good the best place for a young rider. He did the dirty work Request pulled away late to win by 4 1/4 lengths over Fog so I’ve got to thank him. This horse is good at timber. Island, getting the 2 1/8 miles in 4:27.80. Wild For Gold Some of the pictures of him over brush are horrific – he stayed for third. was clearing fences by 3 feet and that made me think tim“He was there at the last fence (at Far Hills) and just ber.” didn’t go through with it,” said Young. “Today he did.

He was better and everyone was happier.”

• Young and Voss opened the day with a maiden hurAs part of the Juddmonte Farm/Bobby Frankel empire, dle score by Coppertree Farm’s Good Request, who came the winner made flat starts in New York, California and through after seconds in his first three tries.

Kentucky.

The 6-year-old son of Dynaformer started his jump He won twice at Saratoga in 2008 and finished fourth career with a second at Saratoga Open House, another (a length behind the Voss-trained Always First) in the second (by a head) at Monmouth and a third runner-up Grade III Sycamore at Keeneland that fall. After more finish at Far Hills. than a year on the sidelines, Good Request ran twice on At Camden, Good Request rated off the pace of Lake the flat for Voss this spring before switching to jumps.

Good Request powers to a maiden win.

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Steeplechase Times

• 11

Injured jockey Torres shows signs of improvement

Apprentice steeplechase jockey Jorge Torres suffered severe injuries when falling from Class Moon in the Raymond G. Woolfe Memorial 3-year-old stakes at the Colonial Cup races Nov. 13.

Torres, 25, suffered head trauma, a broken hip and broken bones in his back.

On Dec. 10, Torres was still in critical condition at Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital in Columbia, S.C. According to friend and former employer Richard Boucher, Torres had been upgraded from critical intensive care to regular intensive care.

“It seems like he’s on the improve,” Boucher said.

“He’s off the ventilator and most of the machines, he’s still in a coma but he does come in and out of heavy sleep. He’s been responsive to people’s voices.”

Torres has lived in Camden for about five or six years. The Mexico native worked for Kip Elser before working for Richard and his wife Lilith in their steeplechasing and flat stable.

Torres learned to school horses with the Bouchers and went to work for Jonathan Sheppard about a year sago. Torres won a training flat race aboard Prince Rahy for Sheppard this spring. Torres rode Class Moon at Aiken Oct. 30, finishing fourth aboard the son of Mojave Moon for owner/trainer Rafael Fernandez.

“He’s a very natural rider, always had a knack with the horses,” Boucher said. “He had done all the proper steps, educating himself over fences at home, he rode in some flat races, pointto-points, he was one of Jonathan’s main schooling riders in Camden last winter. He had schooled Class Moon his whole Tod Marks life.”

Class Moon and Jorge Torres head to Torres’ brother the post at Camden. and other family members have been with him at the hospital.

Boucher said the Jorge Torres Assistance Fund has been established at Wachovia Bank in Camden. Call (803) 425-7760 for information.

“He went to church all the time, took English lessons at the church,” Boucher said. “There are a lot of people in the community, not just horse people, who want to help out so we are trying to organize some kind of benefit for him.”

NSA numbers decrease for 2010 The NSA racing program felt the squeeze of decreases in purses, races and horses during the 2010 season, reflecting national trends in the economy and Thoroughbred racing.

The 2010 numbers included 490 horses (down from 520 in 2009) making 1,412 starts (1,593) in 190 races (203) for $4.39 million ($4.98 million).

Purses were down more than 11 percent from the previous year, on the heels of a 7 percent decrease from 2008 to 2009. The reductions were seen at racetracks (down $311,845) and at race meets (down $246,000) though the race meet total remains the bulk of the purse structure at nearly $3.7 million.

Decreases can be pinpointed to reductions to individual race purses offered at Saratoga, the loss of racing at Penn National due to course construction and the elimination of the Grade I Lonesome Glory Stakes at Belmont Park.

In addition, the High Hope Races (worth nearly $60,000 in 2009) were not held in 2010 due to the World Equestrian Games and Palm Beach did not host a meet in 2010 (after offering nearly $160,000 in 2009 purses). High Hope is on the spring schedule for 2011 (see page 37).

For comparison, total purses in all of North American Thoroughbred racing were down 7.2 percent from 2009 to 2010 (through November) and down 5.6 percent from 2008 to 2009 according to Equibase.

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Steeplechase Times

• 13

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Steeplechase Times

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Friday, December 10, 2010

Royal Ascot (June) L’Arc de Triomphe (Sep-Oct) Cheltenham (March) Dubai (March) Aintree (April)

1 (800) 368-0872 | www.horseracingtripsworldwide.com

NSA Standings final top 15 for 2010 Jockeys (Races Won)

Sts Paddy Young . ...................... 104 Danielle Hodsdon.................... 57 Carl Rafter............................... 55 Darren Nagle........................... 74 Richard Boucher..................... 36 Bernie Dalton.......................... 57 Matt McCarron........................ 56 Jeff Murphy............................. 61 Brian Crowley.......................... 45 Jody Petty............................... 66 Xavier Aizpuru......................... 51 Roddy Mackenzie.................... 53 Liam McVicar.......................... 40 Ross Geraghty........................ 46 Willie Dowling......................... 52

1st 20 16 13 10 10 9 9 9 9 9 8 6 4 3 3

2nd 21 7 6 9 3 13 11 9 9 8 12 5 2 9 4

3rd 16 7 5 10 8 5 5 11 6 7 7 10 4 5 9

Trainers (Races Won)

Sts Jonathan Sheppard................. 96 Tom Voss................................ 97 Jack Fisher.............................. 85 Kathy McKenna....................... 64 Richard Valentine.................... 44 Desmond Fogarty.................... 34 Doug Fout............................... 41 Sanna Hendriks....................... 20 Teddy Mulligan........................ 33 Lilith Boucher.......................... 20 Julie Gomena.......................... 17 Arch Kingsley Jr...................... 23 Neil Morris.............................. 36 Ernie Oare............................... 32 Todd Wyatt.............................. 22

1st 26 18 12 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 5 4 4 4 3

2nd 11 26 15 4 7 1 4 3 2 2 1 8 6 2 3

3rd 20 10 12 6 5 6 8 3 6 3 1 2 7 3 4

Owners (Money Won)

Sts Irv Naylor................................ 84 Bill Pape.................................. 38 Ken and Sarah Ramsey........... 14 Arcadia Stable......................... 24 Hudson River Farm................. 13 Morten Buskop......................... 1 Mary Ann Houghland.............. 13 Maggie Bryant......................... 37 Dumbarton Farm..................... 12 EMO Stable............................. 33 Jonathan Sheppard................. 15 Oakwood Stable........................ 7 Sue Sensor............................. 14 Gill Johnston........................... 27 Andre Brewster......................... 2

1st 12 7 3 5 3 1 3 7 3 4 6 3 4 0 1

2nd 5 4 5 3 4 0 2 5 2 2 1 1 3 4 1

3rd 9 9 2 0 5 0 1 4 1 3 2 0 1 4 0

Horses (Money Won)

Sts Slip Away.................................. 7 Percussionist (ire)..................... 2 Arcadius.................................... 5 Tax Ruling................................. 5 Sermon Of Love........................ 5 Nationbuilder............................ 5 Bubble Economy....................... 3 Easy Red................................... 8 Divine Fortune........................... 6 All Together............................... 7 Patriot’s Path............................. 7 Lead Us Not.............................. 6 Call You In Ten.......................... 4 He’s A Conniver......................... 4 Country Cousin......................... 4

1st 2 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 2 2 2

Friday, December 10, 2010

2nd 3 0 2 0 0 1 1 2 1 1 0 1 1 0 0

3rd 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 1 1 0 1 3 1 0 0

Earnings $648,500 346,710 247,220 340,020 168,300 195,050 172,585 221,500 428,440 224,850 268,950 85,425 63,760 109,190 151,925

Win% .19 .28 .24 .14 .28 .16 .16 .15 .20 .14 .16 .11 .10 .07 .06

Earnings $809,930 590,400 438,750 133,045 107,440 256,500 149,650 93,400 74,700 90,100 130,450 94,400 81,020 87,350 51,100

Win% .27 .19 .14 .13 .16 .21 .15 .30 .15 .25 .29 .17 .11 .13 .14

Earnings $329,300 321,390 223,500 165,350 161,790 150,000 149,400 120,400 102,200 87,350 83,250 77,600 75,320 63,525 63,000

Win% .14 .18 .21 .21 .23 1.00 .23 .19 .25 .12 .40 .43 .29 .00 .50

Earnings $191,500 153,000 124,500 115,250 109,500 107,000 95,400 90,950 86,000 80,000 77,500 72,840 55,600 51,000 50,000

Win% .29 .50 .40 .20 .40 .40 .67 .25 .33 .29 .43 .33 .50 .50 .50

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Steeplechase Times

• 15

All-Time Steeplechase Leaders Leading Horses Top 30 steeplechase earners (North American earnings only; no bonus earnings): Horse...................................... Earnings 1. McDynamo....................................$1,310,104 2. Good Night Shirt.............................1,006,493 3. Lonesome Glory.................................965,809 4. Victorian Hill......................................748,370 5. Sur La Tete.........................................664,050 6. Mixed Up*..........................................654,225 7. Rowdy Irishman.................................644,528 8. Flat Top..............................................592,306 9. Hirapour.............................................583,722 10. Praise The Prince.............................576,488 11. Tres Touche......................................573,670 12. Mistico.............................................517,347 13. Ninepins...........................................516,179 14. Preemptive Strike*...........................491,418 14. Al Skywalker....................................466,841 16. Warm Spell......................................457,964 17. Highland Bud...................................437,500 18. All Gong...........................................435,989 19. Bubble Economy*............................434,350 20. Polar Pleasure..................................433,222 21. Saluter.............................................429,489

22. Census.............................................426,524 23. Flatterer............................................421,146 24. Double Bill........................................417,548 25. Steve Canyon...................................388,102 26. Romantic.........................................379,102 27. Pompeyo..........................................353,280 28. It’s A Giggle......................................347,790 29. Summer Colony...............................347,422 30. Yaw..................................................335,327 LEADING TRAINERS Steeplechase trainers with $1 million or more purses earned in North America: Trainer..................................... Earnings 1. Jonathan Sheppard*...................$19,547,122 2. Jack Fisher*....................................9,067,984 3. Tom Voss*......................................8,141,271 4. Janet Elliot*....................................7,867,354 5. Bruce Miller*...................................6,998,546 6. Sanna Hendriks*.............................6,705,918 7. Burley Cocks...................................4,479,171 8. D.M. Smithwick...............................4,307,037 9. Charlie Fenwick*.............................3,879,952 10. Doug Fout*...................................3,810,570 11. Ricky Hendriks*............................3,064,098

12. Neil Morris*..................................2,388,609 13. Kathy McKenna*...........................2,367,800 14. Mickey Walsh................................1,993,881 15. John Griggs*................................1,902,285 17. Jimmy Day*..................................1,697,931 16. Sidney Watters Jr..........................1,696,919 18. Bruce Haynes................................1,592,452 19. George Bostwick...........................1,481,588 20. Alicia Murphy*..............................1,163,635 21. Morris Dixon.................................1,041,229 22. Richard Valentine*........................1,027,739 LEADING OWNERS Steeplechase owners with $1 million or more purses earned in North America: Owner...................................... Earnings 1. Augustin Stable*...........................$8,733,731 2. Bill Pape*........................................3,753,813 3. Bill Lickle.........................................3,226,421 4. Arcadia Stable*...............................2,640,801 5. Kinross Farm*.................................2,542,574 6. Irv Naylor*......................................2,343,522 7. Calvin Houghland............................2,178,897 8. Lillian Phipps..................................2,016,353 9. John Griggs*..................................2,003,135 10. Timber Bay Farm*.........................1,987,774 11. Ann Stern*....................................1,892,646 12. Gillian Johnston*..........................1,799,768 13. Sonny Via*....................................1,510,359

14. Kay Jeffords..................................1,477,669 15. Hudson River Farm*.....................1,476,041 16. Michael Moran..............................1,346,204 17. Rokeby Stable...............................1,326,937 18. Montpelier.....................................1,224,225 19. The Fields Stable*.........................1,165,252 20. Joy Valentine.................................1,123,307 21. Virginia Kraft Payson....................1,087,580 Leading Jockeys Steeplechase jockeys with 100 wins or more in North America: Jockey..........................................Wins 1. Joe Aitcheson...........................................440 2. Paddy Smithwick......................................398 3. Dooley Adams...........................................301 Jerry Fishback...........................................301 5. Thomas Walsh..........................................253 6. Jeff Teter...................................................231 7. Chip Miller*...............................................211 8. Blythe Miller..............................................202 9. Matt McCarron*........................................196 10. James Murphy........................................185 11. Craig Thornton........................................171 12. Robert McDonald....................................166 13. Sean Clancy............................................152 14. Gregg Ryan.............................................150 15. Doug Small Jr.........................................150 16. Albert Foot..............................................149 17. Rigan McKinney......................................147 18. Robert Crawford.....................................139 19. J. Dallet Byers.........................................138 20. Jody Petty*.............................................138 21. Leo O’Brien.............................................137 22. Thomas Field...........................................135 23. Ricky Hendriks........................................130 24. Arch Kingsley*........................................125 25. Gus Brown*............................................124 26. Chuck Lawrence......................................122 27. John Cushman........................................116 28. Thomas Skiffington.................................115 29. Danielle Hodsdon*..................................111 29. Ronald Armstrong...................................107 30. Flint Schulhofer.......................................106 31. Charlie Fenwick.......................................105 George Sloan..........................................105 33. Gregg Morris...........................................103 34. Jonathan Smart.......................................103 35. Scott Riles...............................................101 Leading Jockeys Leading jockeys in North America by earnings (1988-present): Jockey..........................................Wins 1. Blythe Miller..................................$5,177,363 2. Chip Miller.......................................4,679,390 3. Craig Thornton................................4,224,186 4. Matt McCarron*..............................4,144,612 5. Jody Petty*.....................................3,640,414 6. Arch Kingsley*................................3,364,222 7. Danielle Hodsdon*..........................3,233,030 8. Gus Brown*....................................3,177,233 9. Sean Clancy....................................2,904,798 10. Jeff Teter.......................................2,828,502 11. Xavier Aizpuru*.............................2,733,275 12. Paddy Young*...............................2,301,014 13. Rob Massey..................................2,203,951 14. Gregg Ryan...................................2,133,898 15. Jonathan Kiser..............................1,873,545

Jonathan Sheppard extended his lead in the trainer category while Danielle Hodsdon rode her 100th career winner in 2010.

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16 •

Steeplechase Times

*-Active in 2010

MORNINGSIDE

Cap Day — December 18 ALL proceeds go to the Chasin’ For Chalfin Fund for injured steeplechase jockey Jake Chalfin.

Tod Marks

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Friday, December 10, 2010

Thank You! Leading NSA Owner by Earnings Leading NSA Owner by Races Won Leading Timber Owner

Special Winners...

Tax Ruling

(Iroquois winner)

Patriot’s Path

(Triple timber stakes winner)

tax ruling

Decoy Daddy

(Noel Laing Stakes winner)

Patriot’s Path

THANKS to the dedicated trainers...

Desmond, Kristin, Tom, Kathy, Billy, Georgene, Brianne, Ann The talented jockeys...

Darren, James, Willie, Brooks, Jeff, Ross, Bernie, Roddy, Paddy, Jody, Matt, Robbie, Blake, Xavier The Still Water Farm Team...

Decoy DaDDy

Vet Cooper, Farrier Barry, Becky, Buddy, Casey, Dicky, Miranda, Desmond And the National Steeplechase Association

All the best – Irv Naylor Photos by Tod Marks and Douglas Lees

Friday, December 10, 2010

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Steeplechase Times

• 17

2010 Steeplechase Champions

H

Leading Horse

Up, Up, And Away

BY JOE CLANCY

ead low, nose out, knees wide, feet stirring decades of shedrow dust, Slip Away pulled M.J. Kirwan around a barn at Springdale Race Course the morning of the Colonial Cup. The gray warrior looked for something – a mint, a blade of grass, some attention, a way to end a six-race losing streak, anything, while killing time before his final start of 2010.

“He’s some horse,” a visitor said to trainer Tom Voss, who leaned on a rail while fishing for a cigarette.

“Sure is,” Voss said. “He just goes . . . no faster, no slower . . . he could run all day. All day . . . tough . . . like those old horses.”

Slip Away would have made a great old horse – slugging it out with Soothsayer, Bon Nouvel, Tuscalee, Amber Diver, Shipboard, Oedipus, Elkridge, any of the dour legends from bygone eras. Spring, summer, fall, hurdles, brush, firm ground, soft ground, the Chinese Wall at Fair Hill. The races, courses, jockeys, competition could all change. Slip Away wouldn’t.

Were he a football player, he’d be Chuck Bednarik.

A hockey player, Eddie Shore. Baseball? Maybe Yogi Berra.

“He’s somewhat of a throwback,” said Voss. “How many horses can you think of that ran all year like that? He won the Gwathmey in April in a runaway, went to Nashville, ran twice at Saratoga and was good enough to win the Colonial Cup in November. Different courses, different horses, he beat everybody that beat him. He had a great year.”

The 2010 season started at Middleburg and Slip Away made hard work of the Temple Gwathmey, fleeing from a charged-up Dynantonia but holding on to win by 9 lengths for jockey Xavier Aizpuru. Voss tapped champion jockey Paddy Young for the rest of the season and a calmer Slip Away finished second to Tax Ruling in the Iroquois, third to Divine Fortune and Arcadius in the Smithwick, fifth behind Sermon Of Love in the Turf Writers, second to Arcadius in a stakes at Monmouth, second again to Danish invader Percussionist in the Grand National.

As usual, there will be some debate in the Eclipse Award race, but if Percussionist hadn’t made the trip from Denmark, there would be no discusison. Slip Away would have earned the championship in the Grand National.

Instead, Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s 7-year-old went to the Colonial Cup Nov. 13 with championship aspirations – along with Tax Ruling and Percussionist – but needed a signature performance. Running near the front much of the way, Slip Away jumped bravely over the stiff brush fences, passed Preemptive Strike with more than a half-mile to go and rolled home to complete his season with two wins, three seconds, a third and $191,500 in earnings from seven starts.

Not bad for a horse who moves like a hay baler.

Slip Away’s legs go in all directions at once, seemingly reaching as far left and right as they do forward.

Horsemen cringe when they see a head-on video.

“He looks like a windmill, like he’s bowlegged, his legs flail, like a harvester or something,” said Voss. “It works for him and he’s stayed pretty sound for me, but if you watched him jog at a sale, you wouldn’t buy him.”

Ken Ramsey did and did anyway, for $16,000 at Keeneland January 2004. Ramsey and his wife are major players in Thoroughbred racing with hundreds of horses based around the country and on 1,200-acre Ramsey Farm in Nicholasville, Ky. The Ramseys won an Eclipse Award as the nation’s top owner in 2004.

They won the Dubai World Cup with Roses In May.

18 •

Slip Away

Steeplechase Times

Tod Marks

Slip Away steps toward the start at Far Hills.

They campaigned turf champion Kitten’s Joy. The steeplechase connection started by accident – Ramsey sold future champion Flat Top for $5,000 and saw an opportunity – but has continued with a plan that earmarks potential jumpers to send to Voss each year.

“I like steeplechasing, I just haven’t been exposed to it very much,” Ramsey said. “To me, it’s more exciting than the flat racing to see them go over the jumps. The horses have to be pretty good to do that and there’s no telling where Slip Away would have ended up without steeplechasing. He turned out to be a good horse because we did it.”

Slip Away never raced on the flat, but he got plenty of chances in the barns of Dale Romans and Ronny Werner.

“Dale had him as a 2-year-old and gave him every opportunity,” said Ramsey’s farm manager Mark Partridge. “Dale couldn’t find any speed so we sent him to See slip away page 19

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Sts 7

1st 2

Slip Away 2nd 3

3rd 1

Earnings $191,500

Gray gelding, 7, Skip Away-Aurora Slew, Slew’s Royalty Bred by Glencrest Farm, Trontz and Madison (KY).

Owner: Ken and Sarah Ramsey. Trainer: Tom Voss.

Jockeys: Paddy Young and Xavier Aizpuru.

First gray champion since Fire Control in 1976 . . . Bookended season with wins in Temple Gwathmey and Colonial Cup while also placing in the Iroquois, Grand National, A.P. Smithwick and Helen Haskell Sampson. First champion for Voss . . . First Grade I winner for Young . . . Part of far-reaching Ramsey Thoroughbred operation that includes more than 425 starts, 93 wins and $3 million in purse earnings this year . . . Champion claimer of 2008 . . . Finished 2010 with $332,415 in career earnings, all over jumps . . . Will have a barn named in his honor at Ramsey Farm, joining other Grade I heroes Roses In May, Kitten’s Joy, etc.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Slip Away –

Continued from page 18

Ronny because if horse has any speed, Ronny can find it. He couldn’t either.”

Slip Away came home with a bruised splint bone in May of his 3-year-old year and went to Voss’ farm in Maryland two months later along with another future hurdle stakes horse Party Airs.

The future champion made his career debut as a 3-year-old hurdler at Camden in November 2006. He finished second. At 4, he started twice, pulling up at High Hope and falling while in front at Colonial Downs. He emerged from that second start with a tendon injury and missed nearly a year before going 5-for-8 in 2008. Three of those starts came in the claiming ranks, a second for $10,000 at Foxfield and wins for $15,000 at Morven Park and Aiken.

The victories made Ramsey and Voss rethink their gray galloper.

“We gave them three shots at him,” Ramsey said. “That was enough.”

“He got beat the first time, at Foxfield; I thought he was a cinch,” said Voss. “We got away with it, but I guess we weren’t very smart.”

Slip Away dominated two starter allowances to close 2008, won another to open 2009 and graduated to stakes – for good – with a runaway triumph in the Zeke Ferguson at Colonial Downs that summer. He capped 2009 with a front-running score in the Noel Laing at Montpelier.

Then came 2010.

Slip Away blitzed five foes in the Gwathmey, flying around Glenwood Park while barely under control. He won, but jumped erratically and could have looked better. Voss turned to Young, whose job was to make the horse relax. Slip Away cooperated, composing himself on or near the front in his next five starts – without winning. The horse had won with Aizpuru (3-for-3), Padge Whelan (4-for-4), Chip Miller and James Slater but not with Young.

“We had a connection, he ran great for me,” said Young, “but we couldn’t win and it was hard. I kept thinking there was something I was doing wrong.”

Slip Away, meanwhile, kept doing things right – chasing home good horses in the Iroquois, Smithwick, Turf Writers, Sampson and Grand National.

His worst race came in the Turf Writers, where he was fifth in a dull effort. Voss blamed a reaction to some medication.

“We sent him home after the Smithwick and we injected his hocks and he wasn’t right for weeks after that,” the trainer said. “It was a mistake, he probably didn’t need it. I think it was the tranquilizer he got. The Turf Writers was the dullest race he ran and he showed it in the mornings too. He was just going through the motions, which is not him.”

No, Slip Away normally loves his job.

“When he gets good, you know he’s good, he’s going to try to run away and that’s the way he came into the Far Hills race and the Colonial Cup,” said Voss.

“He’s a dead puller galloping. If you get him in behind, he’ll drop the bit, and he’s better cross country than on the all-weather, but when he gets good and fresh, he’s hard to hold anywhere.”

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Steeplechase Times

• 19

2010 Steeplechase Champions

BY JOE CLANCY

D

Full Circle

Steeplechase Times

Champion Filly/Mare

Tod Marks

Filly/mare champion Ptarmigan

looks for the trophy at Monmouth. oug Fout held the trophy and thought about all that went into it. The horses, the family, the years, the wins, the losses, the races, the decisions, the variables.

“I got thinking about it, it’s pretty cool,” said the trainer of Ptarmigan, champion filly/mare of 2010. “To think of all the things that came together for her to win it, and then to think of all the other connections, it means a lot – it’s some circle” Fout’s mother Eve bred the 4-year-old filly and raced her dam, Flaine. What’s more, Eve created the filly/mare trophy – a bronze sculpture of Life’s Illusion (the 1970s superstar distaff steeplechaser trained by Doug’s father, Paul). Eve, who died in 2007 and Paul, who died in 2005, never got to see Ptarmigan run, but would have approved.

Sold to Eve’s longtime friend Maggie Bryant, the gray daughter of Unbridled Jet made five starts at 3 in 2009 – two on the flat and three over jumps. Call them early learning.

The 2010 campaign began at Stoneybrook, where Ptarmigan hammered open maidens by 10 3/4 lengths. Three weeks later at Foxfield, she won by an even wider margin against fillies/mares – running away up the hill by better than 14 lengths while defeating far more experienced rivals.

Fout went to Nashville next for the Margaret Henley Stakes, deep water among the likes of Sweet Shani, Diva Maria, Confined and more. Fractious at the start, Ptarmigan was pulled up when Jeff Murphy’s saddle slipped forward (the second time it happened in her career). Calmer at Fair Hill, Ptarmigan looked like a winner when she ranged alongside Diva Maria late in the Valentine Memorial, only to fall heavily at the last fence.

The long-striding gray was built for jump racing, but “I’ve had enough disappointment in racing that I’m not going to let those things bother also brought an attitude.

“Just looking at her, she was going to be a jumper. me,” said Murphy of Fair Hill. “It was one of those things, she was tired, she was very rank, it was a hot She’s got a huge shoulder and a great jump,” Fout day, if she met it a stride earlier, she would have landed said. “She’s opinionated. The first time Jeff rode her at on the other side and won it. I was the first to blame home she dragged him to the first fence and stopped two strides out. He fell off and she just looked at him myself for that one – she’s a lovely filly.”

Ptarmigan received a lengthy break over the sum- like ‘what happened?’ She’s not mean, she can just be mer, and aimed for a September return at Monmouth like that, like she’s having fun with you.”

Ptarmigan’s big shoulder helps cause saddle probPark – where she nosed out Miss Crown in the $30,000 lems, pull-ups at Nashville in 2010 and Far Hills in Guelph.

The champion’s rollercoaster season finished at Far 2009 were both tack related. Fout tells jockeys to Hills, where she was pulled up with what turned out avoid breast plates and works to keep the filly calm during the warm-up and at the start. to be a small fracture in a front leg.

“I’m so paranoid about the saddle, I still think we “She wins two, the saddle slips at Nashville, she falls at Fair Hill, I thought she was dead, she comes were going to win at Iroquois, I was still on the bridle back and wins at Monmouth without a prep, then she coming to the third-last,” said Murphy. “She’s easier pulls up at Far Hills and is hurt . . . she had a little once we get galloping. Dougie has never put any presbit of everything happen to her,” said Fout. “Then we sure on her, just told me to ride her the way I wanted had to sweat and worry about the race at Callaway to ride her. I love that. She’s not easy to ride.”

X-rays and examinations after Far Hills revealed a Gardens.”

A win there by Far Hills heroine Green Velvet would small fracture that was rubbing against a suspensory have denied Ptarmigan the championship. Green Vel- ligament. She sustained little damage, will get a long vet finished fourth and in the end, Ptarmigan claimed winter of rest and return for a 2011 campaign.

Fout called his filly “determined,” and gave credit the crown with three wins from six starts and $42,000.

20 •

Ptarmigan

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Ptarmigan

Gr. f. 4, Unbridled Jet-Flaine, Chenin Blanc. Bred by Eve Fout (PA).

Owner: Maggie Bryant. Trainer: Doug Fout. Jockey: Jeff Murphy.

Opened with maiden score (against males) at Stoneybrook and allowance victory (over fillies/mares) at Foxfield . . . Clinched title with nose victory in the Guelph Stakes at Monmouth in September . . . Bryant has 2-year-old (by Real Quiet) and yearling (by Congressionalhonor) siblings in the wings . . . Owner and breeder (who passed away in 2007) were longtime friends.

Filly/Mare Standings

Horse....................Sts Ptarmigan......................6 Green Velvet...................4 Farah T Salute................6 Sweet Shani...................2 Diva Maria......................3

1st 3 1 1 1 1

2nd 0 1 1 0 1

3rd 0 0 2 1 0

Earnings $42,000 34,050 33,400 33,000 28,000

to that as much as sheer ability for the success.

“She doesn’t care if it’s boys or girls she’s running against, she just digs in and tries,’ the trainer said.

“She’s got a right to get better too, she’ll grow into herself a little bit more and hopefully we can keep having some fun with her.”

Friday, December 10, 2010

Seasons Greetings Horse Community From Blue Banner Racing Congratulations to Dr. Larry Schoolmiester and his daughter Sheila on the purchase of the wonderful horse Quinn. Best of luck!

We are delighted to be part of the South Carolina horse community and we wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Many thanks to all my owners, my whole team, the N.S.A., their staff, officials and board members, the race meets, their sponsors, volunteers and all involved with our exciting sport of racing.

Wishing all a very happy, healthy & peaceful Christmas.

Remember spring racing is just around the corner and we at Woodville are here ready to train some horses for you.

We also can do your lay-ups.

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Farrier in Camden, South Carolina Home: 803 424 2080 Business: 803 421 9377

Mobile: 831 236 5838 Email: farrierpower@mac.com

Janet Elliot 21 Mount Eden Road, Kirkwood, Pa 17536 Springdale Training Center Camden, S.C. 29020 717-629-4623

Thanks for a great year to Tom Voss and the crew, Ann Stewart, Paddy Young, Charlie Fenwick III and especially M.J. for all the extra care – Incomplete, News Flash and The Whacker Tod Marks photos

Friday, December 10, 2010

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Steeplechase Times

• 21

2010 Steeplechase Champions

BY SEAN CLANCY

All Together

All Horse

Champion Novice

All Together showed the way for all first-year hurdlers in 2010.

Alan Goldberg and Jack Fisher make good business partners.

When the New Jersey-based flat trainer has inventory to sell, the Maryland-based jump trainer buys it.

No haggling over price, no dithering over quality.

“I buy what he tells me to buy,” Fisher said.

So far, the relationship has yielded steeplechase stakes winners Tricky Me and Seer, maiden winner Straight To It and 2010 novice champion All Together.

A son of the great stallion, Danzig, All Together was a plodder for Jayeff B Stable and Goldberg, able to tick off 13-second furlongs for as long as you asked.

“He was steady,” Goldberg said. “Just steady.”

That trait doesn’t get you much on the flat, well, certainly not stakes victories that Goldberg and his owners want. In steeplechasing, that ability gets you a novice championship.

“I thought he was a solid 35-, 40-thousand dollar claiming horse at the end of the year,” Goldberg said.

“We got a little bit more, with a chance to make a little bit more if he won a stake, which he did, which was great. It’s good for the mare too, it still shows up as earnings.”

The mare, Unify, produced Grade I hurdle winner Arcadius as well; the brothers’ 2010 seasons infused $219,500 onto her pedigree page.

Owned by Andre Brewster and Sheila Williams, All Together won two races from seven starts, earning $80,000 in purses (a Monmouth flat win added another $15,000), to lead all novices – horses who started the year as maidens. Rivals Nationbuilder and Easy Red won more money, but they broke their maidens before 2010. All Together clinched the championship with a dominant victory in the AFLAC Supreme Hurdle, a $75,000 novice stakes at Callaway Gardens Nov. 6. Just as Goldberg said, All Together went 2 1/4 miles in 3:55.8 – 18 furlongs at a steady 13.1-second clip.

For Goldberg, All Together won three consecutive turf starts ($40,000 maiden claimer, starter and a firstlevel allowance) in the summer of 2009 but by the end of the year, he was out of conditions and Goldberg was nearly out of options. He could put him away and wait for spring turf or call his man Fisher. Like Jim Cramer’s nirvana – Goldberg called and Fisher bought.

The big bay gelding made his debut at Nashville, finishing sixth, 36 lengths behind Call You In Ten. Fisher has changed his approach with maidens in recent years; allowing for a run or two as education. In his second start, All Together still needed the experience, hanging left and making a jumping error before finishing fourth at Fair Hill at the end of May. The boot was on the floor, it simply needed polish.

All Together broke through with an impressive maiden tally at Penn National, losing his position midway through the race and then regaining it with a four-wide move for the final half-mile. He won easily and looked like a serious contender for the rich purses at Saratoga.

Sent off the favorite in his first start there Aug. 12, All Together wound up the tomato in the sandwich, bobbling badly when clipping heels of a leading horse and losing both hind shoes when a trailing horse clipped his heels. Jockey Xavier Aizpuru pulled him up. Fisher, wishfully, ran him back in the final week and he pulled up again.

“He got hurt in the first race and I was hoping it wasn’t there so we tried him again,” Fisher said.

That’s when the trainer called his veterinarians.

Dr. James Kenney and Dr. Cooper Williams stormed in like Batman and Robin to fix the problem.

On Sept. 9, a week after the second poor performance at Saratoga, Kenney diagnosed a sprained back caused by the rough trip. Rest wouldn’t fix the problem, the sprain caused inflammation and pain in the lower lumbar vertebraes, thus forcing All Together to not use the joint properly (if at all) and nullifying any talent or ability.

“I palpated his back and went over him physically, he had really painful low lumbars and some miscellaneous things but the issue was a sprung left sacroiliac and really, really sore lumbars. I recommended Cooper injecting the SI and the lumbars, that’s what turned him around, Cooper’s (injection) was the silver bullet,” Kenney said. “They’re so sore, they can’t get themselves better, they don’t have the strength to train and to put on muscle to protect themselves and protect the back. You need to do something to get them to use themselves properly and train properly.”

Williams learned a new technique about three years ago where he can guide the needle by seeing it through an ultrasound, injecting steroids to treat the inflammation of the joint and help lessen the pain. Yeah, silver bullet for a steeplechase horse.

“From above, you can ultrasound-guide the needles down to the joints and treat them directly, it seemed to really hit the nail on the head for him,” Williams said. “It’s amazing how many steeplechase horses have problems in this area, if you think about what they do for a living, it’s an area that takes a lot of wear and tear. Before it was a sort of no-man’s land, now we have access to that area and we can deal with the problems that occur there.”

Kenney and Williams told Fisher it would take two or three weeks for the muscle spasms to alleviate and for All Together to improve.

Sixteen days after Kenney diagnosed All Together, Fisher wheeled him back for the flat race at Monmouth.

“I thought he was good but I wanted to be sure at Monmouth,” Fisher said. “I didn’t want to be guessing.”

Suddenly All Together was all together. Showing the form that produced two wins at Monmouth the summer before, All Together stalked the pace set by Preemptive Strike and drew off to win by a facile 2 lengths.

Twenty-four days after Monmouth and four days before Far Hills, Kenney did a follow-up examination.

“He was incredibly better,” Kenney said.

And – 18 days later – a champion.

22 •

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Steeplechase Times

Tod Marks

All Together

B. g. 5, Danzig-Unify, Farma Way. Bred by Jayeff B Stable (KY).

Owner: Andre Brewster & Sheila Williams. Trainer: Jack Fisher.

Jockeys: Xavier Aizpuru & Willie Dowling.

Novice Standings

Horses that started 2010 as maidens Horse....................Sts 1st 2nd 3rd All Together....................7 2 1 0 Call You In Ten...............4 2 1 1 Virginia Minstrel.............4 2 1 0 Ptarmigan......................6 3 0 0 Quiet Approval...............5 2 1 0

Earnings $80,000 55,600 42,600 42,000 40,400

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Steeplechase Times

• 23

2010 Steeplechase Champions

Demonstrative

Champion Three-Year-Old

Demonstrative flashes his championship form on the schooling field at Springdale Race Course, the day before clinching the title.

By The Book

BY SEAN CLANCY

Demonstrative

B. g., Elusive Quality-Loving Pride, Quiet American.

Bred by Gainsborough Farm (KY). Owner: Jacqueline Ohrstrom.

Trainer: Richard Valentine. Jockey: Matt McCarron.

It’s the bible at any European horses-in-training sale. Timeform. Throw away the catalogue, get the Timeform Bloodstock Sales Guide, with its descriptions of every lot, detailing the horse’s preferred distances, running style, conformation, fortitude and attitude. The book doesn’t lie.

Fairly useful handicapper: won at Southwell in February: increasingly let down by attitude next 3 starts, racing in snatches when only fourth of 6 to Music Of The Moor at Beverley on latest: stays 8.6f: acts on all-weather and good to firm ground: hard ride, often slowly away: one to treat with caution.

Or does it?

The Timeform of America (Steeplechase Times) would describe the horse differently: Big, scopy type, travels well, finishes strongly: classy sort without any quirks or flaws: jumps fluidly and quickly: no obvious distance limitations and suitable for most pace scenarios: imported, came to hand quickly, not pushed or prodded: impressive in both wins, unlucky in only blemish when hampered badly at start: 3-year-old champion: sky’s the limit.

Yeah, the horse is Demonstrative, the 2010 champion 3-year-old for owner Jacqueline Ohrstrom, trainer Richard Valentine and jockey Matt McCarron.

Valentine read the Timeform on Lot 575 before purchasing the son of Elusive Quality from flat trainer

Mark Johnston’s yard at the Tattersalls July Sale. With his frame, his walk, his demeanor, his breeding, Demonstrative made Valentine close the book and hand it to Hyphen Bloodstock’s Isabel Peter-Hoblyn.

Valentine knows what he likes when he looks at horses. It’s simple and sweet.

He says, “I like him,” and then takes four views of the horse; returns and if he says it again he tries to find a client, raises the money or wishes for what might have been. Finding a client for Demonstrative was easy, Valentine had an order to fill for Ohrstrom.

Three times, the trainer trekked to Park Paddocks,

24 •

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Steeplechase Times

Tattersalls (England) purchase progressed quickly and won the two races he finished . . . Lost all chance at Far Hills when jockey was knocked off at start by another horse . . . Walks “like an old Camden groom,” according to his trainer, while looking like anything but a fast-developing 3-year-old . . . First 3-yearold starter for trainer . . . First NSA champion for owner.

Three-Year-Old Standings

Horse....................Sts Demonstrative................3 Peace Fire......................3 Class Skip......................3

1st 2 0 1

2nd 0 3 0

3rd 0 0 1

Pts 15 12 11

Tod Marks

Wall Boxes V, box 482 to see the dark bay gelding.

“Loved him. Loved him. ‘I want this horse,’ ” Valentine said about the first date. “If they walk out and I like them, I like them. If you look at him, he’s got a tiny eye and he could go the other way but he also has a bit of presence about him.”

Valentine filled his order and the horse came home to Virginia for about $50,000.

In his two completed races (he lost McCarron when slammed into at the start at Far Hills), Demonstrative handled the freshmen class with ease; deftly jumping and running like an older horse. He negotiated the hills of Virginia Fall, winning his debut by 4 easy lengths and then handled the speed of Camden, rallying from deep in the field to win by 3 1/4 lengths over 13 rivals in the Raymond G. Woolfe Memorial. Even when he unseated McCarron at Far Hills, Demonstrative ran loose like a classy horse, hanging by the turn near the barn and begging to be caught.

Bred in America by Gainsborough Farm, he broke his maiden on the fibresand of Southwell in February, his only win in 11 starts in Britain. Purchased in July, he came to Whitewood Farm in August and made his jump debut in October. He was Valentine’s first 3-year-old starter.

“The way he took to schooling, I schooled him myself, we jumped him over logs in the woods, he never See Demonstrative page 25

Friday, December 10, 2010

Demonstrative – Continued from page 24

once hesitated,” Valentine said. “He jumped his first baby hurdle on Monday. I said to Kathy (White), he’s going to school over hurdles by the end of the week. He was going head and head by the end of the week. He was schooling upsides in 10 days, with me, I would never dream of doing that. I would never dream of running a 3-year-old.”

Valentine couldn’t dream of not running Demonstrative. Originally, the trainer thought he might run him at Aiken on the flat, just for some education, keep everybody’s interest and plan out a 4-year-old campaign. Rated 85 (with a dreaded Timeform squiggle), the dark bay gelding had been hard used in Britain, running six times as a 2-year-old and five times as a 3-year-old so a little freshening seemed appropriate. Instead, he earned the champion 3-year-old title by the end of the year.

His only trip to Aiken is planned for Jan. 7 when he accompanies the rest of Valentine’s string, to try and quell the 3-year-old jinx, one which has affected most champions. But don’t forget Warm Spell, Victorian Hill, Correggio, Flat Top, Inkslinger, Cafe Prince and Zaccio.

They ran as 3-year-olds. Demonstrative could follow their lead.

“Mentally this horse will come back.

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He does everything so professionally,” Valentine said after his first champion As Dynamic As The Animal... was crowned at Camden. “He has the As Elegant As The Rider. right brain and the frame, the body to grow and be stronger again next year.

His brain is brilliant. In a big field like this, that’s important, he doesn’t get flustered, the jumping is very good. I was a little worried because he warmed up aggressively at Far Hills; he was better today. I couldn’t have been happier with his attitude. Who knows how good he is but he’s exciting.”

In November, Valentine showed off his first champion at Whitewood in The Plains, Va. The horse, getting hairy and already dirty, looked at his visitors like Available in sterling silver, 14k, 18k & platinum a security guard eyeing a gate crasher. ©2009 Mark Lexton “He’s a dude,” Valentine said. “He’s To place an order please call, an old soul in a young body.”

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Steeplechase Times

• 25

So Long, Strike.

Enjoy your retirement.

H

Preemptive Strike Ch. g., 1998, Roanoke-Mirkwood, Far North 38 starts, 8 wins, 13 seconds, 6 thirds, $491,418 2008 Imperial Cup 2005 Somerset Medical Center and Georgia Cup 2004 Appleton, Carolina Cup, Little Everglades Second three times in Colonial Cup Eclipse Award finalist, Maryland Steeplechase champ

Thank You Sanna and Jody for bringing back the magic Celia Goodall and Kevin Keane for the care The farriers who helped his feet The office team of Cuyler, Bob and Chris David, Dee, Fidel and Nina at the barn Dixon, Dallas and Alec for all the support All his fans for being in his corner

— Gail

26 •

Steeplechase Times

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2010 Steeplechase Champions

B

Bubble Economy Champion Timber Horse

Another Rally

BY SEAN CLANCY

ubble Economy has put together a long and steady career; making at least two starts over jumps from ages 3 to 11. Never scintillating, sometimes frustrating, but always there or thereabouts, the Arcadia Stable veteran won his first timber championship in 2004, his second in 2008 and his third in 2010.

This one was anything but long and steady.

Trainer Jack Fisher kept the iron in the fire; running the 11-year-old son of Rakeen at My Lady’s Manor April 10, the Virginia Gold Cup May 1 and Nashville May 8. Three races, 10 miles, two wins, one second, one championship and one tendon in 28 days.

Bubble Economy earned $95,400 in four weeks, opening a commanding lead in the timber standings and then sat and waited. He missed the rest of the year after a bowed tendon – his first – showed when Fisher began to train him for a fall campaign.

“We brought him back and we scanned his tendon, he had a small hole in it, now he’s turned out in the field at my house,” Fisher said. “He’ll run in the fall, go to Shawan, Gold Cup, Far Hills and Camden and be timber champion again.”

It could happen.

Bubble Economy’s spring foray was good enough for seventh on the overall earnings list in 2010 and first in the timber standings, $17,900 ahead of last year’s champion Patriot’s Path who won three times in the fall. Owned by Andre Brewster, Minnie Watriss and Fisher, Bubble Economy improved his improbable career record to 13 wins, 14 seconds, six thirds from 46 starts for $434,350. Bred by Tim and Nina Gardner and Rick and Dixie Abbott and purchased from Rick Violette’s flat stable as a 3-year-old, the Pennsylvania-bred climbed past Fisher’s six-time Gold Cup winner Saluter to 19th on the all-time steeplechase earnings list.

Not bad for a horse who tries about 70 percent, according to Fisher. The trainer uses an unforgiving yardstick in two-time champion Good Night Shirt.

“The difference between Good Night Shirt and Bubble Economy is not a lack of ability, it’s a lack of heart. There are a lot of horses like that, who have lots of ability and don’t try,” Fisher said. “I didn’t have any reservations about running him at Nashville; after the Manor, I went back to the barn and everybody else is blowing, he’s rolling and gets up and farts, same thing after the Gold Cup and the Nashville race was pretty easy for him too.”

Brewster has gotten used to Fisher’s assessment of Bubble Economy’s fortitude. The owner likes to look at his wall – 14 win photos – for his own assessment.

“Jack has always been unhappy with him, the horse sometimes doesn’t want to try, he waves his tail in the air and tries to quit for the day but I’ve always liked the horse, if you can get him to the stretch, he’s going to beat most anything,” Brewster said. “It was incredible to win the two races in seven days. He was beautiful at Nashville, I think that’s the best I’ve ever seen him run. It’s been a wonderful thrill, he’s the best looking horse in the paddock always, I don’t how many hundred dollars he’s won for the gals leading him around.”

With champion jockey Paddy Young aboard, Bubble Economy battled South Monarch through the stretch at the Manor but fell a head short. In the Gold Cup, Bubble Economy reached the lead coming to

Friday, December 10, 2010

Eclipse Sportswire

Bubble Economy skies a fence in the Virginia Gold Cup.

Bubble Economy

B. g. 11, Rakeen-Buffels, Vaal Reef. Bred by Tim & Nina Gardner, Rick & Dixie Abbot (PA). Owner: Arcadia Stable.

Trainer: Jack Fisher. Jockey: Paddy Young.

Timber Standings

Horse....................Sts Bubble Economy............3 Patriot’s Path..................7 He’s A Conniver..............4 Twill Do..........................3 Meet At Eleven...............3

1st 2 3 2 1 2

2nd 1 0 0 0 0

3rd 0 1 0 0 0

Earnings $95,400 77,500 51,000 46,750 37,500

the last, balked briefly to allow Bon Caddo a fighting chance before winning a second Gold Cup by a halflength. At Nashville, he sat well off a wild pace and then sauntered to a 5 3/4-length win over Radio Flyer and Incomplete.

“The Manor was hard because I would have waited a little longer, he jumped upsides at the last, I put him under pressure too early. I would like that one back,” Young said. “He only won by a half-length at the Gold Cup but to be honest he was good for 15 lengths that day. He got there a little too early but having a little more confidence I didn’t panic, he won very easy in the end. Nashville was the best ride I’ve ever had on the horse, he traveled and jumped great the whole way. It was copybook, just a matter of steering.”

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Young rode Bubble Economy for the first time in 2003 – when the boy was an amateur and the horse was a novice. They quickly built a rapport, winning three of their first four races together, including Bubble Economy’s timber debut in the Mason Houghland at Nashville in 2004. They proceeded to lose three in a row in 2005 before winning at Shawan Downs in 2006 and again at Camden in 2007. Twelve races and seven jockeys later, they teamed up again at the Manor in 2010.

“He’s definitely different, he felt more genuine, I think he jumped better when he was younger, he’s a bit more careful, looking after himself a little more but when it came down to the finish, he was definitely giving more this year than in years past, but riding him differently, not putting the gun to his head too early has helped,” Young said. “He’s definitely found his niche in life. He’s so much happier, running away with you over timber than smooching to him over hurdles.”

Brewster has enjoyed the ride and even admits that Bubble Economy is a better timber horse than hurdle horse.

“I wanted him to be a hurdle horse, I thought he could be a stakes horse over hurdles but Jack thought he was a timber horse from the word go,” Brewster said. “When he’s right, he can beat anything. When he’s good, he really is good.”

Still.

Steeplechase Times

• 27

2010 Steeplechase Champions

X

BY JOE CLANCY

Paddy Young

Young Again

Champion Jockey

Tod Marks

avier Aizpuru pulled up a chair and talked. Jody Petty offered a handshake.

Carl Rafter, a kiss on the cheek. Brian Crowley nodded while putting on a suit after getting out of an ambulance. Bernie Dalton told a story and laughed. Jeff Murphy and Darren Nagle debated the Virginia and Maryland point-to-point circuits. Danielle Hodsdon grabbed a drink out of the cooler.

And in his corner of the Springdale Race Course jockeys’ room, Paddy Young just smiled – a champion for the second consecutive season.

“We didn’t grow up together but we’re all in it together,” he said. “I’d be as delighted for one of them as if it was me, you know? I thought last year was the highest point you could go for me. Then this year. . .”

Turned out even better.

Young roosted at the top of the leaderboard all year, winning two at Aiken and one at Camden in March – then taking the lead for good in early May with doubles at Foxfield and the Virginia Gold Cup.

By June, Carl Rafter had worked to within two of the champion at 15-13, but missed most of the year with injuries.

Young rode 104 races, far and away the most on the circuit. He won 20, piled up $648,500 in earnings, captured the first Grade I stakes of his career and rode champion Slip Away. Like most champion jockeys, Young sweated through the final two weeks as Hodsdon made it a race with three wins at Aiken Fall in late October. Tougher still, Young lost a win – to Hodsdon – by disqualification at Aiken.

“Dani was tough. Going to Aiken I thought she could have four winners so I was happy she only had three,” Young said. “Every time I was getting beat, she was beating me and things just weren’t falling into place.”

With two weekends to go, Young led Hodsdon by a single win. On Nov. 6, he went to Montpelier and she went to Callaway. Young came off Dispute This in the maiden claimer, then finished second to a horse trained by his wife Leslie – talk about testing – before winning one. Hodsdon was blanked at Callaway Gardens. A maiden score aboard Good Request at Camden on the season’s final day clinched the championship and Slip Away added an encore.

Young came to the United States in 2003, hooked on with Jack Fisher as an exercise rider and amateur jockey (with nothing but point-to-point wins on his record).

He laughs about his first American ride – a distant defeat aboard Hall Of Angels in the Bowman Bowl at Fairfax. Young convinced his lanky frame to stay light, adapt, improve and he grew into his current position as the sport’s most-in-demand jockey.

He’s learned American racing, developed a style that would look good anywhere, rides with confidence, saves ground, gives every horse a chance. He’s even figured out Glenwood Park, where position matters and subtlety scores.

“Down the hill, you go to the left and you lose ground at first but then you get it back going to the left up the hill,” he said after winning two there this fall. “I’ve done it for a while. I used to watch Chip (Miller) do it and I’d say ‘You idiot, what are you doing? You’re losing so much ground.’ He assured me it’s the fastest way ’round. I wasn’t confident enough to do that. Now I am.”

Young made the most of a new partnership with trainer Tom Voss, turning a casual conversation into a prolific first-call combination. They won 13 races together, teaming up at My Lady’s Manor in April,

and rolling through the season. Young went to Voss’ Maryland farm one day a week to gallop and school, rode the horses the trainer chose and – perhaps most importantly – learned valuable communication skills.

“He never said ‘OK you can ride everything now,’ he just kept naming me on them and we worked out a great relationship,” Young said. “He doesn’t talk and I don’t talk. I go down once a week and ride out.

Some days he says hello, some days he doesn’t. I just

text him to say I’ll be down in the morning. It works out great. I’ve gotten to know him better so I know when he’s mad at me and when he’s not. I had to take a course in body language to figure it out.”

On the plus side, Young singled out The Whacker’s Steeplethon win at Great Meadow in May, the Colonial Cup for sure, the pressure-relieving victory with Easy Red at Saratoga.

Beyond Voss, Spy In The Sky’s Carolina Cup win for Jimmy Day, a seven-day double with Bubble Economy for Jack Fisher and regular support from trainer Ricky Hendriks fueled a championship.

On the negative, Voss wasn’t happy with Good Request’s defeat at Far Hills, an empty start to Saratoga tested trainer and jockey and Young also endured an 18-ride losing streak midway through the fall season.

“It’s a long year so things happen,” Young said.

“Tom had a tough year with a lot of seconds and pressure comes on in a relationship when that happens. You put pressure on yourself. He doesn’t say anything, but there were times when he wasn’t happy.

Nobody was happy then. He didn’t change anything and I didn’t change anything and it worked out. I enjoy riding for him.”

28 •

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Steeplechase Times

Champion jockey Paddy Young gets ready for action.

Sts 104

Paddy Young 1st 20

2nd 21

3rd 16

Pct .19

Earnings $648,500

Second consecutive title for 34-year-old Irishman, who rode first American race in 2003 . . . Rode first-call for trainer Tom Voss and won late-season duel with Danielle Hodsdon, including a double on the final day at Colonial Cup . . . Rode at least 30 more races than any jockey on the circuit . . . Father of three helps wife Leslie with small steeplechase stable . . . Won first Grade I of career with Slip Away in Colonial Cup . . . Other major wins came with timber champion Bubble Economy, Spy In The Sky and Torlundy . . . Finished the year with 91 American victories.

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Steeplechase Times

• 29

2010 Steeplechase Champions

BY SEAN CLANCY

Jonathan Sheppard

Turning 40

The year was 1970.

The Concorde made its first supersonic flight. The voting age was lowered to 18. It cost 6 cents to mail a letter and 36 cents a gallon to fill an AMC Gremlin.

The Beatles broke up. The U.S. invaded Cambodia and four students died at Kent State University. The Dow Jones dropped to below 631. All My Children made its debut on ABC. Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin died from drug overdoses. The Chiefs beat the Vikings in Super Bowl IV. Dust Commander won the Kentucky Derby.

The NSHA offered 262 races and $1.35 million in purses. F. Eugene Dixon Jr. finished his term as president. Top Bid won the first running of the Colonial Cup. Joe Aitcheson Jr. earned his seventh jockey title.

Mrs. Ogden Phipps continued her dominance, winning her 11th owner crown. For Bravery emerged as timber champion for Augustin Stable and Burnett Wilson Jr. Inkslinger went 6-for-6 with Michael O’Brien in the irons. Nancy Hannum’s homebred Morning Mac won the Maryland Hunt Cup. And Jonathan Sheppard’s named appeared, singly, as leading trainer on the steeplechase circuit. The 30-year-old Englishman, riding the wave of Inkslinger, Haffaday, Lost Lamb and Wustenchef, stopped the four-year reign of Phipps’ trainer D. Michael Smithwick to win his first championship. Sheppard trained 21 winners, one more than Ronnie Houghton, two more than Sidney Watters and three more than Smithwick.

It was the end of the golden age of steeplechasing; Phipps never won another championship, neither did Smithwick and the jumpers would never occupy the same status in New York. High dollars replaced high fences – and Sheppard stepped into the breach.

“I do think I inherited a vacuum when they ceased having a full program in New York,” Sheppard said.

“Mikey lost a lot of his horses and owners, the competition wasn’t quite so strong.”

While the sport underwent its biggest change, Sheppard married Penny Lofting and set up shop at his inlaw’s farm in Unionville, Pa. Sheppard enjoyed a modest career as a steeplechase jockey but retired early to concentrate on training, beginning with a handful of horses and a dream.

“I figured I better get going and it would probably be a struggle the first few years and it’s easier to deal with a struggle when you’re young and energetic. I figured I had gotten about as far as I was going to in my riding career,” Sheppard said. “I had a little bit of a reputation the first few years I rode and before it evaporated, before I was looked upon as a neverquite-made-it, broken-down, punch-drunk old jock I better get going. It turned out I maybe had a little more talent as a trainer than I did a jockey. For some reason, I did quite well almost immediately.”

The impetus to begin training came from a conversation at Saratoga in 1965. Sheppard was finishing a stint with Joe Nash, private trainer for Dixon, and wanted to go out on his own. Sheppard explained his dilemma – wanting to be a trainer but without horses and owners – to a friend from England, David Crossley-Cooke.

He made Sheppard an offer.

“Come on over and we’ll pick out some horses,” Crossley-Cooke said. “I’ll buy them and pay for them until they arrive in New York, then you’re on your own. Sell them to people to leave them with you in training. If you have the horses first, you must be able to get some owners.”

Sheppard picked out six horses, he and Penny flew home with the horses, the shingle was hung. The train-

er quickly sold two prospects, but struggled to place the other four. He called Crossley-Cooke and told him he could sell them but not to stay with him.

“You’ll do it, don’t give up,” Crossley-Cooke said.

In time, Sheppard found owners; Dixon Stroud bought one, Bob Crompton bought one, the Loftings bought one, Phyllis Wyeth bought one and George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stable bought two. One was Gaddo, who went on to win 21 races while competing

30 •

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Steeplechase Times

Champion Trainer

Tod Marks

Champion trainer Jonathan Sheppard keeps his eyes on a horse.

Sts 96

Jonathan Sheppard 1st 26

2nd 11

3rd 20

Pct .27

Earnings $809,930

Fitting championship victory for Hall of Famer who passed 1,000 career steeplechase wins during season . . . Stable included top-10 horses Arcadius, Sermon Of Love, Nationbuilder, Divine Fortune . . . Won four of the five jump races at Saratoga over the summer . . . Quick start (five wins at first three meets) signaled big things for stable, which built early lead and rolled home by eight wins over Tom Voss.

against the great Tuscalee.

Sheppard was on his way. With Jimmy Wyatt (Todd’s father) as his only employee, Sheppard began his ascent in the sport.

“It was him and me that whole winter,” Sheppard said. “We’d go days on end without speaking to each other, he was always complaining about the way I mucked out my stalls and I wasn’t easy to get along with either.”

Wyatt and Sheppard worked all day. A who’s who of amateur riders came and rode out. Utilizing the likes of Paddy Neilson, Crompton, Strawbridge, Stroud, Russell Jones, Buzzy Hannum, Jay Griswold and Marshall Jenney, the work got done.

“We had a great time, when you’re young, you think you can do anything,” Sheppard said. “Paddy was a huge help, he was a big booster, he would go around and tell all his friends that this young guy is going places. That’s how I got Haffaday, he bought him as a hunter for his wife and he was absolutely crazy. He was 15 2 1/2 (hands) and rather hyper. He See Sheppard page 31

Friday, December 10, 2010

Sheppard –

Continued from page 30

won the Maryland Hunt Cup in a double bridle.”

The upstart Sheppard got there quickly; he notched his first jump win in 1966 when Haffaday won at My Lady’s Manor. The horse added the Hunt Cup in 1968, and Sheppard notched that first championship in 1970.

Jack Cooper in that year’s Steeplechasing in America wrote, “It would seem quite likely that ‘Johnny’ is here to stay.”

For 40 years – and counting.

In 2010, Sheppard won his 24th title and became the first (and most likely last) trainer to win 1,000 jump races in America.

It’s a story of sticking your neck out, creating opportunities, capitalizing on chances, collecting a team, working hard, being competitive, focusing on one thing, getting lucky, little things turning into big things.

An amateur rider in England, Sheppard left his family’s business on the London stock exchange to follow his dream. He remembers the night it happened.

“I remember complaining with some friends who were disillusioned as well, ‘At least you guys don’t have anything else you’d rather be doing, I know what I’d rather be doing, I’d rather be working with horses than working in an office.’ They said, ‘That’s an advantage, you just have to figure out how to do it.’ I said, ‘I can’t do it because I can’t have a license to train in England while my father is handicapper.’ This one American guy said, ‘Why don’t you try the States?’ ” He hooked him up with Bayard Tuckerman who owned Suffolk Downs, which led to the Griswold family in Maryland who introduced him to Burley and Babs Cocks . . . and the rest is history – 40 years of training titles.

Back to those little things turning into big things. Sheppard took up CrossleyCooke on his offer. He befriended Neilson, who helped recruit Haffaday. He leased Bill Pape a horse to run on the flat at Rolling Rock so Pape could stay at the Rolling Rock Club in the late ’60s (you could only stay at the club if you had a runner and Pape’s timber horse he had with Jiggs Baldwin had gotten hurt). Sheppard met George and Nina Strawbridge at a dinner party in Camden. He turned the roguish Storm Cat into a runner and wound up with a lifetime breeding right to one of the most sought-after stallions in history. Supporting his own cause, Sheppard bred or co-bred with Pape horses that won 194 of those 1,000 races (thank Sheppard’s breeding manager John Hughes for that number).

This year, the breeding program produced winners Divine Fortune, Sparkled, Make Believe, Silence, One Giant Step, Lead Us Not, Parker’s Project and Italian Wedding. The homebreds accounted for 10 wins. Without them, this story is about Tom Voss.

“I’m proud of breeding that many winners,” Sheppard said. “I couldn’t afford to do it just on my own, the outside horses cover the costs of mine, basically it means I’ve been training for 40 years and haven’t made a nickel out of it, if it wasn’t for Storm Cat I’d still be broke.

But I’ve had a good time. The old say-

Friday, December 10, 2010

ing goes, ‘You get back what you put into it.’ ” Sheppard shook a mixed bag to produce another championship, engineering 26 wins from 96 starts to run away with the 2010 championship, finishing eight wins ahead of Voss who saddled one more horse and had 15 more seconds than Sheppard. The champion earned his 25th money-won title, outgunning Voss by more than $200,000.

Hudson River Farm’s Arcadius took the Helen Haskell Sampson Stakes at Monmouth Park for win number 1,000. Sheppard dominated Saratoga by winning four of the five races including the New York Turf Writers Cup and A.P. Smithwick with veterans Sermon Of Love and Divine Fortune.

Sparkled, Lead Us Not, Mattituck Inlet and Barnstorming executed in the claiming ranks. Mares Sweet Shani and

Make Believe won in the spring. Homebred Italian Wedding took advantage of placements to win twice in the spring.

Nationbuilder won novice stakes in the spring and fall. Impressive maidens Port Morsbey, One Giant Step and History Boy emerged in the fall and promised big things for next year.

“I don’t know why we had such a good year this year, it’s just luck, you do the same thing every year,” Sheppard said. “It still means a lot to me, I don’t take it for granted or take it lightly. I don’t think I ever took it lightly, I’ve certainly never been over-confident about anything, I’m always amazed to find myself doing as well as I am. I probably don’t show my competitive side in public but I am obviously competitive. And always have been. If this is what your calling is, you keep doing it and you don’t think about it particularly.”

After 45 years of training horses and 40 years of titles, Sheppard does look around to see if there’s a safe exit ramp from the madness and pressure of training 1,000 jump winners and more than 2,500 career winners (the official count varies).

“I would gradually like to cut back, I’m 70 now, I’ve gotten the thousand wins, it seems like a logical time to cut back,” he said. “But I have such a commitment to my own breeding program that I need these outside horses to carry mine. I have mares in foal and by the time they drop those foals and those foals get to be 6, 7, 8 years old, I’ll be close to 80, I don’t need any more behind them.”

Offered resistance to the notion, Sheppard doesn’t miss a beat.

“I guess I could always go out and buy some if I need to.”

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Pre-registration requested Contact Nancy Dougherty at National Steeplechase Association nancydougherty@nationalsteeplechase.com or 410-392-0700

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Steeplechase Times

• 31

OTHER NSA CHAMPIONS FOR 2010 CLAIMER OF THE YEAR Lead Us Not. Ch.g. 8, Royal Anthem-Sultress, Gallant Romeo. Bred by Bill Pape and Jonathan Sheppard (PA). Owner: Bill Pape. Trainer: Jonathan Sheppard. Jockeys: Brian Crowley, Danielle Hodsdon, Charlie Fenwick III. Won once in six starts, but also placed in a Grade I by season’s end. Won rich optional claimer (while risked for a $30,000 tag) at Saratoga to provide the bulk of his $72,840 in earnings. Also finished second at Saratoga and was third in the Grand National (Gr. I) at Far Hills.

APPRENTICE JOCKEY Roddy Mackenzie. Won with six of 53 mounts while reaching purse earnings of more than $85,000. Highlights included victories with Atrium at the Queen’s Cup in April and aboard Indy Run and Rockon Rockoff (his last as an apprentice) for owner/trainer Ernie Oare at Colonial Downs.

Tod Marks

Woodville Award winner Jill Waterman won a race at Camden.

LEADING TIMBER OWNER Irv Naylor. Sixth award in seven years for leading supporter of timber racing and leading overall owner of 2010. Won

seven timber races during the year, including three stakes

by Patriot’s Path.

AMATEUR JOCKEY Darren Nagle. Made the most of partnership with owner Irv Naylor and trainer Desmond Fogarty. Irishman, 23, won 10 races and horses earned $340,020. Captured Grade I Iroquois with Tax Ruling in May and won three timber stakes with Patriot’s Path in October and November.

HIGHWEIGHT AMATEUR TIMBER JOCKEY Ivan Dowling. Cheshire Foxhounds huntsman won two NSA races – seven days apart at Winterthur and Willowdale – aboard Thermostat to take the award.

WOODVILLE AWARD Jill Waterman and Alfredo Bravo. Trainer Janet Elliot and co-sponsors Steeplechase Owners and Trainers Association and South Carolina Equine Associates offer the award to honor the efforts of behind-the-scenes people in the sport.

Waterman is a longtime assistant with Richard Valentine, Jonathan Sheppard and others, while Bravo can often be found driving the van for Bruce Miller and other trainers.

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...And that makes 3...

Bubble Economy 46 starts: 13 wins, 14 seconds, 6 thirds Three Timber Championships (2004, 2008, 2010) Career Earnings: $434,350 (19th all-time in NSA earnings) “Thanks to everybody at Kingfisher Farm who have helped me along the way. And by the way, Jack, I do try. How else could I pass Saluter on the all-time earnings list?”

– Bubbles

Tod Marks

Friday, December 10, 2010

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Steeplechase Times

• 33

2010 Steeplechase Champions

F

BY JOE CLANCY

Irv Naylor

His Year

Leading Owner

or as many twists, turns, peaks, valleys, jumps, starts, stops, miles and more a steeplechase season takes, the NSA owner championship sometimes comes down to the smallest of variables.

In 2009, The Fields Stable rode a big payday at Far Hills to its first championship – edging Irv Naylor by less than $4,000. The tiny margin could have been erased by any number of factors, adding heft to every start, every placing in the 200 or so races held during the year.

“A lousy 4,000 bucks. You’d think we could have come up with that, wouldn’t you?” Naylor said with an ohwhat-might-have-been laugh at season’s end.

In 2010, Naylor laughed for a different reason – prevailing on the season’s final day over Bill Pape by a scant $7,910. Naylor horses Tax Ruling and Percussionist finished third and sixth in the Colonial Cup (worth $13,000 total), while Pape’s Mixed Up checked in fifth ($4,000) and Lead Us Not fell ($0) – erasing Pape’s slim lead to start the day.

“Old Tax Ruling came through for us,” said Naylor, who won his first owner crown after decades in the game. The York, Pa. resident won a race as a jockey in 1964 and has been a participant ever since, aiming for success in timber races (especially the Maryland Hunt Cup) while giving the more lucrative hurdle division only casual attention.

That changed a few years ago thanks to some input from the Internal Revenue Service. Naylor’s timber efforts didn’t have the potential payday of hurdle racing – where purses and earnings are higher – and the IRS wanted a better business model. The tax ruling led to Tax Ruling, whose hurdle career peaked in 2010 with a victory in the Grade I Iroquois in May. “The IRS agreed with my new business plan, where I showed them what some of the top hurdle horses could earn,” said Naylor. “And then I get a horse named Tax Ruling. It really is funny. The horse was waiting for me, I guess.”

The $150,000 Iroquois catapulted Naylor’s horse, who also enjoyed a banner 2009, into championship discussions all year. The 7-year-old came up short in the title hunt, but turned in a determined stretch run to just miss second in the Colonial Cup. Tax Ruling earned $115,250 to place fourth in the standings behind Slip Away, Percussionist and Arcadius.

Desmond Fogarty, who trains the bulk of Naylor’s horses on the owner’s Still Water Farm in Maryland, prepared Tax Ruling and also produced a solid year from timber veteran Patriot’s Path. The 10-year-old won a championship in 2009, but ended that season with a hard fall in the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup. This year, he lost his first four starts before going on a three-race tear in October and November that resulted in wins in the Genesee Valley, New Jersey and Pennsylvania Hunt Cups. The Maryland-bred finished with $77,500, second only to champion Bubble Economy among timber horses.

Thanks to Tax Ruling, Naylor built a spring lead in the owner standings but watched Pape erase it by taking four of the five races at Saratoga. By September, Pape led Naylor by $100,000. And by October, Naylor had new horses. He bought Irish jumper Decoy Daddy, claimed Twister Crossing, turned up at Virginia Fall (and won) with Chess Board, added Grand National winner Percussionist for the Colonial Cup. The new recruits helped make the difference.

Decoy Daddy faltered in the Grand National, tiring in the final quarter-mile to finish seventh. Two weeks later at Montpelier, he dominated the Noel Laing (a race Slip Away won in 2009) to bolster the coffers by $24,000.

Roundtop, Ski Liberty and Whitetail.

Sts 1st 2nd 3rd Earnings Steeplechasing is what

84 12 5 9 $329,300 he does though. The 1964 Campaigned 31 horses, tops on the circuit, while charging Western Run Plate win at to first owner championship . . . Rallied from $100,000 the Grand National meet down in September to pass Bill Pape on season’s final set the hook for good and day . . . Enjoyed valuable Nov. 6-7 weekend with Decoy Naylor rode jump races into Daddy, Patriot’s Path and Dubai Sunday winning to draw his 60s including four trips within striking distance . . . Hurdle star Tax Ruling won around the Maryland Hunt the Iroquois, Naylor’s first Grade I victory . . . York, Pa. Cup. He never won the hisresident bases much of stable on his Still Water Farm in toric race as a jockey, but Maryland with trainer Desmond Fogarty, but won races has collected two trophies with five trainers in 2010. as an owner.

In 1999, Naylor’s life Technically, the Colonial Cup determined the owner changed forever when Emchampionship, but the Montpelier/Callaway/Pennsyl- erald Action fell in the Grand National. Then 63, vania Hunt Cup weekend provided the real fuel Nov. Naylor exited the fall with a broken C5 vertebrae. He 6-7. Naylor’s horses won three races (Dubai Sunday, was paralyzed, with no use of his legs or arms. He has Decoy Daddy and Patriot’s Path) and earned $61,250 since regained use of his arms, but watches his horses to pull the green, white and gold team to within strik- from a wheelchair. It’s a long way from riding in the ing distance.

Maryland Hunt Cup, but Naylor never lost his zeal Naylor listed the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup and the for steeplechasing.

Noel Laing as 1 and 1A on his 2010 highlight list The injury helped fuel the 2010 title pursuit as “Patriot’s Path dug in and fought after that last fence, Naylor, who has championed spinal injury research it was just terrific to see, I admire that horse so much,” since the fall, plans to take part in ground-breaking the owner said. “The Noel Laing was a marvelous win stem-cell treatment in 2011 with the hopes of one day from a new horse, it was very gratifying too.” walking again.

Naylor grew up in Stevenson, Md., with a con“I am going to be out of (steeplechasing) for most nection to horses being forged by blacksmiths (his of the year,” Naylor said of the 2011 season after buygrandfather and uncle) in the family. He rode ponies ing Percussionist. “My horses won’t be out of it, but I at McDonogh School, foxhunted, rode jump races as might be so that’s why there’s some degree of anxiety an amateur, got a degree at the University of Mary- this year. I’ve been close and I’d really like to win (the land before launching into business. He owns Snow championship) one year.”

Time, Inc., a ski-resort company which operates Ski This year.

34 •

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Steeplechase Times

Tax Ruling’s Iroquois win helped propel Irv Naylor to the owner championship.

Tod Marks

Irv Naylor

Friday, December 10, 2010

2010 HCPSPORTS

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STEEPLECHASE TIMES

CALL THE 2010 STEEPLECHASE SEASON A CLIFFHANGER. Like a good action movie, the year came down to the final moments as Slip Away clinched the championship on the final day. Along the way, the year featured signature performances from humans and horses. Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard marched to another title and also reached his 1,000th career jump win. Paddy Young claimed a second jockey championship, and longtime owner Irv Naylor finally reached the top. Beyond the champ, the equine stars included flashy mare Ptarmigan, powerhouse novice All Together, rock-solid 3-year-old Demonstrative, indefatigable timber horse Bubble Economy and more. $55.00 + $5 shipping

MARYLAND HUNT CUP CENTENNIAL 1894-1994 This acclaimed, 45-minute documentary, produced in 1994 for the 100th anniversary of the first running of the Maryland Hunt Cup, aired on Maryland Public Television. It combines rare footage of the race through the years along with interviews with jockeys, 20 trainers, owners and other connections with participants throughout the history of this famous event. It is narrated by Jim McKay of ABC Sports. $55 + $5 shipping AMERICANS AT AINTREE A video celebration of an evening at Shawan Downs that highlighted American involvement in the Aintree Grand National. Such notables as Dick Francis, Tommy Smith and Charlie Fenwick speak about their encounters with the fabled Aintree course, while footage of Grand Nationals in which Americans participated are included in this unique presentation. $55 + $5 shipping

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Friday, December 10, 2010

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Steeplechase Times

• 35

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Steeplethon comments not appreciated I am writing in response to your article in the Oct. 22 issue of Steeplechase Times regarding the International Gold Cup Races. While your coverage of the Steeplethon made for good reading, I would suggest that one occasionally interject facts into the mix.

Specifically, before the this fall, only two out of 11 Steeplethon outcomes at Great Meadow had been “decided in the stewards’ stand.”

This year’s off-course running by the winner and subsequent disqualification made it three out of the last 12. These facts hardly warrant your exaggerated comment that “Like most years, the $25,000 steeplethon was decided in the stewards’ stand . . .” If one were to read your coverage in the whole about the Steeplethon, one would come away with the impression that most of the time this race goes awry.

The facts hardly substantiate your position. If this publication is to be the premier purveyor of information about American steeplechasing, then more importance needs to be placed on accuracy and less on sensationalism.

I found your quote by Gus Brown (“Death, Taxes, and off-course at the Steepleton”) most ironic. Several years ago, he rode my horse Striking North from wire to wire in the Steeplethon, sometimes with a 40-length lead, only to be caught at the end. People still talk about that ride, and he had to have known the course in order to be in the lead the whole way around. I found his comment and your usage of it a bit confusing.

Aside from being the director of racing for the Virginia Gold Cup Races, I do have a vested interest in the Steeplethons. As an owner, I have sent six horses to post for Steeplethon races. I have won one race only

ST RESPONSE Steeplechase Times regrets if its writing about the Steeplethon was perceived to be flippant or inaccurate but in no way did the paper suggest that the race should be cancelled, furthering the “homogenization” of the sport. The paper likes the race and appreciates what it takes to run and win it.

According to our records, eight horses have gone off course in the past nine runnings, certainly not an insignificant amount of miscues. In the history of American steeplechasing, no race has provided more negotiation problems; the paper finds this disconcerting and disappointing.

In no way should it have made light of the situation and it regrets including Gus Brown’s one-liner. After the race, jockeys, owners, trainers, fans and NSA officials were dismayed that the race was “decided in the stewards’ stand,” the paper simply reported on that fact.

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Steeplechase Times

At Cheltenham, top jockeys have refused to ride its cross-country race in fear of going off course and being suspended. Cheltenham has worked hard to alleviate the problems, as has the Virginia and International Gold Cups and Great Meadow. We hope that someday the problems will be rectified – saving owners the pain of disqualification and jockeys the pain of paying a penalty for simply being human.

As for the letter writer’s suggestion that ST had a “heyday” with the way a race turned out at Willowdale in 2008 . . . we checked our facts and we’re innocent.

Our edition of May 23, 2008 did cover the race in question – won by Western Fling by 44 lengths or so – in five paragraphs of relatively benign journalism.

If someone had a “heyday,” it wasn’t us.

– The Editors

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to be taken down when my horse was off course (actually going a further distance than was flagged). We won the Gold Cup Steeplethon with Hidden Key only to lose him the next week while running in the Willowdale Steeplethon.

Your publication had a heyday with the accusations of being off course, etc. with that one. I have truly admired all of the riders who have ridden for me in those races, regardless of the outcome. But I have never blamed the course. The steeplethon races are not like the hurdles and timber. The Steeplethon races require a different type of horse, and a different type of preparation by the rider.

I believe that there is a real philosophical issue that warrants discussion. Over the years, hurdle (and to a somewhat lesser extent, timber) racing has evolved into going around a circle and jumping identical fences many times.

At the same time, more trainers and owners are purchasing expensive flat horses as prospects to run over fences. It is obviously easier to train these prospects over one fence and as opposed to the schooling necessary to jump varied types of hurdle fences, as in the “old days.”

These trainers and owners have a vested interest in eliminating any variance in form or function at today’s meets. The water jump controversy at last year’s Gold Cup comes to mind for some reason. Be careful for what you ask. If steeplechasing continues this process of homogenization of its product, then we will soon be no more appealing to the public than flat racing, and all we will have left to support us is the wagering.

Oops, sorry we don’t have that either.

Alfred C. Griffin, Jr. Warrenton, Va.

Don’t just sit there! Advertise!

Steeplechase Times delivers thousands of customers.

Call (410) 392-5867 or see st-publishing.com to learn more.

Friday, December 10, 2010

2011 NSA Spring Schedule

OBITUARY Former jockey, trainer Kenny Field, 79 Kenneth A. “Kenny” Field, a successful steeplechase jockey in the 1950s and among the leading flat and steeplechase trainers in the following decades, died Nov. 20, in Delray Beach, Fla. He was 79.

Born in Toronto, Canada, he moved to Virginia and then Maryland. He was licensed to ride in 1948, riding for some of the most prestigious steeplechase stables including Mrs. Ogden Phipps and Pete Boswick. Field retired from riding after the 1960 season and began his career training for Trillora Stables and Merryland Farm for Barbara Guggenhiem Obre and for her son Michael Wettach. His stakes winners included Hunters Rock, Hussle, Call the Witness, Lucky Turn, Knightly Manor, Road at Sea, and Coup-de Vite whom he rode to victory in the 1957 Monmouth County Hunt Cup, 1957 New Jersey Hunt Cup and 1958 Virginia Gold Cup. Field retired from training, moving to Florida in 1985 to pursue a career in realestate development. He is survived by his wife, Berkeley de Murguiondo Field, and two daughters, Cassandra Field and Josephine Field.

2010 Steeplechasers Bubble Economy, Decoy Daddy, Quiet Approval, Commodore Bob, Final Straw, Union Army, Dictina’s Boy, Percussionist, World Of Events, Sumo Power, Classic Bridges, . . .

Want to buy a horse?

Or sell one?

Call ST. Office: (410) 392-5867 Joe Clancy: (302) 545-4424 • Sean Clancy: (302) 545-7713 Best of racing luck and thank you to our clients.

Subject to change (see nationalsteeplechase.com for updates) Saturday, March 26.......................AIKEN SPRING, Aiken, S.C. Saturday, April 2 ..........................CAROLINA CUP, Camden, S.C. Saturday, April 9...........................STONEYBROOK, Raeford, N.C. Saturday, April 16 ........................ATLANTA, Kingston, Ga. Saturday, April 16 ........................MY LADY’S MANOR, Monkton, Md. Saturday, April 23 ........................BLOCK HOUSE, Tryon, N.C. Saturday, April 23.........................GRAND NATIONAL, Butler, Md. Saturday, April 23.........................MIDDLEBURG, Middleburg, Va. Saturday, April 30.........................FOXFIELD SPRING, Charlottesville, Va. Saturday, April 30.........................MARYLAND HUNT CUP, Glyndon, Md. Saturday, April 30.........................QUEEN’S CUP, Mineral Springs, N.C. Saturday, May 7............................VIRGINIA GOLD CUP, The Plains, Va. Sunday, May 8..............................WINTERTHUR, Winterthur, Del. Saturday, May 14..........................IROQUOIS, Nashville, Tenn.

Saturday, May 14..........................TANGLEWOOD, Clemmons, N.C. Sunday, May 15............................WILLOWDALE, Kennett Square, Pa. Saturday, May 21..........................RADNOR, Malvern, Pa. Saturday, May 21..........................STRAWBERRY HILL, New Kent, Va. Sunday, May 22............................HIGH HOPE, Lexington, Ky. Saturday, May 28..........................FAIR HILL, Fair Hill, Md.

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Friday, December 10, 2010

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Steeplechase Times

• 37

“Gentleman” Jack Fisher thanks his horses, owners, staff, wife, dogs and the whole team for 2010.

2 champions, 12 wins, 6 stakes wins.

And a big comeback planned for 2011.

Kingfisher Farm (410) 382-6814 jkingfisher@mac.com www.kingfisherstable.com Tod Marks

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Steeplechase Times

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Friday, December 10, 2010

6

Steeplechase

‘Pick Six’

FA N TA S Y S TA BL E G A M E Presented by The Whip Tavern

King Him

The Pick Six contest came down to a half-length, the margin separating Preemptive Strike and Tax Ruling while finishing second and third, respectively, in the Colonial Cup Nov. 13. Bob Lunny’s Rolling Thunder Stable had Tax Ruling. Bill Hutchinson’s Chinese Checkers Stable had neither horse, but was hanging on to the top spot in the standings.

Tax Ruling gave it a go, couldn’t get past Preemptive Strike – handing Hutchinson the overall victory by a little more than $5,000.

Hutchinson is the second member of his family to win the crown, joining his mother Pauline (2002 and 2005, the only two-time champion in the game’s 12-year history).

Dad Richard, continues to get close but has yet to break through so he’ll have to settle for being related to a Pick Six champion. The champion’s stable name comes from his far-reaching professional life that has included jobs in Singapore and Australia among other nations. Runner-up Lunny, one of the few steeplechase fans in Texas, settled for second. Ashley Monroe of Berryville, Va. got a big boost from Colonial Cup winner Slip Away to vault into the prizes – nosing out fellow Slip Away fan Nolan Clancy for third.

Hutchinson took the top prize, a $300 gift certificate to ST Publishing or any ST advertiser, while Lunny receives a $200 gift certificate and Monroe a $100 gift certificate.

The top 42 are listed here. Check www.st-publishing.com for complete standings.

Previous Winners: 2009: Wendi Graham; 2008: Lisa McLane; 2007: Winfield Sapp; 2006: Howard Newstadt; 2005: Pauline Hutchinson; 2004: Vivian Rall; 2003: Employees of Opdyke Truck and Equipment; 2002: Pauline Hutchinson; 2001: Janet Hutson; 2000: McLane Hendriks; 1999: Kelly MacKinnon.

Chinese Checkers Stable....... Bill Hutchinson Arcadius.............................................. $124,500 Patriot’s Path......................................... $77,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Sweet Shani.......................................... $33,000 Air Maggy............................................. $10,500 ............................................ $327,550

Rolling Thunder Stable...............Bob Lunny Tax Ruling........................................... $115,250 Patriot’s Path......................................... $77,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Confined.................................................. $5,000 ............................................ $322,400

Arcadius proved to be a difference maker in the Pick Six contest for 2010.

Ponyup............................Ashley Monroe Slip Away............................................ $191,500 Patriot’s Path......................................... $77,500 Diva Maria............................................. $28,000 Mixed Up............................................... $12,000 Biggerbadderbetter........................................ $0 Fleeting Thunder............................................ $0 ............................................ $309,000 Doodles Farm...................... Nolan Clancy Slip Away............................................ $191,500 He’s A Conniver..................................... $51,000 Dictina’s Boy......................................... $31,600 Moving Violation................................... $15,050 Jellyberry................................................ $7,000 Pynaformer............................................. $6,750 ............................................ $302,900

Tod Marks

Genesee Valley Racers........... Gail McGuire Arcadius.............................................. $124,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Meet At Eleven...................................... $37,500 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Make Believe......................................... $14,400 ............................................ $301,050 ’Bout Broke Farm..................... Lisa Beige Slip Away............................................ $191,500 Bubble Economy................................... $95,400 Dynaskill................................................. $6,100 Steppenwolfer......................................... $2,000 Old Man Buck................................................. $0 Your Sum Man............................................... $0 ............................................ $295,000

Continued on Next Page

The second time tastes even sweeter.

Thank you to all the owners, trainers, horses and friends who made it possible.

Especially, the great Slip Away, who doesn’t know quit.

Thanks.

– Paddy.

Tod Marks

201-A Commerce Drive, New Holland, PA 17557

717-354-4794 www.NewHollandSupply.com Friday, December 10, 2010

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Steeplechase Times

• 39

Hunter’s Gate Stable........... Barbara Taggart Slip Away............................................ $191,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Major Malibu........................................... $7,500 Confined.................................................. $5,000 Old Man Buck................................................. $0 ............................................ $286,050 Honey Locust......................Winfield Sapp Arcadius.............................................. $124,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Meet At Eleven...................................... $37,500 Class Century........................................ $18,000 Make Believe......................................... $14,400 ............................................ $284,500 Pink Moon.......................Susan Haldeman Bubble Economy................................... $95,400 All Together........................................... $80,000 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Make Believe......................................... $14,400 Mixed Up............................................... $12,000 ............................................ $283,850 College Cash........................ Betty McCue Slip Away............................................ $191,500 Quiet Approval...................................... $40,400 Takmeoutodabalgame........................... $15,000 Make Believe......................................... $14,400 Mixed Up............................................... $12,000 Incomplete.............................................. $7,500 ............................................ $280,800 Clip Clop..................................J. Oranzi Slip Away............................................ $191,500 All Together........................................... $80,000 Best Alibi................................................. $3,000 Beachcomber.......................................... $1,800 Attention Deficit............................................. $0 Shady Valley.................................................. $0 ............................................ $276,300 Mustangs........................... Patrick Morss Divine Fortune....................................... $86,000 Patriot’s Path......................................... $77,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Ptarmigan............................................. $42,000 Class Century........................................ $18,000 Your Sum Man............................................... $0 ............................................ $266,100

Try Again Stable...................... Jim McVey Bubble Economy................................... $95,400 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Virginia MinsTrel................................... $42,600 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Torlundy................................................ $27,000 Make Believe......................................... $14,400 ............................................ $261,450 Running Waters..................Brenda Waters Slip Away............................................ $191,500 Miss Crown........................................... $22,200 Ambersham.......................................... $19,150 Moving Violation................................... $15,050 Incomplete.............................................. $7,500 Silence.................................................... $6,000 ............................................ $261,400 Gray Matter Stable................ Jean McLane Slip Away............................................ $191,500 Dictina’s Boy......................................... $31,600 Diva Maria............................................. $28,000 Mischief.................................................. $5,750 Steppenwolfer......................................... $2,000 Hot Springs............................................. $1,500 ............................................ $260,350 Los Caballos Mas Rapidos........Ryan Clancy Slip Away............................................ $191,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 The Manner Born.................................. $10,400 You The MAn.......................................... $7,000 J. Alfred Prufrock.................................... $3,900 Piney Mountain.............................................. $0 ............................................ $255,400 Browntrout Stable.................. Douglas Lees Tax Ruling........................................... $115,250 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Incomplete.............................................. $7,500 Confined.................................................. $5,000 ............................................ $252,400 Carglen Stable................... Joe Clancy Sr. Arcadius.............................................. $124,500 Tax Ruling........................................... $115,250 Peace Proposal....................................... $2,700 Jack Twist............................................... $2,250 Shiny Emblem............................................ $800 Hi Flyin Indy................................................... $0 ............................................ $245,500

Here’s The Plan Stable........... Serelee Hefler Tax Ruling........................................... $115,250 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Swagger Stick....................................... $38,600 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Confined.................................................. $5,000 Fleeting Thunder............................................ $0 ............................................ $240,900 BJ Six Stable........................... MJ Kirwin Slip Away............................................ $191,500 Moon Dolly........................................... $19,000 Ballet Boy.............................................. $17,500 Pynaformer............................................. $6,750 Coal Dust....................................................... $0 Your Sum Man............................................... $0 ............................................ $234,750 Cheltenham Invasion.......Richard Hutchinson Bubble Economy................................... $95,400 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Diva Maria............................................. $28,000 Prince Rahy........................................... $17,500 Left Unsaid.............................................. $9,000 ............................................ $231,950 Kim’s Kutie Kolts.......................Kim Koran Tax Ruling........................................... $115,250 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 South Monarch..................................... $30,500 Confined.................................................. $5,000 Best Alibi................................................. $3,000 ............................................ $230,900 Remember November............. Bo Strandnes Divine Fortune....................................... $86,000 Patriot’s Path......................................... $77,500 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Diva Maria............................................. $28,000 Be Certain...................................................... $0 Fradiablo........................................................ $0 ............................................ $226,050 Very Un Stable................. Coralie Galyean Patriot’s Path......................................... $77,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Make Believe......................................... $14,400 Left Unsaid.............................................. $9,000 ............................................ $225,550

Prestbury Dreams Stables.......Pete Fornatale Bubble Economy................................... $95,400 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Dictina’s Boy......................................... $31,600 Make Believe......................................... $14,400 SteppenWolfer........................................ $2,000 ............................................ $225,450 Block House Farm................... Chuck Ross Patriot’s Path......................................... $77,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Mixed Up............................................... $12,000 Confined.................................................. $5,000 ............................................ $219,150 Millstone Farm...................James Watrous Patriot’s Path......................................... $77,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Farah T Salute....................................... $33,400 Left Unsaid.............................................. $9,000 Back To Mandalay................................... $8,100 ............................................ $218,100 Mitch’s Mule Ranch............. Edwin Mitchell Tax Ruling........................................... $115,250 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Mixed Up............................................... $12,000 Incomplete.............................................. $7,500 ConfiNed................................................. $5,000 ............................................ $216,900 Polish Power Stable.............. Eric Dudzinski Arcadius.............................................. $124,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 South Monarch..................................... $30,500 Mixed Up............................................... $12,000 Confined.................................................. $5,000 Steppenwolfer......................................... $2,000 ............................................ $216,600 Keep On Truckin!..................Betty Sanchez Patriot’s Path......................................... $77,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Left Unsaid.............................................. $9,000 Confined.................................................. $5,000 ............................................ $216,150

Tod Marks

Thanks To all The owners, Trainers, horses and barn heroes for a memorable year. leT’s do iT again nexT year. ~ bernie

40 •

Steeplechase Times

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Friday, December 10, 2010

Baby Sister Stable................ Saoirse Young Arcadius.............................................. $124,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Miss Crown........................................... $22,200 Prince Rahy........................................... $17,500 Relear...................................................... $2,000 Baylor Dude............................................ $1,695 ............................................ $215,395 So Hard Being A Mets Fan....... Brian Nadeau Tax Ruling........................................... $115,250 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Erin Go Bragh.......................................... $5,750 Confined.................................................. $5,000 Best Name...................................................... $0 ............................................ $208,050 Wilco.............................. Tina Lippincott Patriot’s Path......................................... $77,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Prince Rahy........................................... $17,500 Make Believe......................................... $14,400 Mixed Up............................................... $12,000 ............................................ $203,450 Pony Girl.......................Elizabeth Watrous Bubble Economy................................... $95,400 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Left Unsaid.............................................. $9,000 Back To Mandalay................................... $8,100 Jellyberry................................................ $7,000 ............................................ $201,550 Geraldal Stable.................. Allison Janezic Bubble Economy................................... $95,400 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Mixed Up............................................... $12,000 Jellyberry................................................ $7,000 Planets Aligned....................................... $6,250 ............................................ $197,800 Dadofthree Farm...................... Joe Clancy Arcadius.............................................. $124,500 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Hidden Trail........................................... $16,000 Make Believe......................................... $14,400 You The Man........................................... $7,000 Major Price............................................. $1,250 ............................................ $197,700

Overlooked Stable.......... Douglas Allison Jr. Patriot’s Path......................................... $77,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Make Believe......................................... $14,400 Left Unsaid.............................................. $9,000 Mask And Wig......................................... $6,000 ............................................ $197,000 Over Age Stable..................Virginia Allison All Together........................................... $80,000 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Lonesome Nun...................................... $17,750 Major Malibu........................................... $7,500 Your Sum Man............................................... $0 ............................................ $195,350 Taffy 3 Stable............................Jack Lock Patriot’s Path......................................... $77,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Prince Rahy........................................... $17,500 Mixed Up............................................... $12,000 Confined.................................................. $5,000 ............................................ $194,050 The Fudge Factory...............Doug Allison III Patriot’s Path......................................... $77,500 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Virginia Minstrel.................................... $42,600 Make Believe......................................... $14,400 Mixed Up............................................... $12,000 Witham.......................................................... $0 ............................................ $194,000 SWC Pipeline........................ Sean Clancy Bubble Economy................................... $95,400 Quiet Approval...................................... $40,400 Dictina’s Boy......................................... $31,600 Make Believe......................................... $14,400 Left Unsaid.............................................. $9,000 Steppenwolfer......................................... $2,000 ............................................ $192,800 Totally Random Stable............ Bruce Rodger Bubble Economy................................... $95,400 Spy In The Sky...................................... $47,500 Italian Wedding..................................... $34,550 Seer...................................................... $10,000 Confined.................................................. $5,000 Lions Double.................................................. $0 ............................................ $192,450

Tod Marks

Merry Christmas and many thanks to Jazz Napravnik and all who helped – Green Velvet

Thank you to all the owners and supporters for a great 2010. Here’s to a better 2011.

Demonstrative

Purchased in summer, 3-year-old champion by fall.

Come join us, Aiken in the winter, Virginia in the spring.

(540) 270-1819 ~ valentine20198@peoplepc.com Friday, December 10, 2010

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Steeplechase Times

• 41

Ho, Ho, Ho

theinsiderail

by Sean Clancy If I were Santa Claus . . .

I’d give Jacqueline Ohrstrom, Richard Valentine and Demonstrative a free trip to Cheltenham for the Triumph Hurdle.

I’d give Jake Chalfin courage.

I’d give the million dollars lost in purse structure over the past two years to the NSA for systematic dispersal to all race meets.

I’d give Slip Away a carrot.

I’d hand Tom Voss a red ribbon for all those second-place finishes in 2010.

I’d write Bubble Economy and Swagger Stick free passes in the Jack Fisher school of hard knocks.

I’d add two races restricted to 4-year-olds to the 2011 spring condition book.

I’d hire an assistant at every meet – or at least the ones where weighing-in problems regularly occur – to guide jockeys to the scale after the race.

I’d reduce entry fees to owners.

I’d wish Irv Naylor good luck in his stem-cell treatment.

I’d give SOTA clout.

I’d give Jorge Torres peace.

I’d equip Birthday Beau and Lake Placid with a handbrake.

I’d give a bronze star to Preemptive Strike and a painting of him jumping the fence in front of the stands in the Colonial Cup to owners Gail and Dixon Thayer.

I’d give a coat and tie to all the jockeys.

I’d nominate Sam Slater for the F. Ambrose Clark Award.

I’d plant a forest of shade at Colonial Downs.

I’d give a grant to a veterinary college to really study falls, injuries and horse fatalities at NSA races.

I’d give Matt McCarron four wins so he reached 200 safely.

I’d open a big field of green grass, with a cool pond and a couple of buddies (maybe Sweet Shani and Cloudy’s Knight), to Mixed Up. I’d give Jody Petty a season without falling and a scholarship to a school of his choice.

I’d provide injury-free seasons to Carl Rafter and Robbie Walsh.

I’d hand Percussionist another big one just to prove the Grand National wasn’t a fluke.

I’d give Jonathan Sheppard a summer vacation and the rest of the sport a chance at Saratoga.

I’d script another 20th fence of the Maryland Hunt Cup for Across The Sky. I’d give Gill Johnston a big year in 2011 to make up for her winless 2010.

I’d sign up Karen Gray, Mike Berryman and Ted Thompson for satellite radio.

I’d give wins to Swagger Stick, Bon Caddo and Dictina’s Boy who combined to earn $102,500 without winning a race in 2010.

I’d give Jazz Napravnik a filly and mare title in 2011 for Green Velvet or Farah T Salute.

I’d hang a punching bag for Xavier Aizpuru who endured a June-to-November winless streak in 2010.

I’d give passing vet examinations to all would-be purchasers this winter, the sport needs the inventory.

I’d provide Far Hills another day of sunshine like 2010.

I’d give three apples each to Patriot’s Path, Canardly, Junood, Sunshine Numbers and Ptarmigan for being the only horses to win three races on the year.

I’d write two $15,000 open claimers, restricted to apprentice jockeys, in the spring condition book.

I’d buy a good horse for Gus Dahl (see above).

I’d fill out a college application for Fritz Boniface.

I’d give High Hope a boost.

I’d give streaming video to the fans and stop charging the race meets (and I’d put it on YouTube).

I’d make it rain in the summer and fall, though not on weekends.

I’d card an NSA race at every point-to-point.

I’d raise a party budget, create a party committee and have a party after every jump day at every racetrack.

I’d find Henry Stern another Saluter.

I’d find Janet Elliot another Victorian Hill.

I’d find the sport another McDynamo.

I’d give Teddy Mulligan an “Over the Mountain” T-shirt.

I’d give Les McNemar a standing ovation at Willowdale.

I’d convince Augustin Stable to get back in the game.

I’d convince Jack Fisher to get back on the SOTA board.

I’d increase the purse of the Colonial Cup. I’d recruit more foreign horses to race here and more American horses to race there.

I’d hire flag men at every option of the Steeplethon course to wave jockeys right, left or center.

I’d card summer maiden races at Fair Hill to help qualify horses for Saratoga.

I’d wish everybody a safe, sound and healthy off season and comprehensive good luck for 2011.

Thanks to all My Owners

Todd Wyatt Racing Stable – Generations of horsemen.

Jenny Pitts, William Marlow, Jim Leckrone, Arabella Brockett, Jim Courtney, Jennifer Youngman, and Jim Bryant.

And to the Flying Horse Farm Team

Tod Marks

Sgt. Bart (Eclipse Sportswire Photo)

Thanks to all our owners and supporters and good luck to all in 2011.

Todd and Blair Wyatt (302) 521-8080 | toddjwyatt@msn.com

42 •

Steeplechase Times

Straightredcard (Tod Marks Photo)

Jazz Napravnik Flying Horse Farm 443-695-3780 • flyinghorsefarmracing.com Home of stakes winners Green Velvet and Farah T Salute

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Friday, December 10, 2010

By The Numbers 65,000

Dollars spent each year on drug testing procedures at ALL NSA race meets.

Total now at $500,000.

28,000

Dollars spent each year on race course safety inspections.

Total now at $226,000.

7,500

Tod Marks

Santa Claus (no that’s not Sean) will hopefully deliver a few things to steeplechasing this holiday season.

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17,500

Dollars contributed each year to purses for amateur highweight timber races.

Total now at $230,000.

53,000

Dollars spent to purchase 50 pairs of safety wings for use in NSA races.

91,000

Dollars contributed to steeplechase-connected organizations and foundation partners including the Amateur Riders Club of America, the National Museum of Racing, the Wesley Foundation in Saratoga, etc.

Polo handles also available.

Come see us in Willowdale Town Center in Kennett Square November & December • Wednesday – Saturday 10 – 5 “The Golden”

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Friday, December 10, 2010

Dollars spent to purchase 100 Pro-Cush whips for licensed jockeys as part of the NSA’s move to cushioned riding crops.

The NSA was the first North American racing jurisdiction to adopt such a policy.

Thank you to our contributors.

Safer Horses. Safer Jockeys. Safer Courses. Safer Racing.

NATIONAL STEEPLECHASE FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES Sam Slater President

Sally Jeffords Radcliffe Vice President

Gail B. Thayer Secretary/Treasurer

Alexandra Hundt, Beasie Patterson, Frances Raffetto, Laura T. Shull, Adair B. Stifel, Susan Strittmatter, Guy J. Torsilieri, Richard Valentine, James H. Whitner IV

400 Fair Hill Drive, Elkton, MD 21921 • Phone: (410) 392-0700 • www.nsfdn.org

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Steeplechase Times

• 43

The

ast Fence Editorial • Opinion • Comments • Columns

Times Editorial

Feeling up to this?

National Steeplechase Association purses decreased 11 percent from 2009 to 2010, on top of a 7-percent drop from 2008 to 2009.

How do you feel about that?

Union Army ducked inside a beacon at the International Gold Cup. The beacon is made of wood and could kill a jockey and a horse if they hit it squarely. After all these years, the sport still can’t mandate a standard beacon. Traffic cones, made of rubber, are a start and get used at most places – but not all.

How do you feel about that?

In its official ballot sent to members, the nominating committee for the NSA board of directors “strongly” recommended the re-election of the three sitting board members while placing four new names into nomination for two unfilled seats (though voters could technically vote for any five).

That’s like walking into a voting booth and being told that the state would really like you to choose Candidates X, Y and Z. How do you feel about that?

Springdale Race Course repacked its fences for the Colonial Cup and Hobkirk Hill this year. Stiffer than usual, the fences made for great racing and a new challenge.

But horsemen could have been informed of the change before they showed up during the week.

How do you feel about that?

Tampa Bay Downs, Hard Scuffle, Marengo, Georgetown, Delaware Park. Pimlico, Laurel, Rockingham Park, Churchill Downs, Keeneland, St. James, Little Everglades, St. Louis, Mason Dixon, Brookhill, Oxmoor, Fairfax, Suffolk, Calder, Sugarberry, Red Bank, Kentucky Downs, Oak Ridge, Charleston . . . Rest in peace.

How do you feel about that?

Steeplechasing’s national office takes in roughly $500,000 in entry-fee revenue from owners each year. In 2009, that office overspent its income by more than $400,000.

Mainly on a failed chief executive and a one-off television program.

How do you feel about that?

Ken and Sarah Ramsey, two of the highest-profile owners in flat racing, own the leading steeplechase earner and probable Eclipse Award winner. There is no push from steeplechasing to promote that fact to the rest of the Thoroughbred world. There should be an advertising campaign, “Congratulations Ken and Sarah Ramsey . . . if you have a horse like Slip Away, perhaps you should send him jumping.”

How do you feel about that?

And – if form holds – the response from some in the sport about this editorial will be, “How can we stop those guys from writing that stuff?” Instead of, “Perhaps we should look into some of the points they brought up.”

How do you feel about that?

44 •

Steeplechase Times

Talkin’ Horse. Camden timber winner Eye Said Scat Cat tells ST’s Joe Clancy how it happened.

Tod Marks

Rallying Cry

Steeplechase community answers another call “When this community rallies, it really rallies.”

Jake Chalfin said that, via video, at the Chasin’ for Chalfin benefit party at the Stone Barn in Unionville, Pa. Dec. 4. The amateur steeplechase jockey was paralyzed in a fall at a point-to-point in September and is battling to walk again in the face of health issues, staggering costs and sobering odds. The community turned out Dec. 4, packing the place for a sold-out dinner/ dance/auction designed to offset Chalfin’s expenses.

Hopefully, the bank account swelled big-time – even if my wife Sam regretted not bidding on the trip to Hawaii. The toll, financial and otherwise, must be extraordinary.

We listened to the video clip, met all the faces behind the effort, heard Chalfin’s father Richard talk of the sadness and courage and emotion and commitment.

The night was fun and happy and sad and poignant.

I sat at a table with jockeys Gus Brown and Willie Dowling. Across the room were Carl Rafter, Paddy Young, Paddy and Toinette Neilson, a few others who put their necks on the line (past and present) just to ride horses. My brother rode for 13 years. My father tells funny stories about breaking collarbones, ribs, a leg, puncturing a lung. Hell, I rode plenty of horses

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The Outside Rail

By Joe Clancy

into dangerous spots on the track, in races, out foxhunting. And just that morning I went for a hack (my first time on a horse in years) with my dad and my 9-year-old son Nolan.

I hope Nolan never becomes a jump jockey. Not because of the danger; humans court that every day. It’s the uncertainty that scares me.

Steeplechase participants, the people in that community Chalfin talked about, dance on a tightrope without a net. In a flash, they might need a wheelchair, surgery, longterm care, a job, money from one foundation or another. There’s no pension, no life insurance, no disability, no union. There is plenty of potential for calamity however.

This fall alone, Jake got hurt, Jorge Torres got hurt.

Watch James Slater and Brian Crowley hit the ground at the Colonial Cup. Watch Jody Petty ride the Colonial See outside page 45

Friday, December 10, 2010

Outside –

Continued from page 44

Cup with a butterfly bandage under his eye from a cut sustained one race earlier. Watch Robbie Walsh hobble around on crutches after breaking his leg in a schooling fall. Watch Jeff Murphy hop to the trophy presentation at Montpelier.

Watch that and you’ll feel their pain.

They walked away – well, Crowley, Murphy and Walsh limped – but they aren’t facing the immediate dangers of Chalfin, Torres and some of the others who came before them. In 1977, Jimmy Stump died from injuries sustained in a fall at Delaware Park. Englishman George Perry rode a jump race at Aiken in 1997, and nearly died from massive head injuries. Irv Naylor is paralyzed from a fall at the Grand National. Bitsy Patterson, Charlotte Brooks Reagoso, Blythe Miller, Blair Wyatt, Sanna Hendriks, Arch Kingsley . . . they’ll all tell you about concussions, broken bones, lengthy hospital stays, near-misses in steeplechase falls.

Chalfin’s benefit party wasn’t the first one and it surely won’t be the last for this community. I don’t doubt the community’s capabilities to respond, I worry about the need to. Over and over, we have parties, fund drives, golf tournaments, head-shavings, suggestions to support this foundation or that one.

And we dip into our checkbooks, bid on auction items, do the work, help the person who needs help.

The American steeplechase world gets called close-knit, tight, connected because of this wonderful trait of supporting our own. But sometimes I wonder if we’re doing it right.

We can raise money, interest, concern, empathy. But we can’t figure out longterm solutions. We can’t find or interpret real data that might make the sport safer. We can’t make rules that

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Friday, December 10, 2010

might put jockeys in a little less danger.

We leave far too much to chance. We hope nothing bad happens. We can’t create or enforce uniform medical protocols at our race meets (which try their best; excellent choice to have a helicopter on location, Colonial Cup). We have no official maximum field size for each race course. We rely on anecdotal evidence instead of facts and data. What fence causes the most falls in U.S. steeplechase racing? Do more horses fall in

field of 10 or 12? Does race distance matter when it comes to safety? Should jockeys and trainers have to take tests before they are granted licenses? Should mounts for apprentice jockeys be limited or restricted in some way?

I know we’re better than we used to be. I’m just tired of hearing that. Jockeys still get hurt, horses still fall, decisions still get made that make people shake their heads.

And the community keeps rallying.

#1 Jockey – Again #1 Dad – Still

“Twas the night before Christmas . . . . . . Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”

Congrats Dad! Love your #1 fans Saoirse, Tom and Rory

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From Kathy McKenna Racing Tod Marks photo

Steeplechase Times

• 45

ThankYou . . .

Owners: Silverton Hill, Hickory Tree Stables,Vicky Bower, Bill and Abby Wiley, Upland Partners, Meg Levy, Scanden Stables, Equivine Farm, John Hawks and Diamond M Racing.

Help along the way: Henrietta Alexander, Jonathan Sheppard, Joy Slater, Gretchen and George Wintersteen, Mary Hazzard,Winky and Candi Cocks, Jeremy Gillam, Jeff Teter, Bill Price, Ricky Hendriks, Chuck Lawrence, Gus Dahl, Darrin Miller, Jeff and Susan Runco, Liz Gray, Maui Meadows, Mary Griffin, Brian Hogan, Rog Smithwick, Mike Davidson, Niall Kenny, Fidel, Amy, Macaulay, Brad, Dave, Mom and Dad.

New owners welcome to join our team and have some fun!

Photos from left to right: Relear (Tod Marks Photo), Our Diva (Susan Carter Photo), Chestermite (Doug Lees Photo), Torlundy (Tod Marks Photo),Wazee Moto (Susan Carter Photo), Slaney Rock, (Susan Carter Photo)

Young Racing Leslie & Paddy Young | LeslieYoung11@aol.com | 518-429-5262 | Unionville, PA

46 •

Steeplechase Times

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Friday, December 10, 2010

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Steeplechase Times

• 47

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