One to Watch Archive
Fabulous offerings for Jump to Challenge live auction
If you have a desire to travel to hotbeds of steeplechase racing, the place to be is the National Steeplechase Foundation’s Jump to the Challenge celebration on Sept. 11 at the Winterthur Museum and Gardens in Wilmington, Del. In addition to dinner and dining, the festivities will feature a live auction with several valuable offerings, including travels to England, Ireland and Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Richard and Pauline Hutchinson annually lead a trip to England for several days of steeplechase racing, and the winning bidder will have the opportunity to go racing with them on Jan. 25-30. And what a tour it will be. On the schedule will be racing at Warwick, Newbury, and Cheltenham, capped by tea in the Queen’s Private Box at the headquarters of British steeplechasing. The winning bidder will receive four nights at a four-star country hotel as well as all meals and travel in England. It promises to be an memorable trip with genial and knowledgeable guides.
Crowley catches fire at Saratoga
Riding his first season in the United States, Brian Crowley has found a home at Saratoga Race Course, where he won three of the first four steeplechase races of the 2010 meet and finished a strong second in the other.
All three of his Saratoga victories were aboard horses owned by Bill Pape and trained by Jonathan Sheppard. His biggest score was aboard Sermon of Love in the $100,000 New York Turf Writers Cup Handicap (Gr. 1) on Aug. 26. He kept the Pulpit gelding in a stalking position and powered to the lead near the sixteenth pole. Sermon of Love finished a length ahead of Hudson River Farms’ Arcadius, whom Crowley had ridden to a second-place finish in the A. P. Smithwick Memorial (Gr. 2) on Aug. 5.
Carl Rafter closes ground in jockey standings
Carl Rafter went on a tear in May, collecting eight of his ten 2010 victories during the month and moving into second place in the National Steeplechase Association standings by races won and purses. From 40 mounts through July 1, the English-born jockey also had five second-place finishes and three thirds, with purse earnings of $196,900.
Rafter, 33, had a triple at the 80th Radnor Hunt Races on May 15, including the afternoon’s two stakes races. He won the $40,000 Radnor Hunt Cup with Keystone Thoroughbreds’ Meet At Eleven and then arrived just in time to take the $50,000 National Hunt Cup with Oakwood Stable’s Country Cousin for trainer Julie Gomena. He closed out the Radnor program with an easy score aboard Chadds Ford Stables’ Saluda Sam in the $20,000 Henry Collins for trainer Kathy McKenna. In all, his mounts won $73,150 at Radnor.
Hodsdon joins NSA’s ‘century club’
With her victory aboard Mrs. Calvin Houghland’s Nationbuilder in the $50,000 Queen’s Cup MPC Chase on April 24, Danielle Hodsdon joined the elite century club of jockeys who have won 100 or more National Steeplechase Association-sanctioned races. Hodsdon, 33, is the 36th steeplechase jockey to reach that milestone.
Hodsdon, who notched her first victory a decade ago aboard Sultry Gate at Foxfield in Virginia, was the National Steeplechase Association’s champion jockey in 2006 and the leading earner last year, when she was the regular rider of Eclipse Award winner Mixed Up.
McCarthy has big day at Queen’s Cup
Irish-born jockey Jimmy McCarthy enjoyed a big day on Saturday, April 24, at the 15th Queen’s Cup Steeplechase at Brooklandwood Race Course in Mineral Springs, N.C. With Mattie Batchelor, McCarthy was one of two foreign jockeys riding the card, and he came away with two victories and a quality second in the $50,000 Queen’s Cup MPC Chase.
The veteran steeplechase jockey kicked off the afternoon with a 54-length score aboard Edition Farm’s Takmeoutodabalgame for trainer Janet Elliot in the $25,00 BAE Systems Sport of Kings Maiden Hurdle.
Batchelor on board for Queen’s Cup
Mattie Batchelor, a British steeplechase jockey currently enjoying the best season of his career, will join Jimmy McCarthy as the featured foreign jockeys for the 15th Queen’s Cup Steeplechase on Saturday, April 24. The six-race program at Brooklandwood Racecourse in Mineral Springs, N.C., near Charlotte, will feature the $50,000 Queen’s Cup MPC ‘Chase.
Batchelor, 31, will travel to the U.S. in place of Brian Harding, who recently broke an arm in a fall. A native of the south of England, Batchelor is an accomplished steeplechase jockey and an irrepressible member of the National Hunt jockeys’ rooms. His biggest career win was aboard King Harald in the 2005 Jewson Novice ‘Chase.
Sheppard perfect as owner in ‘10
Jonathan Sheppard currently occupies the top spot in the National Steeplechase Association trainer standings, leading both by victories and by earnings. He also is prominent in the owner rankings, with a perfect record through the first three race meets of 2010.
With consecutive victories to close the Stoneybrook Steeplechase program at the Carolina Horse Park in Raeford, N.C., the English-born Racing Hall of Fame trainer ran his unbeaten streak as an owner to three. He won the $10,000 Centurylink Hurdle, a conditioned claiming race, with Sparkled, and then his rising star Italian Wedding drew away to a 3 1/4-length victory in the $20,000 Sandhills Cup, the featured race at the Stoneybrook meet.
Young riding in top form
Paddy Young took his first National Steeplechase Association title as champion jockey last year, and he has jumped out to a brilliant start in the young 2010 season. He had two winners on the opening card at Aiken, S.C., on March 20, including a Budweiser Imperial Cup victory aboard Silverton Hill’s Torlundy, who is trained by his wife, Leslie.
At the gala Carolina Cup Races a week later, he gave Randleston Farm’s Spy in the Sky a confident, winning ride in the $75,000 Carolina First Carolina Cup, the first graded race on the National Steeplechase Association’s 2010 schedule. The 34-year-old Ireland native took the 2009 jockey title with 19 wins from 99 mounts.
Irish invasion of Queen’s Cup
Brian Harding, who had a second and a fourth in steeplechase races at the 2009 Queen’s Cup Steeplechase, is scheduled to ride the 15th-anniversary Queen’s Cup program on April 24 at Mineral Springs, N.C. Joining Harding will be Jimmy McCarthy, who won a training flat race at the 2009 Queen’s Cup meet.
The Charlotte Steeplechase Association, which stages the Queen’s Cup races, will pay the travel expenses of the two Irish-born jockeys, who currently ride in Great Britain.
Ross Geraghty
Talk about a fast start. The veteran Irish steeplechase jockey landed in the United States last September 18, and eight days later he was in the winner’s circle at Monmouth Park after winning the $30,000 Sport of Kings Maiden Hurdle aboard Dumbarton Farm’s Easy Red.
An even bigger day in New Jersey awaited Geraghty and Tom Voss, who trained Easy Red. On Oct. 17, they joined forces to win the $250,000 Grand National (Gr. I) with Your Sum Man and the $100,000 Foxbrook Champion Hurdle with Left Unsaid. Geraghty completed his abbreviated U.S. season with purse earnings of $323,950. He won with six of his 29 mounts, a 20.7% strike rate.
