Queen's Cup Steeplechase 2019. ©Tod Marks

From Press Release, January 16, 2021 The Board of the Charlotte Steeplechase Foundation has made the difficult decision to run this year’s races on April 24th but without an audience due to the pandemic. The choice to run at all was based on giving horsemen and horses in training an opportunity to compete, bolstering a

The Foxfield Races. ©Rick Stillings

From The Foxfield Races press release, January 7, 2021 We wish all a Happy New Year and we are all looking forward to 2021. As you know, our spring races are scheduled for April 24th. After much careful consideration, our Board has decided that the chances of the pandemic being well enough controlled by April

From the Aiken Steeplechase Association press release on January 6, 2021 AIKEN, SC: With an abundance of caution and great concern for our community, the Aiken Steeplechase Association (a 501(c)3 charitable organization) is cancelling the Spring Steeplechase that was to be held on Saturday, March 20, 2021 at Bruce’s Field. The Directors of the Aiken

The Carolina Cup Races in 2018. (Tod Marks photo)

From a November 24, 2020 press release from the Carolina Cup Racing Association CAMDEN, SC– In response to the ongoing global pandemic, The Carolina Cup Racing Association has made the decision to reschedule the 86th running of the Carolina Cup Races to Saturday May 22, 2021. The CCRA is diligently working with the State of

Last spring, I sat down to recap my very first sanctioned win over hurdles, which was done on the huge stage of the Iroquois in Nashville, TN. Last fall I sat down to recap the aftermath of that first win, and to talk about my second win but also a few low points that followed. I told about the struggles of being an amateur/apprentice jockey who was trying to gain experience all while trying not to learn things the hard way at the expense of owners, trainer, horses and fellow riders. Last year was, what I thought, a banner year for myself. I had proved to myself that I had what it took to ride jump races and be competitive. I had won two races and I felt like I belonged. I was proud of myself, but I wasn’t too sure how much more success would come my way. I was content with myself, as I said at the beginning of the year if I did not win a race in 2016 I was not going to continue trying to ride races and would focus on a training career which I hope will be in my future. Never in a million years did I see things going the way they would for me in the spring of 2017, but wow, I am not complaining.

Special Skills winning the 2016 Foxbrook Champion Hurdle. Tod Marks photo.

With a new name, a new location, and a new date on the spring calendar, the Tryon Block House Races attracted large fields, including a blockbuster lineup for Saturday’s featured $40,000 Block House Handicap.

The six-race program is a joint production of the Tryon Riding & Hunt Club (TR&HC) and Tryon International Equestrian Center and offers record purses of $175,000.

The 71st edition of the Block House races will be held at the state-of-the-art Tryon International Equestrian Center in western North Carolina, and the meet will occupy the third Saturday in April on the National Steeplechase Association’s spring schedule.

First post time is 1 p.m.

The 2 1/4-mile Block House attracted a top-shelf field that includes a Grade 1 winner, a novice champion, and the top novice earner in 2016. The race also marks the U.S. debut of Simenon, a globe-trotting performer who will be making his first start for owner Rosbrian Farm and trainer Ricky Hendriks.

Throughout his career, which numbers more than 50 starts and $900,000 in earnings, Simenon has mixed jump-racing with flat racing. Among his flat credits are fourth-place finishes in the Melbourne Cup (Aus-Gr. 1) and the Ascot Gold Cup (Eng-Gr. 1).

The long-distance runner settled into jump racing last season and had two victories for top Irish trainer Willie Mullins.

The 10-year-old Marju (Ire) gelding will face plenty of stiff competition for his American debut, in which he carries the 158-pound highweight. The weights are guided by the National Steeplechase Association’s ratings of each horse in competition over hurdles.

Ross Geraghty, who already has two 2017 victories for Hendriks, will ride.