Solo Lord and Michael Hoffman flew over the 13th fence in the 2001 Maryland Hunt Cup. (Douglas Lees photo)

by Michael E. Hoffman We lost a dear friend, Solo Lord, this week. We have known each other since he was two.  There was an immediate friendship and connection. We did a lot of first together, and when we were both home you knew the other was there. He was an international traveler, visiting the

After his racing days were over, Nicole Bohler of Long Island adopted Grade 1 winning jumper Mabou, once a star in the Tom Voss barn.

For horses possessing speed, stamina, and jumping ability, steeplechase racing often is the first second career for Thoroughbreds after their racetrack careers have concluded. But that is not the end of their activities.

After their jump-racing careers, these second-career horses often find third or fourth careers, and others spend the rest of their lives grazing on farms throughout the East and Midwest.

The National Steeplechase Association’s Steeplechase Safety Committee conducted a voluntary survey of the sport’s trainers to determine the current activities of their former charges. Of more than 400 horses, all have found new careers in the countryside where they were trained.

The survey findings confirm a tradition within jump racing to strive to leave no horse behind. From its very beginnings in the United States, steeplechasing has found new occupations for its participants or has provided them a retirement home in rural pastures. This tradition …

The first two finishers in the 2015 Maryland Hunt Cup and the 2014 winner are among a record 30 early nominees to this year’s Hunt Cup. America’s best-known timber classic, the Hunt Cup will offer a record $100,000 purse on Saturday, April 30, at Worthington Farms in Glyndon. Merriefield Farm’s Imperial Way finished a half-length

Click on the Read More link below to read about the leading hurdle horses at the start of the 2016 National Steeplechase Association racing season. The number in parentheses at the end of each profile is the horse’s rating for Ratings Handicap races. All of the horses were in training at the year’s start.