Steeplechase racing returns to Charlottesville, Va., on Sunday, and the spotlight will be on newcomers to jump racing at the 42nd annual Foxfield Fall Races. First post time is 1:30 p.m.
The program will feature three races for maidens, including the $30,000 Virginia Equine Alliance maiden hurdle over 2 1/8 miles. That race attracted a field of eight trying for their first victories over fences.
Also on the program is a $20,000 maiden hurdle for fillies and mares. Several members of that nine-horse field competed at the recently completed Colonial Downs meet near Richmond.
KMSN Stable’s Inverness finished third to Snowie Hill in the track’s Randolph D. Rouse Stakes on Sept. 7 after narrowly being beaten a nose by Snowie Hill in a maiden hurdle on Aug. 17. Trainer Keri Brion named Jack Doyle to ride Inverness in the 2 1/8-mile Foxfield race.
Also coming out of the Colonial maiden hurdle are Beverly R. Steinman’s Paris Lady, third; Debra Kachel’s That’s That, fifth; and owner-trainer William Wofford’s Choklitcoverdonut, eighth. Barry Foley was named aboard Paris Lady, Ross Geraghty has a return call on That’s That, and no rider was named for Choklitcoverdonut.
Making her jumps debut for Racing Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard will be Bruno Schickedanz’s Konstantinova, a three-year-old who most recently was fourth in a Colonial Downs maiden hurdle on the flat on Sept 7. Gerard Galligan will ride.
Kicking off the program will be a $15,000 maiden claiming hurdle that attracted a full field of 10.