The $50,000 William Entenmann Novice Stakes, originally scheduled for the now-postponed Steeplechase Festival at Saratoga, has been moved to Belmont Park and will be run on Thursday, Sept. 27. Highlighting that program will be the $150,000 Lonesome Glory Stakes (Gr. 1) for steeplechasing’s championship division.
The William Entenmann will be run at 2 1/4 miles over National Fences. Nominations close on Sept. 4, with supplementary entries permitted for $500 on Sept. 18.
The race, which was run at Belmont in July 2011, is named in memory of William Entenmann, a longtime steeplechase owner. Mr. Entenmann, a member of the Long Island bakery family, died Jan. 1, 2011, at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, Long Island, at age 79.
The $50,000 William Entenmann Memorial for novices is expected to attract some of the sport’s most promising newcomers to jump racing at the start of the National Steeplechase Association’s fall championship season.
Racing in the name of Timber Bay Farm, William Entenmann III had success both in steeplechasing and flat racing. He became heavily involved in the sport following the family’s sale of the nationally known bakery in 1978. He continued to work in the company’s management until his retirement in 1998.
Timber Bay won the New York Turf Writers Cup Handicap at Saratoga Race Course three times, with Yaw in 1991 and 1992 and with Bisbalense in 1997. Romantic won the 2000 Colonial Cup in the Timber Bay silks. All his major steeplechase winners were trained by Jonathan Sheppard, who sent out Timber Bay’s History Boy to win the Michael G. Walsh Novice Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 23.
On the flat, New York favorite Artie Schiller won the 2005 Breeders’ Cup Mile in the name of Timber Bay and Entenmann’s daughter Denise Walsh of Southern Pines, N.C. Timber Bay also bred 2002 Belmont Stakes winner Sarava.
A Bay Shore native, Entenmann was the grandson of the bakery’s founder. He worked in the family business as a youngster, graduated from Bay Shore High School, and entered the bakery business full-time after service in the U.S. Marine Corps. He worked in product research and served as the company’s president. He married Christine Sutton in 1953. Their son, Billy, is a trainer based at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland.
In addition to his racing activities, he was an avid boater and fisherman. His philanthropic activities included Long Island medical facilities such as Southside Hospital and North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.
