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American ‘chasing’s Grade 1 winners are jumping elite
The fifth of five top-rated races runs Saturday –
who will win?
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On this eve of what’s billed at the National Steeplechase Association’s closest thing to a championship day at Far Hills, New Jersey, we take a look back at 2023’s marquee stars. What they’re doing, where they’re headed, when they’re next making a racecourse appearance. (Hint: Look for some of them Saturday.) | |
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It’s the best way to funnel the sport’s elite into the top tier of competition. Steeplechasing’s grade system, like flat racing’s North American Graded Stakes Committee, divides the richest and most historic races into Grade 1, 2 and 3.
In short, it’s how the best in the sport compete for the best in sport. The graded races, the Grade 1s, especially, are used to determine the year-end hurdle Eclipse Award winner.
There are only five Grade 1 hurdle races on the National Steeplechase Association circuit – the Iroquois in May, the A.P. Smithwick and Jonathan Sheppard at Saratoga in the summer, the Lonesome Glory at Aqueduct in September and the Grand National tomorrow at Far Hills, New Jersey.
Saturday’s headliner is also called the American Grand National, to distinguish it from the English Grand National and the Grand National Point-to-Point – aka the Maryland Grand National timber stakes.
The Far Hills feature is richest of the five at $250,000.
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Far Hills - How to watch
The Grand National will be broadcast live on America’s Day at the Races, produced by the New York Racing Association in partnership with Fox Sports. Coverage begins at 12:30 p.m.
As always, you can watch Saturday’s races via live stream from the link on the NSA homepage, www.nationalsteeplechase.com. The stream is sponsored by Brown Advisory.
How to wager
Fans have two ways to bet on their favorites, both via phone. Pari-mutuel wagering is available through 4NJBets. To sign up, deposit, and wager, you’ll need to download the 4NJBets app or visit https://4njbets.com/200farhills.
If you are physically present in New Jersey, you can also place wagers through the MonmouthBets app. MonmouthBets offers fixed-bet wagering, meaning the odds in place when you make your bet is the price you get if you’re a winner. For information and a link to download the app, click here: https://farhillsrace.org/fixed-odds-betting/
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This season the championship title is up for grabs: four different horses have won the four races already contested – Irish-based Scaramanga was the shipper that won the Iroquois; Maryland-based Belfast Banter won the Smithwick and Maryland-based Awakened won the Sheppard. Lonesome Glory winner Merry Maker is the only horse able to add a second Grade 1 to his 2023 stats, the only one of the four entered in Saturday's Grand National.
Awakened runs in the novice stake earlier on the card.
With a win in the 2 5/8-mile Grand National, Merry Maker could stamp himself the runaway favorite in Eclipse Award voting for champion ‘chaser. With a win in the Foxbrook, and a win by any of the other seven others entered in the Grand National, Awakened might gain an edge.
We catch up with the Grade 1 winners here:
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Scaramanga – The Irish-bred runner has made a single start back home since his storybook trip to Nashville – 13th of 20 in the Galway Handicap hurdle stake July 31. | |
Belfast Banter won the Smithwick at Saratoga on July 19. Trainer Cyril Murphy says a tendon injury put the horse on the shelf after that start. Murphy reports that the horse is recovering well, and he hopes Belfast Banter will return to the races next summer. | |
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Merry Maker led an unprecedented 1-2-3 parade in the Lonesome Glory for trainer Arch Kingsley (his L'Imperator was second, his Barbados clinched the trifecta in third.) Leading money earner this season – $135,000 with two wins from four starts, the Hurricana Farm entry gets the services of defending champion rider Parker Hendriks for the Grand National.
Kingsley is busy this race week - but we wanted the inside scoop on his current stable star.
Here’s our quickie interview:
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Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase Foundation: What's the one word that describes your reaction when you saw Merry Maker make that patent late move to win the Lonesome Glory?
Arch Kingsley: Elated (Tod Marks photo, left, of Kingsley kissing daughter Taylor during the trophy presentation)
TGSF: Merry Maker used every bit of the 2 ½ miles in the Lonesome Glory to notch the win. Saturday’s Grand National will be his first try at 2 5/8ths. You think he’s a “router”?
AK: I do think he’s capable over greater distances, and we’re still figuring out the limits of that. He has been on a steady curve of improvement for over a year, and we’re all happy to be along for the ride.
TGSF: Speaking of being along for the ride, we’ve heard that these really good horses – the great ones, are usually “the barn favorite” and often are complete gentlemen (and ladies) to ride.
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AK: We can all ride him. For every one time I’ve ridden him (for exercise gallops) in the last year, (my daughter, apprentice jockey) Taylor has ridden him 10.
When he’s feeling good he’s going to act it out. He can be hard to stay on when he’s really fresh, but his class always kicks in, and he hasn’t unloaded many of us.
TGSF: Peppermints? Carrots? Cuddles? What speaks to Merry Maker?
AK: He’s a glutton for attention, adoration, even polite compliments. He inhales it all. (Tod Marks photo, left)
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Novice Awakened powered to victory in the Grade 1, $150,000 Jonathan Sheppard hurdle stakes at Saratoga. Trained by Hall of Famer Jack Fisher, two weeks before, Awakened had finished second in the Jonathan Kiser novice hurdle stake, at 2 1/16th miles, a contest rider Tom Garner called “a bit short” for the Curlin 6-year-old.
The 2 3/8ths distance of the Sheppard gave him room to stretch out his speed, and Fisher says the 2 ½ miles of Saturday’s Foxbrook seems like a natural step up.
Fisher is crazy-busy this week – prepping his Monkton, Maryland barn to send nine to Far Hills. We asked four simple questions:
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TGSF: Awakened sparkled in the Sheppard at Saratoga. What's the one word that describes the thoughts running through your mind during the race? Awakened closed sharply to move from ninth at the 7/8ths pole in a sustained bid to the wire. It must have given you a heart attack.
Jack Fisher: It was great. But there's more than one word – we got lucky there. The top four horses were novices, and the weights (146 to highweight Noah and the Ark’s 158) suited him. (Tod Marks photo of Riverdee's Sean Clancy embracing Jack Fisher after the Grade 1 Sheppard)
TGSF: Awakened is entered in the novice stakes Saturday. We see you’ve nominated both Awakened and your Grand National entry, Snap Decision, for the Oct. 28 Ferguson hurdle handicap – a $75,000 Grade 2 at Great Meadow in The Plains, Virginia. What would make that switch happen?
JF: I figured, for both horses, running the next week would be better than getting run around on soft ground (if the Far Hills course ends up “yielding” like last year, when Snap Decision got beat in the Grand National – sixth of seven finishers.) Awakened, he’s another one if it’s soft ground I won’t run him. (Awakened was sixth of six at Far Hills in 2022.)
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TGSF: What is Awakened like to ride? What’s he like to deal with? Does that class show? (Sired by dual champion and Breeders Cup winner Curlin, Awakened RNA’ed at the 2018 Keeneland September yearling sales for $725,000.)
JF: He’s a funny horse, but Graham Watters rides him most of the time (at home).
TGSF: Carrots? Apples? What motivates Awakened?
JF: Peppermints. Everybody (in the barn) likes peppermints.
I always have a pocketful of the red striped wrapped peppermints.
Every morning, the horses get fed breakfast (early), and then I go in each stall to check legs. I give every horse a peppermint after I check their legs.
They don’t really get too pushy with me over their treats, because, honestly, usually it takes me a minute to get the thing out of the wrapper, so they’re used to waiting a little bit.
(Tod Marks photo of Awakened leaving the winner's circle for the Grade 1 Sheppard)
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Unravel the mystery of Eclipse voting
(From the horse’s mouth – Accredited turf writer and Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred editor Joe Clancy explains the what and the why - and how the Eclipse Award panel chooses their champions.)
By Joe Clancy
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The steeplechase Eclipse Award voting process can get a little fraught, especially when there is no clear standout horse – which, for the moment, is the case for 2023. Most importantly, it’s an election so a collective measure of individual opinions. There will, of course, be different opinions.
There are only five Grade 1 steeplechases in North America – the Iroquois in May, the A.P. Smithwick Memorial and Jonathan Sheppard at Saratoga in the summer, the Lonesome Glory at Aqueduct in September and the American Grand National at Far Hills in October.
The latter, this Saturday, is the richest at $250,000. So far, four different horses have won the four races – Irish-based Scaramanga, and American-based Belfast Banter, Awakened and Merry Maker. Merry Maker runs in Saturday’s Grand National. Awakened runs in a novice hurdle stakes on the same card. Belfast Banter is out for the year.
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A little history
NSA races are graded by the NSA, not the North American Graded Stakes Committee. Mainly, it’s based on purse level: it takes $150,000 to be a Grade 1.
Ideally, there would be more than five. The Colonial Cup in November used to be another Grade 1, championship-level, end-of-season race that often helped decide things. It’s sorely missed for a lot of reasons, but the championship race is a big one. The schedule has at various times included Grade 1 races at Camden, Atlanta, Keeneland, Churchill Downs and other venues.
Adding one more in November could help with championship voting.
Also ideally, the grades could be awarded based on other criteria – strength of field, history, etc.
The stakes weren’t graded at all for most of U.S. jump racing’s history. Bill Gallo and I kind of eased it into existence 20-ish (?) years ago to help people better understand the various levels of racing, meaning a person could look at a horse’s past performance and at least compare the quality of races the same way someone would with flat races – Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3.
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Bruton Street's SNAP DECISION en route to winning the 2021 Grade 2 Temple Gwathmey. ©Tod Marks | |
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Sometimes, especially lately, races that aren’t Grade 1 stakes attract fields that could be considered Grade 1 caliber or at least on par with other Grade 1 races on the calendar. Additionally, some Grade 1 races might attract fields that aren’t quite up to the standard of others. The Temple Gwathmey, Grade 2, is a key steppingstone for the Iroquois every year. The Gwathmey has a long history and has been won by champions Moscato, Scorpiancer, Rawnaq and Slip Away lately.
Snap Decision won it in 2021 and 2023. He’s never been a champion, but is one of the best horses running in the last five years.
The Grade 1 races at Saratoga and Aqueduct (formerly Belmont Park) can become wild cards because some horses aren’t as suited to summer racing, meaning fields sometimes aren’t as strong. The summer races are also handicaps, which might dissuade a standout horse from running.
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The Iroquois and Grand National are weight-for-age races. This year, the Iroquois was a much stronger race than either of the Saratoga races.
The Zeke Ferguson (October) and David Semmes (May) races at Great Meadow in Virginia are rising in profile. Both are Grade 2.
Scheduling-wise, they face pressure from the Iroquois and the Grand National in terms of attracting championship-level horses, but they’ve become more important races to win.
If I owned or trained one of these horses, I’d be seriously considering running my championship contender at Great Meadow next week.
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Eclipse Award methodology
A voter receives a packet of information from the Eclipse organizers – the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters, Daily Racing Form and NTRA. This includes past performances on contenders in all divisions, though voters are free to vote for any horse or person, plus some leaderboard information – earnings rankings, victory rankings, graded-stakes performances, etc.
Specific to the steeplechase category, Eclipse voters have gotten it right most of the time. Some voters abstain, which I don’t like, but I guess I understand. The jump game can be a mystery, especially to voters who don’t really follow it. Voters are racing media members, Daily Racing Form staffers and racing secretaries/officials with the NTRA.
You vote for three horses, but only first-place votes count for the actual award. The seconds/thirds are used to determine finalists. The steeplechase Eclipse used to be selected by a committee, but I don’t think that’s the right path. Jump racing is a part of Thoroughbred racing and should be connected as much as possible.
I try to vote for horses – in all categories – that put together some sort of campaign while trying to find a true “horse of the year” in whatever division. I typically don’t vote for foreign horses who race just once in North America. Other people do.
There are no real definitions on voting.
Are we choosing the best horse to race in North America or are we choosing the horse who had the best year in North America?
Big difference.
Again, it’s an election/opinion so there are no wrong answers just answers you might not agree with.
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Irish invader HEWICK won the American Grand National, and the Eclipse Award, in 2022. ©Tod Marks | |
Snap Decision could make a case with a win – he captured the Grade 2 Gwathmey in April, finished second to Scaramanga in the Iroquois and was fourth (behind Merry Maker) in the Lonesome Glory. | |
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Jimmy P (pictured, ©Tod Marks) could also make a case with a win Saturday, though it would be his first stakes win (he won a handicap on the Iroquois undercard and was second in the Sheppard). Awakened won a Grade 1 at Saratoga and runs in the novice Saturday. A win there would be his third in five starts this year and could give him the earnings lead depending on what happens to the others.
If Irish invader Seddon or Salvador Ziggy wins the Grand National – both likely outcomes given their talents and the pending soft turf – the picture gets really murky.
We’ll know more – or less – Saturday afternoon.
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