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Figured I would make a thread about this since the races at Colonial Downs and Saratoga are the highlight of the American jumps season and since we are essentially an outpost of Irish hurdling now I would make a dedicated thread for it!
The schedule, cribbed from the NSA press release https://paulickreport.com/news/thoroughbred-racing/steeplechase-summer-season-kicks-off-july-14-at-colonial-saratoga-jumps-races-start-july-19/):
“The summer season, which runs from July 14 through Sept. 8, offers steeplechasing the opportunity to broaden its appeal to a wider fan base, especially at Saratoga, the highest profile race meet in the U.S. All 25 races will be part of the flat-racing cards at Colonial on Fridays and Saratoga on Wednesdays. At both meets, the jump races will be at the beginning of the day. Post times at Colonial are 12:15 p.m. and 12:50 p.m. At Saratoga it’s 1:10 p.m. [times are eastern time]”
“Colonial
• July 14 open maiden and filly & mare maiden• July 21, open maiden and 115 ratings handicap
• July 28, filly & mare maiden and maiden starter handicap
• Aug. 4, open maiden and 110 ratings handicap
• Aug. 11, open maiden and Randolph Rouse stakes [for mares]
•Aug. 18, four-year-old maiden and 115 ratings handicap
• Aug. 25, maiden starter handicap and 110 ratings handicap
• Sept. 1, open maiden and four-year-old maiden
• Sept. 8, Life’s Illusion stakes [for mares] and 115 ratings handicap
Saratoga
• July 19, AP Smithwick stakes [G1 handicap]
• July 26, allowance
• Aug. 2, Jonathan Kiser novice stakes
• Aug. 9, allowance
• Aug. 16, Jonathan Sheppard stakes [G1 handicap]
• Aug. 23, Michael G. Walsh novice stakes
• Aug. 30, allowance”
Can you bet: YES, please bet on these races! The more people actually wager on them the more jumps races are carded. This is the first year Colonial is offering wagering on its jumps races, in previous years they were non-betting events before the main card. Any betting site or bookmaker with wagering on American tracks should have these.
How to watch: any simulcast source/betting website; Saratoga races should be broadcast on ATR or Sky racing and will be on youtube (not sure if region-locked) on America’s Day at the Races. Last couple seasons Colonial has streamed its jumps races on youtube but I am not sure if that will continue now that they are formally part of the card.Past performances can be purchased but are usually posted for free by https://twitter.com/USASteeplechase
NSA website https://nationalsteeplechase.com/Entries for tomorrow (Friday) https://nationalsteeplechase.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Colonial-TueEntries-July14-23.pdf
Nominations and weights for the AP Smithwick next Wednesday https://nationalsteeplechase.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/APS-Weights-2023.pdf NYRA handicappers continue to pull no punches with their weight spread. Salvino is being brought over for a very ambitious placing here. Even with the weight break I’m not sure he’s the type of racehorse who will do well on a fast track like Saratoga.
It’ll be interesting to see how many British and, especially, Irish horses are sent over.
Thanks for posting, Miss W! 👍
Love this!
I had already noticed on the RP app, one such contest coming up this week at Saratoga, but this gives a much fuller picture.
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It's the "Millwall FC" of Point broadcasts: "No One Likes Us - We Don't Care"Great post Miss Woodford. Foreign Jump racing is followed very little by the British press as you know, but your posts make it much more accessible
The A.P. Smithwick Memorial Handicap is this Wednesday. Nice big field, very evenly matched, mostly younger horses fresh out of the novice division. Snap Decision is skipping Saratoga entirely to focus on Far Hills (his trainer was understandably displeased that Hewick was voted as Champion Steeplechaser entirely due to one race while Snap’s Saratoga heroics were ignored), and Iroquois winner Scaramanga is back in Ireland, so these big summer races are wide open.
https://www.equibase.com/static/entry/SAR071923USA1-EQB.html
Freddie Flintshire is the morning line favorite and he was the most visually impressive winner this spring in the Queen’s Cup and he has a win at Saratoga but he is making his first start in open stakes’ company. His biggest competition is the other American-bred 5yo Welshman who was an easy winner in a G2 last out, but Welshman is not as much of a “racetrack horse”.
Frequent flyer Danny Mullins is coming in to ride Keri Brion’s Historic Heart, while Gavin Sheehan is keeping his mount aboard the Irish invader Salvino. Also Robbie Dunne is riding here for the summer…no comment.Also I may have been mistaken about whether the Colonial races are open for wagering or not, they showed up as non-wagering events on Friday.
Saratoga got a ton of rain last night so turf is now GOOD.
It looks like Sky Sports Racing will be showing the Smithwick.
Saratoga has a new track announcer this year (Frank Miramahdi) and I don’t know if he’s ever called a jumps race before…this might be amusing.Belfast Banter upsets the AP Smithwick at 16-1, winning by 5+ lengths in hand over Historic Heart and Freddy Flintshire. He might be back to his old UK form. I’m sure the lower weight helped as well. Not a bad call by Miramahdi.
It’s Cyril Murphy’s first G1 win at Saratoga as a trainer, congrats to him.He was moving very smoothly towards the end of the back straight. It was very enjoyable race and I think quite a few of them could become G1 winners in the US.
I wonder how much they paid for Belfast Banter.Here is something interesting about the winner
Today at Saratoga: an allowance race for non-winners of 2 races over fences. Shorter field but not a bad one. The favorite Hoffman is only eligible for this condition because he was disqualified from his 20+ length victory last out due to going off course (that is, outside the traffic cones set up in the middle of a field). Shouldn’t have to worry as much about that on a real racecourse. Rest of the field is evenly matched, aside from Salvino who runs back off a short rest sans blinkers. Salvino will be headed to Leslie Young’s barn after this start.
Beat Le Bon led most of the race but L’Imperator made a strong move into the stretch to win going away. L’Imperator is a G2 winner on the flat, most recently finished up the track in the Belmont Gold Cup but now has 2 wins and 2 3rd-place finishes in his 4 starts over fences this season.
One criticism of Frank Miramahdi, he never mentions how a horse got over a fence and if they made a mistake. Would be helpful for the Saratoga audience that isn’t used to watching jumps races.
McTigue won the Jonathan Kiser Novice Stakes, Gerard Galligan picking up the mount for Barry Foley who was injured in training yesterday. The lone American horse in the field Awakened made a game effort to finish second.
Colonial’s chasing was cancelled on Friday due to rain and now Saratoga’s hurdle is cancelled tomorrow :( Moisture level is probably ideal for chasing actually but Saratoga’s taking no chances after yesterday’s issues.
Following additional rain today, Wednesday’s steeplechase event at Saratoga Race Course @TheNYRA has been cancelled and will be brought back on August 16th. The G1 Jonathan Sheppard scheduled for August 16 has been moved to August 23 replacing the Michael Walsh novice stakes.
— Patrick McKenna (@PCMckenna) August 7, 2023
Beat Le Bon stood out to me on this thread , I thought he had retired years ago , was out in Australia in 2019 and put up decent effort in Golden Eagle at Rosehill over 7 and half furlongs . I see from equibase he had his first win for 4 years a few months ago in a maiden hurdle at a track called Tyron .
I had to double check as thought surely it’s not the same horse but it is . Good to read he is in form again .
What’s Tyron like as a track ??Gold Charm won the Randolph D. Rouse Stakes for fillies and mares at Colonial today with a tremendoues move in the stretch (watch the race replay here https://www.youtube.com/live/yTjo7DW6Z4w?feature=share&t=2181, yes the audio is terrible and yes they skip the last fence in the final turn for “safety” reasons). She was a low-class handicap horse on the flat but since being imported to the US and switched to jumps she has really found her stride. I’d like to see her run in the big novice stakes at Aqueduct next month.
“What’s Tyron like as a track ??”
Tryon is the Tryon International Equestrian Center & Resort, which typically holds horse shows but also hosts the Tryon Block House races every spring (it’s named “Block House” because it was formerly held at a course with an old brick tavern in the center). Haven’t been there but it looks like a fairly typical southern hunt meet, which is to say a big grass field with a horde of drunk college students in the infield.
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