Only a week ago, the question was whether any of 14 other nominees to Saratoga Racecourse's GI A. P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase S. could upset Optimus Prime (Fr) (Deportivo {GB}), the current season's top-rated hurdler. But a training injury has put Rosbrian Farm's star hurdler on the sidelines for the rest of the year, and [...]

Bruton Street-US's Scorpiancer (Ire) (Scorpion {Ire}) is back. He's back at the top level, and on Saturday he returned to the winner's circle after prevailing in the G1 Calvin Houghland Iroquois Steeplechase S. for the second time in three years. A world of difference separated those two efforts, though. He all but danced over the [...]

Top steeplechase trainer Jack Fisher's spring season last year was, in a word, crummy. He could hardly buy a victory, and he reached the summer recess with all of seven wins. Of course, he made up ground through the summer and fall to claim his seventh straight title by wins. What a difference a year [...]

The Irish came to Far Hills, N.J., they liked what they found in many ways, and they conquered. Sideways Syndicate's Jury Duty (Ire) (Well Chosen {GB}), the heavily favored vanguard of an unprecedented Irish invasion, took command on the final turn of America's richest steeplechase race and rolled clear to a 3 1/4-length victory Saturday. [...]

The Irish are coming, in droves. So are the English. Money talks, and North America's richest steeplechase race, the G1 $450,000 Grand National, caught the interest of overseas trainers who filled American-bound flights with entries for Saturday's featured race of the 98th annual Far Hills Races. Of nine entries for the 2 5/8-mile hurdle race, [...]

While betting has not been a major component of jump racing for nearly a half-century, steeplechase meets over the next two weekends will offer a trifecta of large crowds, pari-mutuel wagering, and high-definition video coverage. Kicking off the jump-racing Octoberfest will be the 98th annual Far Hills Races in central New Jersey, where $850,000 in [...]

Saratoga Race Course's big-money races are hard to ignore, but trainer Ricky Hendriks had a plan for Zanjabeel (GB) (Aussie Rules) after his relatively easy victory in the G1 Calvin Houghland Iroquois in May. The ultimate goal is to get to the Far Hills Race' G1 $450,000 Grand National Oct. 20, with Belmont Park's G1 [...]

American steeplechasing increasingly is an international sport, with horses formerly based in England and Ireland filling the stables of U.S. owners. While horses bred overseas have had an influence on the American sport for decades, the growing interest in finding the right horse for U.S. jump racing is evident in the field for Thursday's $175,000 [...]

George Mahoney Jr. is one of those rare owners who says that winning isn't everything. And he means it. But Mahoney, who owns Rosbrian Farm in Maryland with wife Mandy, has been winning a lot of late. Rosbrian currently leads the National Steeplechase Association owner standings by earnings and has the year's leading earner, Zanjabeel [...]

A British expat steeplechasing enthusiast once commented that many overseas jumps trainers are so focused on their home ground that they could not find America on a world map. Gordon Elliott, the master of Cullnetra House in Ireland's County Meath, suffers from no such geographic shortcoming. He has made repeated forays to the United States, [...]

A British expat steeplechasing enthusiast once commented that many overseas jumps trainers are so focused on their home ground that they could not find America on a world map. Gordon Elliott, the master of Cullnetra House in Ireland's County Meath, suffers from no such geographic shortcoming. He has made repeated forays to the United States, [...]

Ushering in a new era for American jump racing, the National Steeplechase Association (NSA) will institute high-definition video imagery at all of its race meets beginning next month. “This is indeed a new day for our sport,” said NSA President Guy J. Torsilieri. “Stuart Janney, The Jockey Club's chairman, recently called for all Thoroughbred races [...]