By Don Clippinger
For the top level of American steeplechase racing, a new season begins Thursday in Belmont Park's GI Lonesome Glory H. With two leading contenders out of action for the rest of the year, the battle for the 2017 Eclipse Steeplechase Award is wide open.
With Grade I winners Scorpiancer (Ire) (Scorpion {Ire}) and Diplomat (Kitten's Joy) sidelined by training injuries, Robert A. Kinsley's Modem (GB) (Motivator {GB}) has an opportunity to move to the top of the ladder. But he has to deliver all the way to the winner's circle.
Trained by Elizabeth Voss, Modem was favored in both of Saratoga's top-level steeplechase races, the GI A. P. Smithwick Memorial Hurdle H. July 27 and the GI New York Turf Writers Cup Hurdle H. Aug. 24, and he finished second in both races to longshots.
To be sure, the Saratoga races showed that he could handle top-level competition in his first U.S. starts, and he ran on to the finish in both. He will carry the 156-pound highweight for the Lonesome Glory's 2 1/2 miles.
The Lonesome Glory has been a turnaround race in the past. Bruton Street-US's Scorpiancer won the Lonesome Glory last September for his first Grade I win and followed up this May with a decisive victory in the GI Calvin Houghland Iroquois Hurdle S. at Nashville.
In 2012, Mary Ann Houghland's Pierrot Lunaire (War Chant) upset the Lonesome Glory at 48.75-to-1 and then won the GI Grand National Hurdle S. at Far Hills, N.J., to claim that year's Eclipse Award as champion steeplechase horse.
In need of a turnaround is Rosbrian Farm's Swansea Mile (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}), who upset the Smithwick at 28.50-to-1 and then was nowhere to be found when fifth behind Diplomat in the New York Turf Writers.
Also seeking a form reversal is Mighty Acorn Stables' Casino Markets (Ire) (Fruits of Love), who arrived in the U.S. with high hopes and ran eighth in the New York Turf Writers for English trainer Emma Lavelle.
The Lonesome Glory also will be an opportunity for comebacks. Harold A. “Sonny” Via's Hinterland (Fr) (Poliglote {GB}), second in the 2015 Lonesome Glory, missed more than 18 months before coming back with a well-beaten second in the Iroquois.
The Lonesome Glory will be a chance for older warriors to shine. Gillian Johnston's Mr. Hot Stuff (Tiznow), who like Hinterland is trained by Jack Fisher, competed in the 2009 classics, won the 2013 Smithwick, and just missed in the 2015 Iroquois. Most recently, he finished seventh in the New York Turf Writers.
Prominent owner Irvin S. Naylor will be represented by Charminster (Ire) (Broadway Flyer), a Grade II winner last year at age 10, who most recently was sixth in the Smithwick.
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