jonathan sheppard | Horse Racing Free Tips

National Steeplechase Association To Livestream Saturday’s Races From Middleburg

Nine races with purses totaling $115,000 are up for grabs at Saturday's Virginia Fall Races at Glenwood Park in Middleburg, as the National Steeplechase Association (NSA) returns to the Old Dominion for the second straight week. Because of ongoing COVID-19 protocols, the event will be run without spectators, but you can still enjoy the races in real time via live stream broadcast.

All told, 94 horses were entered in the final overnights. The expansive nine-race card, with a first-race post time of 12:30 p.m., is anchored by the National Sporting Library and Museum Cup (the fourth race of the afternoon), which will be run as a timber stake as a result of a purse bump from $15,000 to $25,000.

The 3 ¼-mile test features a lineup of eight veterans including Irv Naylor's Super Saturday, runner up to Andi'amu in last year's running, and Armata Stable's Grand Manan, who finished second in the race in 2017. Two other contenders, S. Rebecca Shepherd's Curve of Stones, and Sheila J. Williams' and Northwood Stable's Storm Team had previously broken their timber maidens over the course. Charlie Fenwick's Royal Ruse comes into the stake off of a 15-length triumph in a non-sanctioned open timber event at Shawan Downs two weeks ago. Up-and-coming apprentice Skylar McKenna has the mount for her aunt, trainer Sanna Neilson. Also in the field is Upland Partners Mystic Strike, winner of the 2019 Pennsylvania Hunt Cup. Mystic Strike finished second to Royal Ruse at Shawan.

The card also includes three maiden hurdles, a handicap for horses rated at 115 or lower, a timber maiden, steeplethon over natural brush and timber fences, and a timber race and training-flat contest, both restricted to apprentice jockeys.

There's an interesting footnote to the fifth race, the $10,000 Daniel P. Sands Cup maiden hurdle for 3- and 4-year-olds. One of the entries making his debut over jumps is Irv Naylor's Junior Senator. If the name conjures memories of another horse with a similar name, it's not a coincidence. Junior Senator, a 4-year-old gelded son of Smarty Jones out of the mare Queen Kennelot, is a half brother to the legendary Senior Senator, the three-time winner of the Maryland Hunt Cup. Junior Senator ran eight times at Laurel over the flat for trainer Billy Meister, winning once.

Looking at the leaderboard entering Saturday's races at Middleburg, trainer Jonathan Sheppard, who had a hot hand at Saratoga and saddled one winner at the Foxfield Fall Races in Charlottesville, Va., last Sunday, has an 11 to 10 edge in victories over conditioner Jack Fisher. Among jockeys, Gerard Galligan has eight victories, one more than Michael Mitchell, and two more than Tom Garner and Sean McDermott.

If you choose to watch the races via the live stream, you can print print out the program entries by going to the NSA web site, www.nationalsteeplechase.com, and clicking on the link for Entries. The livestream is sponsored by Brown Advisory, Charleston's The Post and Courier, Bruton Street-US, and the Virginia Equine Alliance.

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‘One Of Those Races You Aspire To Win’: Motion Readying Mean Mary, Secret Message For Diana

Trainer Graham Motion has reached the heights of the sport, winning four Breeders' Cup races along with the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. But the Diana, for older fillies and mares on turf at Saratoga, is one prestigious race that has eluded him.

After saddling the runner-up finisher on five occasions, Motion will look to break through, sending out two contenders in Mean Mary and Secret Message in Sunday's 82nd running of the Grade 1, $500,000 Diana going 1 1/8 miles on the Mellon turf course.

Motion has come as close as possible to training the winner of the Diana without having a horse cross the wire first, with Ultra Brat losing by a nose to Sistercharlie in 2018. Quidura (2017), Shared Account (2010), and Sweet Talker (2006) all lost by a head, while Aruna was beaten 1 1/2 lengths in a second-place effort in 2011.

Even before his training career, Motion experienced bad beats in the Diana. Working for trainer Jonathan Sheppard, Motion was the exercise rider of the filly Wooing, who as a 32-1 shot finished first in the race in 1989 but was disqualified for interference and placed behind Glowing Honor.

“Since I've worked for Jonathan Sheppard, it's been a race I've always pointed horses towards,” Motion said. “I even galloped a filly that got disqualified in this race, so it's been a bit of a nemesis for me. It's one of those races that you aspire to win. It's a race that has amazing history and with me training turf horses, and specifically turf fillies, it's always been a race that I've wanted to try and win and try to compete in every year.”

Motion's contenders make up one-third of the small-but-accomplished six-horse field that features the Chad Brown-trained duo of 3-2 favorite Rushing Fall and Sistercharlie [5-2], who will be looking to become the first horse in the Diana's history to win it three consecutive years.

Alex G. Campbell, Jr.'s Mean Mary drew the outside post with Luis Saez aboard. Listed at 3-1, she enters 3-for-3 in her 4-year-old campaign and with four consecutive wins overall dating to a December victory over optional claimers at Gulfstream Park.

In her 2020 bow, she wired a 10-horse field going 1 ½ miles to win the Grade 3 La Prevoyante by five lengths in January at Gulfstream and again won over the track in the 1 3/8-mile Grade 3 Orchid in March. Last out, she was shortened to 1 ¼ miles and responded with a stellar 5 ¼-length score in the Grade 2 New York that netted Mean Mary her first career triple digit Beyer Speed Figure at 101.

Since making her debut running fifth on dirt in September, Mean Mary has won five of her six turf starts and came in second in the other; a one-mile allowance contest in November at Aqueduct Racetrack.

“She impressed me when she broke her maiden and she's just continued to improve,” Motion said. “When she ran in the stake the first time [the La Prevoyante], it was more about the races that were available to her, and I just had a feeling she'd handle the extra distance and she handled it well.”

After proving she likes longer distances, Motion said the 1 1/8-mile Diana will be a good indicator as he prepares her for a potential start in the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at 1 3/16-miles in November at Keeneland.

“She's been pointing to this race for a long time,” Motion said. “With the Breeders' Cup, I need to find out if she can handle these shorter distances. She certainly did before we started running her at these longer races, but not at this level. She's trained really well for this race and hasn't really missed a beat.”

Secret Message, owned by Madaket Stables, Heider Family Stables, ERJ Racing, Elayne Stables Five and Steve Bouchey, is the longest shot on the board in the Diana at 20-1, drawing post 2 with Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard.

The 5-year-old daughter of Hat Trick is also coming off a short turnaround after running third in last week's Perfect Sting at the Spa. After running sixth in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on July 11 at Keeneland, won by Rushing Fall, Secret Message earned blacktype in the 1 1/16-mile Perfect Sting on August 14 and will wheel right back.

“The racing this year has been different because it's come up so competitive even though it's listed races,” Motion said. “We feel like we haven't been able to run her as much as we normally would. The fact that she's a big, robust filly; we felt she could handle a quick turnaround. She really ran the last quarter-mile last weekend and really sprinted home. She sprinted home as fast as anyone.”

Motion is approaching 2,500 career wins [2,477 entering Friday] and won the 2011 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom, who also ran second in that year's Grade 1 Preakness. He has earned placing in the other two American Classics, saddling runner-up Irish War Cry in the 2017 Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and Icabad Crane to a third-place effort in the 2008 Preakness. He won last year's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Sharing and is a two-time winner of the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf with Main Sequence (2014) and Better Talk Now (2004). Shared Account won the 2010 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

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Rashaan Earns First North American Victory In New York Turf Writers Cup

Rashaan didn't arrive in the United States until his 7-year-old campaign in 2019. On Thursday, he proved to his connections that he was worth the wait, leading a six-horse field out of the final hurdles and fending off stablemate Redicean's stretch-drive push to win the Grade 1, $100,000 New York Turf Writers Cup steeplechase in the card's opener at Saratoga Race Course.

Making just his fourth North American start, Rashaan won his first graded stakes and first since shipping from his native Ireland last year, posting a two-length score in the 2 3/8-mile race over the firm inner turf course.

Pravalaguna led the field and was still in command heading over the ninth and final hurdle with Rashaan tracking close in second under jockey Thomas Garner. Into the flat portion of the race, Rashaan overtook the pacesetter and was set down entering the stretch.

Straightening for home, Redicean, also trained by Young, made a bid to Rashaan's inside, but Garner kept his charge alert and they dueled in the final sixteenth before drawing away, posting a final time of 4:34.20.

Garner, who won the New York Turf Writers Cup for the second straight year after piloting the Jonathan Sheppard-trained Winston C in 2019, had his choice to ride either Rashaan and Redicean entering Thursday and said he doubted his selection only for a moment.

“The plan was to be handy with him,” Garner said. “He's a horse that's not easy at all. He has all the ability in the world, but it's only on his terms. Training him at home, if he doesn't want to train in the morning, he won't go anywhere. He's a real tricky one.

“The team did a great job with him,” he added. “I ride him every day. He's a happy horse and he really enjoyed his work. I came here hopeful rather than confident, I actually thought the better horse was Redicean and I'd made the wrong choice but he put his best foot forward. He's got so much ability and when he wants to do it, there's not a lot that will get by him.”

Owned by Bruton Street-US, Rashaan was a 13-time winner in Europe in a career that started in 2015. Trained by Leslie Young, he did not finish his first start in the country in the Grade 1 Grand National Hurdle on October 19 at Far Hills before running back seven days later to finish fifth in the Grade 2 David L. Ferguson Memorial Hurdle.

Off an eight-month break, Rashaan earned his first North American blacktype by running third in the Grade 3 Temple Gwathmey Hurdle on June 13 at Glenwood Park At Middleburg before earning a trip to the winner's circle in his Saratoga debut.

“Rashaan has all of the ability. He's won 13 races in Ireland and he was bred by the Aga Khan and is related well to serious flat horses,” Young said. “He had been training very well. We had a horse win last week and they all worked very well, but he was doing it very easily. I thought if he could just do this in a race without overthinking it.

Off at 8-1, Rashaan returned $18 on $2 win wager. He improved his career earnings to $358,687.

His stablemate, Redicean, was fourth in the Grade 1 A.P. Smithwick Memorial on July 23 at Saratoga but finished 3 ¾ lengths clear of 8-5 Moscato for second. That marked Redicean's best finish in six starts, with his previous win coming at the Spa in last year's Jonathan Kiser Novice.

“Redicean had also been training very well and last time when he ran in the A.P. we got a little bit excited, and I think he likes to go on a little longer,” Young said. “We were hopeful going in today and we're happy it worked out.”

Gibralfaro, 8-5 favorite and defending New York Turf Writers Cup-winner Optimus Prime and Pravalaguna completed the order of finish. Belisarius and Zanjabeel scratched.

Live racing resumes Friday at Saratoga with a nine-race card that includes the Grade 1, $85,000 Skidmore for 2-year-olds in Race 3 going 5 ½ furlongs on turf at 2:20 p.m. First post is 1:10 p.m.

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