Champion jumpers square off in Iroquois
May 10, 2014 0:37:06 GMT -5
Post by Jon on May 10, 2014 0:37:06 GMT -5
For the members that enjoy the jumps!
Champion jumpers square off in Iroquois
Brisnet
A stellar cast of nine will compete Saturday in the first major steeplechase event of the U.S. season, the Grade 1, $150,000 Calvin Houghland Iroquois. The three-mile event is held at Percy Warner Park in Nashville, Tennessee.
Leading the field are the past two Eclipse Award winners as champion steeplechaser, Divine Fortune and Pierrot Lunaire, and the 2013 Iroquois winner Demonstrative.
Divine Fortune, who at age 10 was voted 2013 champion off a flag-to-finish score in the sport's most lucrative event, the Grand National, is hoping the third time will be the charm in the Iroquois. The Jonathan Sheppard trainee has finished second in the past two runnings of the event, including a neck loss to Demonstrative last term.
Pierrot Lunaire was limited to just two starts last season, finishing fourth in the Grand National and sixth in the Colonial Cup. The charge of Calvin Houghland's widow, Pierrot Lunaire turned in a shocking upset win in the 2009 Iroquois, finished fourth in 2011 and was fifth during his championship campaign of 2012.
Demonstrative was unable to replicate his winning form after last year's Iroquois, finishing no better than third in four subsequent outings. He prepped for this in a 1 1/4-mile flat training race in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 26, where he finished fourth, one spot behind Divine Fortune.
Gustavian and Italian Wedding also merit respect in Saturday's race. Winner last September of the Lonesome Glory at Belmont Park, Gustavian was subsequently second to Divine Fortune in the Grand National and kicked off 2014 with a runner-up effort in the Temple Gwathmey at Middleburg, Virginia.
Italian Wedding, the second of Sheppard's two Iroquois entries, won the New York Turf Writers Cup at Saratoga last summer and placed in the A.P. Smithwick Memorial, Lonesome Glory, and Colonial Cup. He, too, contested the April 19 Temple Gwathmey, but was pulled up.
Another exiting the Temple Gwathmey is fifth-place finisher Molotof, who was 34 lengths behind in third in the 2013 Iroquois. Completing the field are For Non Stop, a 27 1/2-length allowance winner at Stone Mountain, Georgia, in his U.S. debut April 5; Fog Island, a past winner of the restricted Foxbrook Hurdle; and Virsito, who is unraced since capturing his first two starts over hurdles in 2012 at Percy Warner and Saratoga.
Divine Fortune, 2013 champion steeplechaser, has been the Iroquois runner-up the past two years (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography)
Champion jumpers square off in Iroquois
Brisnet
A stellar cast of nine will compete Saturday in the first major steeplechase event of the U.S. season, the Grade 1, $150,000 Calvin Houghland Iroquois. The three-mile event is held at Percy Warner Park in Nashville, Tennessee.
Leading the field are the past two Eclipse Award winners as champion steeplechaser, Divine Fortune and Pierrot Lunaire, and the 2013 Iroquois winner Demonstrative.
Divine Fortune, who at age 10 was voted 2013 champion off a flag-to-finish score in the sport's most lucrative event, the Grand National, is hoping the third time will be the charm in the Iroquois. The Jonathan Sheppard trainee has finished second in the past two runnings of the event, including a neck loss to Demonstrative last term.
Pierrot Lunaire was limited to just two starts last season, finishing fourth in the Grand National and sixth in the Colonial Cup. The charge of Calvin Houghland's widow, Pierrot Lunaire turned in a shocking upset win in the 2009 Iroquois, finished fourth in 2011 and was fifth during his championship campaign of 2012.
Demonstrative was unable to replicate his winning form after last year's Iroquois, finishing no better than third in four subsequent outings. He prepped for this in a 1 1/4-mile flat training race in Charlotte, North Carolina, on April 26, where he finished fourth, one spot behind Divine Fortune.
Gustavian and Italian Wedding also merit respect in Saturday's race. Winner last September of the Lonesome Glory at Belmont Park, Gustavian was subsequently second to Divine Fortune in the Grand National and kicked off 2014 with a runner-up effort in the Temple Gwathmey at Middleburg, Virginia.
Italian Wedding, the second of Sheppard's two Iroquois entries, won the New York Turf Writers Cup at Saratoga last summer and placed in the A.P. Smithwick Memorial, Lonesome Glory, and Colonial Cup. He, too, contested the April 19 Temple Gwathmey, but was pulled up.
Another exiting the Temple Gwathmey is fifth-place finisher Molotof, who was 34 lengths behind in third in the 2013 Iroquois. Completing the field are For Non Stop, a 27 1/2-length allowance winner at Stone Mountain, Georgia, in his U.S. debut April 5; Fog Island, a past winner of the restricted Foxbrook Hurdle; and Virsito, who is unraced since capturing his first two starts over hurdles in 2012 at Percy Warner and Saratoga.
Divine Fortune, 2013 champion steeplechaser, has been the Iroquois runner-up the past two years (NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography)