Twenty-nine days. Seven meets. Thirty-eight races. And the season will be over. Slow to build and fast to go, that’s steeplechasing in America. As we say during Saratoga, sleep in September. When it comes to jump racing, sleep in December.
No sleeping today.
Eight of those races play out today at the International Gold Cup in The Plains, Va. Riverdee runs two on the card, the second biggest one of the fall season. Welshman takes on six rivals in the Grade 2 William H. Allison Stakes and Queens Empire faces seven foes in the International Gold Cup. We scratched Cool Jet who will possibly reroute to the Noel Laing at Montpelier next weekend and/or the Colonial Cup to finish the season.
Three-time champion and this year’s leader Graham Watters rides Welshman for the 15th time for Hall of Fame trainer Jack Fisher. The son of Flintshire finished second by a neck in the Grade 1 Lonesome Glory at Aqueduct in September and is 10-1 on the morning line in the $100,000 stakes. We might take a bit of that.
Post time 2 p.m.
One race later, our timber veteran Queens Empire (pictured above) takes on an audacious challenge as he squares off with Keys Discount, The Hero Next Door and five others in the $50,000 International Gold Cup timber stakes. Trained by Jack Fisher, Queens Empire finished 8 3/4 lengths behind Keys Discount at Shawan Downs. The favorite, also trained by Fisher, rides a four-race win streak into this. Stephen Mulqueen returns aboard the son of Empire Maker in the 3 1/2-mile stakes.
“For the first mile, I was at my wits’ end, just to stay with them, as you said, just coax him along,” Mulqueen said after Shawan. “The further I went, I was thinking, ‘whoa boy, back you come.’ Filled him up everywhere. He ran well. Electric jumper. Loves to be filled with confidence. I was getting to them and they just got the jump on me. He wants a slog, and he wants farther. He’s a class ride.”
