The entries for this Saturday's running of the Radnor Hunt Steeplechase races are now registered and official. The brother of one of my hunting buddies has a horse entered in the first race: Michael Moran is saddling Short Shrift in this race. Ridden by Jockey Xavier Aizpur, and trained by Jack Fisher, I suspect this entry will be a betting favorite in this 2 3/8 mile "maiden" race. Fisher is a top flight trainer who is enjoying great success this season, Moran is a savvy owner with a good eye for timber jumpers. After all, he owned McDynamo, one of the most successful steeplechase horses in recent times. Jockey Aizpuru is no slouch either.
Race fans are hoping that the weather inproves as we have not seen the Sun around here in ages. The recent rains will however make for a nice soft course that is easy on the horse, even if there are a few sloppy spots.
Hopefully the sun will come out! I wouls also hate for it to be a rainy Preakness! I just posted about a steeplechase race this am!
ReplyDeleteGood luck to Short Shift!
ReplyDeleteHere's a tip from the stable. Grinding Speed. They actually cross entered him in the Stake in case the entry box was light. Couple of hard hitters there so the conditioned allowance is where they go.
ReplyDeleteMy partners and I were the underbidders on him at the Timonium 2yo in Training sale. We knew he needed lots of time and thought he would make a useful flat allowance horse on the turf. Unfortunately, he was grabbed for $20K by one of those vanity stables out of Penn National. Completely mismanaged they wound up giving him away for free when he couldn't win cheap on the dirt.