Fall Steeplechase begins Saturday 10/22/2008 11:55 PM
By BEN BAUGH Staff writer
The 17th Aiken Fall Steeplechase meet Saturday at Ford Conger Field will feature five races on this year's card, four over hurdles and one training flat race.
The day's fourth race, The Southern Bank and Trust Holiday Cup, a 2 ¼-mile allowance contest over National Fences, is certain to generate a great deal of interest.
A field of nine entries will contest the race. Among the horses running in Saturday's feature include Brianne Slater's Second Approval. The 6-year-old son of Lasting Approval broke his maiden over jumps at Colonial Downs on July 15, 2007, and lifetime has two wins from 15 starts, and has placed third twice bankrolling $44,234.
Belknap County is another 6-year-old who bears watching. The son of More Than Ready broke his maiden in a 2-mile race over hurdles last Nov. 3 at Montpelier. Julie Gomena conditions the bay gelding who races in the silks of Greg Ryan, who will be in the irons on Saturday.
The veteran Sunshine Numbers whose last start was in the 2 1/4 mile David L. Zeke Ferguson Memorial at Colonial Downs on July 13, returns in The Southern Bank and Trust Holiday Cup. The horse is campaigned by Mrs. George Sensor, and placed fifth in the National Hunt Cup on May 17, with trainer Arch Kinglsey Jr. in the irons. The durable campaigner has made 36 starts, but it will only be the fifth start over jumps for the six-year old gelding. Jody Petty, who led National Steeplechase Association jockeys in wins in 2005, has drawn the riding assignment. Sunshine Numbers broke his maiden impressively at Stoneybrook in Raeford, N.C., on April 5, by 13 1/4-lenghts with Petty in the irons. The son of Polish Numbers has four lifetime wins, and has bankrolled $52,568.
"I've been training Sunshine Numbers and Pleasant Pick off the farm," said Kingsley, Jr., in a phone interview Wednesday. "I moved them to Springdale Race Course tonight. He's difficult to train at the racetrack. I've changed some things up, and I won't be able to tell you how things went until later on Saturday afternoon. He's a high strung horse and I've used a different approach."
Another son of Polish Numbers will contest Saturday's race, Prep School, the 7-year-old will have two-time leading jockey Matt McCarron in the irons, and he's conditioned by Hall of Fame Trainer Jonathan Sheppard. The horse, purchased for $7,500 at the 2002 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and pinhooked for $25,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Mid-Atlantic Two Year-Olds in Training Sale, raced initially on the flat before breaking his maiden over hurdles on May 20, 2007, at Lexington by one length. Prep School has earned $186,115. He placed fourth his last time out in an allowance race on Oct. 12 at Philadelphia Park.
"He has loads of talent, hopefully, I'll be able to coax some of it out of him," said McCarron, in a phone interview Wednesday. "I hope he gets a good jumping trip. A fast race should help us."
Sheppard will be in Arcadia, Calif., saddling Forever Together in the Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf tomorrow, and he believes Prep School will be competitive.
"His last out was an improvement," said Sheppard, in a phone interview Wednesday, who said Prep School doesn't like the soft ground. "This should be a slightly easier spot. He's training well. He likes to come from off the pace and run at horses."
The gates open at 9:30 a.m. Saturday for the Fall Steeplechase, with the Village of Vendors Shops opening at 10 a.m. The first race is scheduled for 1 p.m. For more information , call 648-9641 or visit www.aikensteeplechase.com.
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