Winston C Tops NY Turf Writers

[Wandering Eyes]

Hudson River Farms’ Winston C (Ire) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}) will be a heavy favorite to win Saratoga Race Course’s New York Turf Writers Cup Hurdle H. Thursday, and will start as the 154-pound highweight after manhandling a similar field four weeks earlier in Saratoga’s A. P. Smithwick Memorial Hurdle S.

Trained by Racing Hall of Fame horseman Jonathan Sheppard, Winston C will concede eight or more pounds to his opponents, seven of whom finished in his wake in his 3 1/2-length Smithwick victory. The eighth opponent, The Fields Stable’s Portrade (Ire) (Fair Trade {GB}), was on the Smithwick standby list and did not draw into the full field of 12.

Although no longer notable, the New York Turf Writers field contains only one U.S.-bred horse, Buttonwood Farm’s All the Way Jose (Senor Swinger), trained by Sheppard and also bred by him. The east-to-west trade in hurdle horses from England and Ireland remains strong, with several notable pipelines.

An emerging pipeline is retired jump jockey Noel Fehily, who last year recommended Optimus Prime (Fr) (Deportivo {GB}) to Rosbrian’s George and Mandy Mahoney and their principal trainer, Ricky Hendriks. Optimus Prime landed in May and won the New York Turf Writers in late August.

Before his retirement, Fehily rode Winston C to his maiden victory at Wincanton in January. For his budding bloodstock business, he teamed up with Thomas Garner, an accomplished young steeplechase jockey who has been riding in the U.S. this year. Fehily believed Winston C would fare well in the U.S., and Garner shopped the five-year-old to Sheppard and his team, who in turn approached Hudson River Farms’ Edward Swyer, an Albany, N.Y., developer who always likes to have a Saratoga horse. In his first start off the plane, Winston C ran a creditable third in the Iroquois Steeplechase’s Marcellus Frost Champion Hurdle S. for novices, beaten three-quarters of a length after leaving himself with too much ground to make up in the early going on May 11.

He conceded a lot of ground to his Smithwick opponents in the early going, but he was ready to run after the last fence on Saratoga’s backstretch, went up by a length at the furlong marker, and was pulling away at the finish line.

Leading trainer Jack Fisher is on the verge of his fifth million-dollar season–no other National Steeplechase Association trainer has reached that landmark–and he may well cross into seven figures before the fall equinox. The Maryland-based horseman has been doing well this year with horses from all compass points, although his three New York Turf Writers starters carry country codes. Harold A. “Sonny” Via Jr.’s Hinterland (Fr) (Poliglote {GB}) finished an even third in the Smithwick, and Riverdee Stable’s Gibralfaro (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}) was fourth.

 

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