Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem Jul. 18, 2024

A good Thursday morning to you all! It’s Haskell Weekend and looks like it’s going to be a match up of the top two from the Belmont (G1) as the headliners. I gotta think that Mindframe is the favorite even though Dornoch repelled his challenge at the Spa last time out. This is of course provided Fierceness scratches. I’m truly curious how the public will bet Fierceness when he does return to the races. So much talent and if he’s right and can get his trip, he’s arguably the best of this bunch. But “ifs” are tough to take on horses that might be odds-on. 

Thorpedo Anna headlines the Spa feature this weekend with the CCA Oaks (G1) drawing a small but interesting field. The one horse who has beaten her is in the race, but the Golden Rod (G2) of 2023 seems a long way and several wins ago for Thorpedo Anna. On paper it seems like she should be on the lead or at worst sitting second and being first over on the outside. It will take a regression from her or someone jumping way up to beat her. Not exactly news to tell you that I suppose. 

I wanted to center this week’s column on steeplechase racing. Other than seeing highlights of jump races on television when I was younger, I truly knew nothing about them. I don’t know if we’ve ever really had them on the West Coast. When I got to Virginia I was surprised to learn how popular they were here in the Mid-Atlantic. We’ve always run them here at Colonial since I started in 2019 and it’s been a little bit of an education learning about this different discipline. So a couple observations from a steeplechase neophyte. 

This is a selfish, albeit much appreciated observation. The riders always, and I mean ALWAYS, show up in the right silks. Obviously as an announcer this is important to me as it’s the way we identify horses during the race. But to me it shows a pride in your horse and ownership of the horse when you have your colors representing your stable. A big part of how I remember Easy Goer is the black jacket and cherry cap of Phipps Stable. Zenyatta in the teal and pink of the Moss’s. The average flat race nowadays seems to have at least one and often several horses where the owners just use the house silks. I understand sometimes with horses shipping it can be tough, but I really appreciate and admire how much the steeplechase horses always run in their colors. 

Another point is how well horses can go between the jumps and the flats. By the way flats is just traditional Thoroughbred racing without jumps. What 99% of you think of when we talk “horse racing.” In 2021 when my friend Jessica Paquette started working as our analyst, she would often select horses who were coming out of jumps and racing on the flat. I remember my first couple years here I would always dismiss those horses. They seemed like such incredibly different styles of races, there’s no way horses could win coming off the jumps. Well they did. And several times that season. And several times since then. So don’t be scared if you see a horse going from the jumps to the flats, or vice versa. 

When I first started calling the jump races I remember being very nervous about falls. Again, I only knew what I’d seen on TV. I will say if you get a chance to watch these horses up close, do it. When they take the jumps in front of us, it’s absolutely beautiful to watch and listen to. 

Now as far as handicapping steeplechase races, I’m completely clueless. I have friends who love them and seem to do well at them. That’s my next quest with this discipline is to become better at handicapping them. One of the real cool things has been getting to call horses who were very good on the flat transition into their jumping careers. We’ve had graded stakes winners on the flats show up as maidens in a jump race. We’ve also seen great jump horses like Snap Decision show up and run amazing in flat races here. 

I think a tough part of steeplechase racing has to be the weather becomes even more of a factor. It’s one thing to come off the turf, but we don’t run steeplechase over dirt. So if it rains too much, they’re races just get canceled. I imagine it’s tough for owners and connections alike hoping the weather treats you well as you train up to a big race. 

So if you get a chance check out some jumpers at Colonial, Saratoga, or one many of the smaller jump tracks around the Mid-Aatlantic. It’s quite fun. 

Have a great weekend everyone!