For those Fauquier residents why not take advantage of the reduced ticket price for the Int’l Gold Cup at Great Meadow?
Fauquier County residents can save $10 on general admission tickets to the International Gold Cup Races on Saturday, Oct. 19, at Great Meadow near The Plains.
The steeplechase tickets normally sell for $55, admitting a vehicle and up to six people.
The price drops to $45 for county residents if they purchase tickets at the Virginia Gold Cup office at 90 Main St. in Warrenton.
[QUOTE=Hunter’s Rest;7184884]
Great Meadow, he said, is the only meet with enough jingle to do this. Maybe, someday, Montpelier, they figure, but now only VGC and IGC because they have the crowd, and the money to set it up.[/QUOTE]
HR - you weren’t kidding about the amount of scratch required! Per Fauquier Now - Race officials have invested about $80,000 in the secure Wi-Fi network at Great Meadow, which has antenna on the public address system speaker poles, Gold Cup association Chairman William H. Allison explained.
Early in the year, they planned to have a wireless network and betting via mobile devices. But, the logistical challenges — including a change in the county zoning ordinance — took more time.
Race officials have invested about $80,000 in the secure Wi-Fi network at Great Meadow, which has antenna on the public address system speaker poles, Gold Cup association Chairman William H. Allison explained.
The use of mobile devices should make wagering on the ponies easier and faster Saturday.
If pari-mutuel at Great Meadow grows, he envisions larger pursues, with more money available to owners of Virginia-bred horses.
“Gold Cup has taken the first step,” said veteran horseman Mike Pearson, who serves as a consultant to the association. “It has made Virginia breeds preferred (for entry slots) in all races.”
“You can’t imagine how much work has gone into this,” Dr. Allison said.
Any Wi-Fi enabled device — smartphones, tablets and laptops — will work with the system.
United Tote also will have five tents with kiosks at Saturday’s races for those who want to wager that way. Those tents also will provide payouts for those who want to cash in their cards.
Fingers crossed for a great turn-out and large handle.
(pdf)Saturday’s entries - with ok size fields and the signature race with just 7.
Clearly NJ is taking away many of the would be entries with their fatter purses - including several Virginians shipping up north such as Rose Marie Bogley, Clarke Ohrstrom, and Magalen O. Bryant. Not one horse trained the whole day by Jonathan Sheppard in VA, instead he has many at Far Hills.
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;7216234]
Not one horse trained the whole day by Jonathan Sheppard in VA, instead he has many at Far Hills.[/QUOTE]
From ‘This Is Horse Racing’ - 14 October 2013 “Sheppard stars work at Fair Hill”
excerpt
Sheppard worked eight horses bound for steeplechase starts at Saturday’s Far Hills Races in New Jersey. … They all worked 6 furlongs, most in about 1:14, and looked sharp doing it.
“I like to give them good, strong works coming into a race,” said Sheppard between sets. “There are all different ways of doing it. Some people like giving them a real hard work their second to last work and then a nice easy one for the last one. This is kind of the way I’ve always done it, lay them down a little bit.”
The article cites the work schedule for the string going to Jersey this weekend.
For Sheppard’s Far Hills runners, the last week of the schedule went something like this:
• Monday: Maintenance breezes on the wood-chip track at the farm, where a fast 6-furlong move gets clocked in 1:20, a slow one in 1:25.
• Tuesday: 1 3/8-mile gallops on the same track (in the rain last week).
• Wednesday: Gallops in the Hundred Acre Field. They travel the figure-eight path three times and finish fast along Lamborntown Road for a quarter-mile. They cover roughly 1 5/8 miles, not counting the hack to the field and back.
• Thursday: Back to the wood chips. Gallops of 1 7/8 miles (in the rain).
• Friday: Gallops in the “clover field,” again nearly 2 miles.
• Saturday: Up Hannum’s Hill, twice. As the name says, it’s a hill. You could sled on it. The horses hack from the barn, cross two roads and go to work. Gallop up, walk down, gallop up again, hack home.
• Sunday: Two more gallops up Hannum’s Hill.
Bing Map - Jonathan Sheppard training facility in Pennsylvania. Egg-shaped, wood-chip track in lower center, 100-acre field at top center (bordered by Route 842 and Lamborntown Road).
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;7217793]
Bing Map - Jonathan Sheppard training facility in Pennsylvania. Egg-shaped, wood-chip track in lower center, 100-acre field at top center (bordered by Route 842 and Lamborntown Road).[/QUOTE]
Its shape calls to mind Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Vic, Aus.
Re: Far Hills, NJ and today’s big steeplechase
Rather disappointing that the NJ paper decided to show a picture of ‘Extraextraordinary’ down before euthanizing it 
caution with link - “Horse injured on track was euthanized after Far Hills Race, association says”
RIP Extraordinary. I’m not sure how I feel about jump racing, it’s fun to watch but I’m always on the edge of my seat waiting for a bad spill.
Equibase - chart and wagering info for the Great Meadow races - unless I’m missing something the wagering was exceedingly below par
Example - $7,007 for the win, place, show pool total with the Int’l Gold Cup; Exacta pool $444; Trifecta pool $557
From the Central Entry Office - full results and description
On the NSA site they have photos [see bottom right] from Tod Marks at Far Hills - with a sensationally crazy jump shot: Robbie Walsh is literally flying by the seat of his pants aboard Faerie Hill’s Port Morsbey in the New Jersey Hunt Cup at Far Hills. They finished sixth. - wow!
Tod Marks at Far Hills with a sensationally crazy jump shot: Robbie Walsh is literally flying by the seat of his pants aboard Faerie Hill’s Port Morsbey in the New Jersey Hunt Cup at Far Hills. They finished sixth. - wow!
Thisishorseracing.com has the shot! Credit to Tod Marks - “… and mission control we have liftoff” 
Full set of pictures from Far Hills, NJ here - click on the image of Ross Geraghty & Robbie Walsh at weigh in.
From Great Meadow with the Int’l Gold Cup - (image) Kieran Norris riding Foyle winning by 3/4 length over Straight to It ridden by Andre Brewster.
The crowd size for Far Hills was pegged at between 30k & 35k, down from 40k in years past when the booze flowed freely.
Btw a picture (Tod Marks) of the late Extraextraordinary at Saratoga in the paddock. I don’t know who his handler is in the shot. This summer he finished 3rd in both Michael G. Walsh Novice Stakes and Jonathan Kiser Novice Stakes.
Not such great publicity for Far Hills from The Daily Mail - passed along on FB…
[QUOTE=CVPeg;7229124]
Not such great publicity for Far Hills from The Daily Mail - passed along on FB…
I’m utterly speechless. That was perhaps one of the worst 'article’s I’ve seen. With its a heavy hand of being anti-wealth and more than a hint of anti-white. I get that the Brits hate the Chavs, but the tailgating frat boy look & activities isn’t Chav.
I thought it more efficient to park this video here of activities across the pond with getting chasing horses in shape and active despite the winter temps.
It looks chilly there in Newmarket, but is nothing like the brutal conditions in US with the assorted strings also being kept in shape.
Video: Newmarket (UK) Dec 12, 2013 - jumpers using the flat facility in December
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