Sonny Via’s two-time steeplechase champion GOOD NIGHT SHIRT (Concern) stands
on the brink of history as the jumps circuit travels to Nashville, Tennessee on
Saturday for the 68th running of the prestigious Iroquois Steeplechase (NSA-G1)
at Percy Warner Park. Good Night Shirt will try to become the first horse in the
history of the Iroquois to win the race three years in a row. First run in 1941,
the $150,000 Iroquois headlines a star-studded card that features three other
stakes, seven total races and $385,000 in purses.
Good Night Shirt used the three-mile Iroquois as his coming out party in
2007, when he went flag-to-wire and defeated Sur La Tete by 5 1/4 lengths. He
turned the trick again in 2008, setting the pace and drawing off to an easy 4
1/2-length win. The eight-year-old has only raised the bar since and enters
Saturday having won seven straight and eight of his last nine starts. Good Night
Shirt, with regular rider Willie Dowling aboard, eyes his ninth career Grade 1
win and looks to surpass the $1 million mark in career steeplechase earnings.
Trained by Jack Fisher, Good Night Shirt looked better than ever when he won
his 2009 debut in the Carolina Cup (NSA-G2) by 2 1/2 lengths over Preemptive
Strike (Roanoke) at Camden on March 28. On April 25 at Foxfield, Fisher prepped
his star in a training flat, which Good Night Shirt won by a measured neck and
he enters Saturday confident history will be made.
“He’s coming into the race in great shape and we got just what we wanted to
out of the race at Foxfield; a nice and easy work to tighten us up for
Nashville,” Fisher said. “Obviously, the course plays well to his strengths
because it’s a big sweeping course with wide turns so ‘The Shirt’ doesn’t have
to slow down.”
Fisher opted to pass on the Temple Gwathmey (NSA-G3) at Middleburg April 18
but knows the winner, ISTI BEE (NZ) (Istidaad), is a far better horse now than
the one Good Night Shirt defeated by 12 lengths in the Carolina Cup.
“I thought Isti Bee ran well against us at Camden and he obviously had an
excuse that day because he bled,” Fisher said. “So his run at Middleburg was
probably more of an idea of what he can do. But him being in there and on the
front doesn’t affect us because Good Night Shirt can be on the front or lay in
behind; it makes no difference.”
Isti Bee, with Paddy Young aboard, looms the main danger for trainer Doug
Fout. The Kiwi surprised a quality field in the Gwathmey, including stablemate
Dark Equation (Polish Numbers). Isti Bee came to Fout last fall and struggled in
a pair of stakes. He fell early in the Grand National (NSA-G1) behind Good Night
Shirt at Far Hills and then was fifth in the Noel Laing at Montpelier.
Fout regrouped and rested Isti Bee for the rest of the season. He returned
this spring in the Carolina Cup but bled while finishing third, 12 lengths
behind Good Night Shirt. At Middleburg, Isti Bee finally put it all together in
a game effort that has Fout thinking big after a frustrating end to 2008.
“This horse is finally healthy and feeling good. It just took him a little
time to acclimate after he came over last year. I’ve had luck in the past
running these New Zealand-breds right after they got here, but this horse just
took a little time,” Fout said. “But now he’s doing awesome. We blew him out the
other day and he wasn’t even tired when we got him back to the barn, so we’re
ready to roll. We’re going to be right with Good Night Shirt and they’ll have to
have their running shoes on.”
PIERROT LUNAIRE (War Chant) rates as an interesting newcomer for trainer
Bruce Miller. The five-year-old makes his American debut after winning twice in
eight starts over hurdles in England for champion trainer Paul Nicholls. Pierrot
Lunaire broke his maiden at Taunton in February 2008 and won a novice hurdle
stakes at Aintree two months later. This season he raced twice, running second
in the Totesport.com Stakes at Fontwell Park February 22 and then 24th of 27 in
the Coral Cup Hurdle at Cheltenham on March 11.
SWAGGER STICK (Cozzene) won the Foxbrook Novice at Far Hills last October for
Fisher and looks to build off a fifth in the Gwathmey, his first start against
open stakes foes.
Jonathan Sheppard sends out homebred CRADLE WILL ROCK (Northern Baby), who
won the Appleton (NSA-G3) at Far Hills last fall only to be disqualified and
placed third after lugging in over the last hurdle. The nine-year-old opened his
season by finishing third in a $15,000 claimer at Atlanta on April 25.
Miller and Houghland also send out CHIVITE (Ire) (Alhaarth), third to Good
Night Shirt in the 2007 Iroquois. Now 10, Chivite missed all of 2008 with an
injury and returned from his extended absence with a fourth behind Cradle Will
Rock at Atlanta.
All Iroquois runners carry 158 pounds under the weight-for-age conditions.
The Iroquois Steeplechase has been run continuously since 1941 with the
exception of one year due to World War II. William du Pont designed the course
at Percy Warner Park, a city park on the outskirts of Nashville, as a direct
result of Marcellus Frost’s inspiration and with the help of both Mason and
Calvin Houghland, the race meet has carried on for well over a half-century.
The race meet, second richest on the entire circuit in terms of total purses
distributed, benefits several local causes, most notably the Monroe Carell Jr.
Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt University. Created in 1970, the hospital has
a notable history of providing the best care for children through the Nashville
region. Over the past 28 years the Iroquois Steeplechase has contributed a
remarkable $8 million to the hospital.
Post time for the Iroquois, named for the first American-bred winner of the
Epsom Derby (Eng-G1) who stood as a stallion at Nashville’s Belle Meade
Plantation, is 1 p.m. (CDT).