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DEL.ICIO.USTrainer reigns at steeplechase
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Kingston — Eventually they’re going to have to change the name of Kingston Downs, tomorrow, if not sooner. You’ve heard the term “Horses for courses.” Well, here’s a “trainer for a course.” Change the name of Kingston to Sheppard Downs, and you’ve got it.
Jonathan Sheppard arrived in this country from England in 1961 with a career as a jockey in mind. And he did ride for a while, but then the light came on. Instead of riding horses, why not get in the business of training and grooming them and leave the saddle duty to somebody else? Besides, he was getting a little heavy for it, though riders of jumping horses don’t have to starve themselves down to pygmy size as do those who pilot flat racers.
Well, that was $11 million or so ago in earnings, and by this time he is the prime trainer of steeplechase horses in the country. And he increased his lifetime take Saturday afternoon at the aforementioned Kingston Downs, which has become like home field to Sheppard since the grass course opened 13 years ago. His stable turned in two wins and two seconds at the annual horsefest Saturday, the hillsides banked with thousands of party-going Georgians who have a taste for the great outdoors and the sight of hurdling horses.
Star of the show was the 8-year-old Seafaring Man, brown-coated son of Sea Hero, winner of the Kentucky Derby in 1993 bearing the colors of the distinguished Paul Mellon. In the irons, as she was on all four of Sheppard’s jumpers, was the young Danielle Hodsdon, steeplechasing’s leading rider last year. Seafaring Man got away to a laggard start, but that is of little matter over a course of two miles. Hodsdon lay back in the field, content to let the others, mainly Mark the Shark and Bow Strada, scrap it out up front, then turned it on coming into the stretch and won pulling away. Bow Strada finished second and The Looper third in the $75,000 featured Georgia Cup.
It was a return to the wars for Seafaring Man, who didn’t race the entire 2006 season. “It’s good to see him show such form after a year away,” Sheppard said. “I first saw him at Keeneland one day and I liked his size. I approached the owner on the backside and I bought him just a couple of years ago.”
It was a card of six races that offered combined purses of $210,000, much of which landed in the bankroll of two men the Atlanta Steeplechase Committee honored for their years of racing. Dr. John Griggs of Kentucky, an Auburn alumnus, won the Irongate Cup with Hip Hop, Chip Miller in the saddle. Angel del Viento, an Argentine import, won the Sport of Kings maiden race, Richard Boucher up. Then Sheppard shifted into gear, won the Grey Goose Hurdle with Hodsdon up on Slew’s Peak, and so it went, the feature clearing just before the predicted rainstorm blew in from the west.
Boucher was a stand-in for Jody Petty, who rode McDynamo to the Eclipse Award last year. Petty never made it past the first jump, and this was a forecast of spills to come. Five jockeys went down at the hedges, worst day for such calamities in the history of Kingston. None suffered serious injuries, but Petty had to be transported to a hospital in Rome with cuts about the face.
That was the distressful side of the day. The bright side, under a gloomy, scowling overhead, was Jonathan Sheppard’s return to form at the acreage he loves. “See here,” he said, pointing to the standings of a season yet short, “I hadn’t won a race before.”
Now, he has and the form is back. So, call it Sheppard Downs.
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Comments
By Neil Griggs
April 14, 2007 8:45 PM | Link to this
Thanks for the news. Hurrah, Dad and Hip Hop! I am back home in Lexington, KY and was searching for news of the race results. Thanks again, Mr. Bisher for the timely reportage. By the way, my father, Johnny Griggs, has been in the game of steeplechase racing a long time, even longer than Jonathan Sheppard (although not quite as famously). He started out in Nashville where he rode in the Iroquois Steeplechase years ago (in the 50’s ??) my grandfather, Henry, and my brother Kirk also have ridden and won the Iroquis and Kirk won in Atlanta back in the 70’s and 80’s. So, I am happy for my 75 year old father to have another winner in Atlanta. By the way, he still gets up on his thoroughbreds and exercises them on his farm here in Lexington. Not bad for a guy born in 1932!
By Martha Woodham
April 15, 2007 7:29 AM | Link to this
Thanks, Furman, for a wonderful column about horses as usual!
To the editors: By the way, jockey Jody Petty’s name is misspelled as Patty in the cutlines on the race photos on AJC.com. Thought you would want to know, and I could not find a way on AJC.com to contact you about corrections.
By Dumbing Down
April 15, 2007 8:07 AM | Link to this
ZZZZZZZZZZZZ… wake me up when its over. I’m sorry… I was at a “real race” with real odds at Keeneland Saturday. Atlanta is still home of the wannabees!