New Competition for Winston C in Lonesome Glory

The National Steeplechase Association's race to the Eclipse Award begins in earnest Sept. 19 when American jumping sport's leading lights line up at Belmont Park for the $150,000 Lonesome Glory Handicap (NSA-G1).

Leading the field and the weights at 160 pounds is Hudson River Farms' Winston C, who had a field day at Saratoga Race Course and waltzed away with its two top-rated steeplechase races: the July 25 A. P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase Stakes and the Aug. 22 New York Turf Writers Cup Handicap.

Trained by Racing Hall of Fame member Jonathan Sheppard, Winston C will be asked to run 2 1/2 miles, a furlong farther than his New York Turf Writers romp, but he was pulling away from his competition in the Saratoga race and showed no signs of stopping as jockey Thomas Garner geared him down.

His competition will be different in important respects, however. Scorpiancer and Moscato, both owned by Bruton Street-US and trained by Jack Fisher, passed up the summer races to await the Lonesome Glory and the year's biggest prize, the $450,000 Grand National (NSA-G1) Oct. 19 at Far Hills, N.J.

The 2017 Eclipse Award winner, Scorpiancer, missed the 2018 season, came back a bit short in his initial start of the year, and then won the Calvin Houghland Iroquois Hurdle Stakes (NSA-G1) in May. His second victory in the American sport's only three-mile hurdle race earned him the second spot in Thursday's weights at 158 pounds.

He stepped up to top-level competition in 2016 with a 2 1/4-length victory in the Lonesome Glory and then was second behind Eclipse champion Rawnaq in the Grand National.

Moscato was the 2017 novice champion and headed for grade 1 competition when he went to the sidelines before the Grand National that year. He missed the 2018 season and came back with a stellar win in the Temple Gwathmey Hurdle Handicap (NSA-G3) in April. He finished third, beaten a length and a head, in the Calvin Houghland Iroquois at Nashville. He packs 148 pounds for the Lonesome Glory.

Third in the weights at 152 pounds is Irv Naylor's Bedrock, who finished sixth in the A. P. Smithwick in his introduction to American jump racing. Trainer Leslie Young passed up the New York Turf Writers and tapped the 6-year-old's regular jockey in Ireland, Rachael Blackmore, to ride at Belmont.

Young will also saddle Sharon Sheppard's Redicean, who graduated from the novice ranks with his victory in Saratoga's Jonathan Kiser Novice Stakes and then picked up fourth money Aug. 21 in the John's Call Stakes on the flat at Saratoga. The Medicean gelding, bred by Cheveley Park Stud, carries 148 pounds.

Trainer Ricky Hendriks has successfully spaced out the starts for Surprising Soul, a Charles Fipke-bred who races for his mother, Wendy. The 7-year-old by Perfect Soul  had a warm-up start in late March and then finished second, a length behind Scorpiancer, in the Calvin Houghland Iroquois. He will carry 144 pounds.