Mr. Hot Stuff Ekes Out Grand National Victory
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Photo: Skip Dickstein
Danny Mullins guides Mr. Hot Stuff over the final fence in the Grand National at the Far Hills Races
Mr. Hot Stuff still has the stuff.
Gillian Johnston's steeplechase horse certainly had back class, including a grade 1 placing on the flat in 2009 and a grade 1 win over fences in 2013. At age 11, questions began to creep in, but the Tiznow gelding kept soldiering on, even without a win since 2015.
Mr. Hot Stuff put away those doubts Saturday.
In a thrilling, heart-pounding finish, the oldest runner in a field of eight came back in the last two strides to nip Robert Kinsley's Modem by a nose in the $400,000 Grand National at Far Hills Races. Buttonwood Farm's All the Way Jose finished third, another nose back in America's richest steeplechase race.
A competitor in the 2009 Triple Crown series, Mr. Hot Stuff turned back three overseas competitors in the 2 5/8-mile Grand National, all of whom ran somewhat disappointing races over Far Hills' firm turf course.
On an afternoon that recalled late summer more than mid-autumn, Mr. Hot Stuff's performance recalled earlier glory days. He won the 2013 A. P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase Stakes (NSA-1) and appeared to be on the cusp of duplicating his flat form, in which he earned a spot in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) starting gate with a third-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby (G1).
The Smithwick Memorial was a ray of promise, but Mr. Hot Stuff missed the 2014 season, came back to run well in 2015, and then missed all of last year.
He returned with a good effort in a grade 3 race this spring, but showed little in his next two starts before he finished fifth in the Lonesome Glory Handicap (NSA-1) at Belmont Park, which was won by Jonathan Sheppard-trained All the Way Jose Sept. 21.
As the start of the Grand National, Mr. Hot Stuff kicked away with top Irish jockey Danny Mullins and alternated on the lead with All the Way Jose, ridden by leading jockey Darren Nagle.
Modem, third in three prior grade 1 races this summer, including the Lonesome Glory, always was in good position under Jack Doyle and made his move as the field hit the final turn.
Mr. Hot Stuff, flashing his class, refused to concede the issue. All the Way Jose wavered ever so slightly, and Modem took over as the finish approached, but Mr. Hot Stuff found a last effort in the shadow of the wire and claimed the victory from the outside.
Johnston, who acquired Mr. Hot Stuff after his flat career, said she never lost faith in her valiant gelding, who was bred out of the Turkoman mare Sweet Damsel by WinStar Farm in Kentucky.
The win, worth $240,000, raised Mr. Hot Stuff's 2017 tally to $251,100 and all but assured him the 2017 Lonesome Glory Award as the National Steeplechase Association's leading earner.
The win also was highly significant for his trainer, Jack Fisher, who had a win and a second in previous races. Those results and the Grand National raised his 2017 earnings to $1,182,050, a National Steeplechase Association record.
Fisher had held the earnings record, set in 2008 at $1,156,907. He has exceeded the million-dollar mark two other times, in 2015 and 2016, and is the only trainer to break into seven figures.