Courtesy of National Steeplechase Association website; written by Don Clippinger
Stakes winners Bercasa and Wigwam Bay will carry the 155-pound highweights for Colonial Downs’ $50,000 Randolph D. Rouse Handicap for fillies and mares on Saturday.
The 2 ¼-mile Rouse Handicap attracted a field of 10 and will help to bring down the curtain on the final program of the reborn Colonial Downs meet near Richmond, Va. Kicking off the program will be a $30,000 maiden hurdle. First post time is 5 p.m.
With the windup of the five-week Colonial meet, 10 jump races will have been run on its spacious Secretariat Turf Course.
The race honors the memory of Virginia horseman Randy Rouse, who was awarded the National Steeplechase Association’s F. Ambrose Clark Award for lifetime achievement in 2016 and died the following year at the age of 100.
Bercasa is a new member of Irv Naylor’s stable and will be making her first U.S. start for trainer Kathy Neilson. A four-year-old, she earned her stakes victory in Galway’s Tote Account European Breeders Fund Hurdle, which she won by 3½ lengths on July 31. Sean McDermott will ride the Irish-bred.
Owner-trainer Jonathan Sheppard’s Wigwam Baby won the 2019 edition of the Iroquois Steeplechase’s Margaret Currey Henley by 1¼ lengths. She most recently lost her rider when she landed awkwardly in Saratoga Race Course’s Mrs. Ogden Phipps Stakes on Aug. 7. Darren Nagle has the mount.
Carrying 151 pounds will be Beverly R. Steinman’s homebred Market Alley, who won the Mrs. Phipps by 3¼ lengths. A maiden winner at Foxfield Spring in April, Market Alley finished fifth in the Henley.
Another member of the Steinman stable, Bullet Star, finished third in the Mrs. Phipps and will carry 143 pounds in the Rouse Memorial. Trainer Doug Fout named Barry Foley to ride Market Alley and gave the call to Kieran Norris aboard Bullet Star.
Also at the 151-pound level is owner-trainer F. Hill Parker’s Get Ready Set Goes, the 2016 novice and female champion who will be making her first start of the year. She most recently finished fourth in the 2018 Margaret Currey Henley. Richard Boucher will ride.
Parker will also saddle Riverdee Stable’s Snowie Hill, a full sister to Get Ready Set Goes who scored her maiden victory on the Colonial course on Aug. 17. Assigned 143 pounds, Snowie Hill will be ridden by Jack Doyle.
Joseph Fowler’s Down Royal, second in the Henley and Mrs. Phipps, will carry 147 pounds. The five-year-old Alphabet Soup mare is trained by Kate Dalton and ridden by Bernie Dalton, the co-breeders of Down Royal in New York.
Also at 147 pounds is owner-trainer Bethany Baumgardner’s Mavourneen, who finished fourth in the Margaret Currey Henley on May 11 and was third two weeks later in Fair Hill’s Iris Coggins Memorial. Graham Watters will ride the nine-year-old who was bred in Maryland by Mimi Voss.
The Fields Stable’s Dawn Wall, also bred in Maryland by Voss, will carry 143 pounds. Winner of the 2018 Coggins Memorial, she was fourth this year before finishing fifth in the Mrs. Phipps. Ross Geraghty will ride for trainer Elizabeth Voss.
Completing the field is KMSN Stable’s Inverness, who finished second to Snowie Hill in the Colonial maiden hurdle on Aug. 17. Trainer Keri Brion named Michael Mitchell to ride.
Here is the field for Saturday’s $50,000 Randolph D. Rouse Stakes for fillies and mares at 2 ¼ miles. The horses’ handicap weights are in parentheses at the end of their profiles.
Dawn Wall. 2013 b. m., Not For Love—Guelph, by Sky Classic. Owner: The Fields Stable. Trainer: Elizabeth Voss. Jockey: Ross Geraghty. Breeder: Mimi Voss (Md.). 2019 record: 2-0-0-0, $5,500. 2018 record: 2-1-0-0, $30,000. 2017 record: 2-0-0-0-1, $3,600. Finished fifth in Saratoga’s 2019 Mrs. Ogden Phipps Stakes. Never a factor in Fair Hill’s 2019 Iris Coggins Memorial and finished last of four. Won Coggins Memorial in final 2018 jumps start. Foal of two-time female champion Guelph, who also was the novice champion in 2005. (143)
Inverness. 2014 dk. b. or br. f., Giant’s Causeway—Fareena, by Point Given. Owner: KMSN Stable. Trainer: Keri Brion. Jockey: Michael Mitchell. Breeder: Spirit Lake Enterprises (Pa.). 2019 record: 4-0-1-1, $9,800. 2018 NSA record: 4-0-1-2, $17,500. Just beaten in 2019 Colonial Downs maiden hurdle. Finished third in 2019 The Cup Runneth Over maiden hurdle for fillies and mares, then was seventh in Iroquois Steeplechase’s Margaret Currey Henley. Finished second in 2018 Margaret Currey Henley in second start over fences. Maiden winner on flat at Penn National. (143)
Snowie Hill. 2015 b. f., Run Away and Hide—Ready to Goes, by Lord Avie. Owner-trainer: F. Hill Parker. Jockey: Jack Doyle. Breeder: F. Hill Parker (Oh.) 2019 record: 3-1-0-0, $20,300. 2018 NSA record: 1-0-1-0, $3,600. Won 2019 Colonial Downs maiden hurdle. Opened 2019 with fifth-place finish in The Cup Runneth Over maiden hurdle for females. Finished second in first start over fences, a 2018 maiden hurdle for three-year-olds at Shawan Downs. Full sister to Get Ready Set Goes, stakes-winning champion novice and female in 2016. Her name honors owner-trainer-breeder’s mother, Frances Snowden Hill Myers, the breeder of Get Ready Set Goes who died in 2014. (143)
Market Alley. 2014 ch. m., Flower Alley—Skirmish, by War Chant. Owner: Beverly R. Steinman. Trainer: Doug Fout. Jockey: Barry Foley. Breeder: Beverly R. Steinman (Ky.) 2019 record: 4-2-0-0, $60,000. 2018 NSA record: 2-0-0-0, $2,750. Won Saratoga’s 2019 Mrs. Ogden Phipps Stakes. Won 2019 Foxfield Spring maiden hurdle after fourth at The Cup Runneth Over, then was well-beaten fifth in Iroquois’ Margaret Currey Henley. Had two fourth-place finishes to open her jump-racing career in 2018. (151)
Bercasa (Ire). 2015 ch. f., Casamento—Berocco, by Danehill Dancer (Ire). Owner: Irvin S. Naylor. Trainer: Kathy Neilson. Jockey: Sean McDermott. Breeders: Old Carhue and Graeng Bloodstock (Ire). 2019 NSA record: No starts. Failed to finish in Galway’s Guinness Galway Tribe Handicap in August after victory in Tote Account EBF Hurdle. (155)
Wigwam Baby. 2011 b. m., Langfuhr—Tepee Tot, by Waquoit. Owner: Jonathan Sheppard. Trainer: Jonathan Sheppard. Jockey: Darren Nagle. Breeders: Bill Pape and Jonathan Sheppard (Pa.) 2019 record: 3-1-0-0, $30,750. 2018 record: 5-0-1-0, $4,800. 2017 NSA record: 4-0-1-1, $22,250. Won Iroquois Steeplechase’s 2019 Margaret Currey Henley before losing rider in Saratoga’s Mrs. Ogden Phipps Stakes. Finished sixth in The Cup Runneth Over ratings handicap. Finished second in 2018 Montpelier handicap. Finished sixth in Life’s Illusion Stakes at 2018 Carolina Cup, then fell in Margaret Currey Henley Stakes and was seventh in Fair Hill’s Iris Coggins Memorial. Finished second in Saratoga’s 2017 Mrs. Ogden Phipps. (155)
Get Ready Set Goes. 2012 ch. f., Run Away and Hide—Ready to Goes, by Lord Avie. Owner-trainer: F. Hill Parker. Jockey: Richard Boucher. Breeder: Frances Hill Myers (Ohio). 2018 record: 2-0-0-0, $2,500. 2017 record: 2-0-0-0, $4,500. Champion, novice and female, 2016. Finished seventh in Carolina Cup’s 2018 Life’s Illusion Stakes, then was fourth in in Iroquois Steeplechase’s Margaret Currey Henley. Reigned as 2016 female champion after winning Saratoga’s Mrs. Ogden Phipps Stakes and Far Hills’ Peapack Stakes, and also seized novice title by earnings. (151)
Bullet Star. 2014 dk. b. or br. m., Bullet Train (GB)—Ptarmigan, by Unbridled Jet. Owner: Beverly R. Steinman. Trainer: Doug Fout. Jockey: Kieran Norris. Breeder: Magalen O. Bryant (Ky.). 2019 NSA record: 2-0-0-2, $10,000. 2018 record: 3-1-0-0, $14,000. 2017 record: 1-0-0-0, $1,200. Finished third in Saratoga’s 2019 Mrs. Ogden Phipps after third in Daniel Van Clief Memorial. Finished fifth in Fair Hill’s 2018 Iris Coggins Memorial. Her dam was champion steeplechase female in 2010. (143)
Mavorneen. 2019 ch. m., Langfuhr—Rowdy, by Malibu Moon. Owner-trainer: Bethany Baumgardner. Jockey: Graham Watters. Breeder: Mimi Voss (Md.) 2019 record: 2-0-1-0, $7,000. 2018 record: 3-2-0-0, $27,000. Ran solid race to be second in 2019 Daniel Van Clief Memorial at Foxfield Spring, then was fourth in Iroquois Steeplechase’s Margaret Currey Henley and third in Fair Hill’s Iris Coggins Memorial. Closed 2018 season with back-to-back wins in Foxfield Fall maiden hurdle and Montpelier allowance hurdle. (147)
Down Royal. 2014 gr. or ro. m., Alphabet Soup—Miss Crown, by High Yield. Owner: Joseph F. Fowler Jr. Trainer: Kate Dalton. Jockey: Bernie Dalton. Breeders: Bernard and Kate Dalton (N.Y.) 2019 NSA record: 2-0-2-0, $22,500. 2018 record: 3-0-1-2, $13,400. 2017 NSA record: 3-1-1-0, $24,000. Finished second in Iroquois Steeplechase’s 2019 Margaret Currey Henley and Saratoga’s Mrs. Ogden Phipps Stakes. Began 2018 with second in Carolina Cup allowance hurdle, then was third in similar races at Middleburg Spring and Iroquois. Awarded second place in Far Hills’ 2017 Gladstone Stakes after sustaining interference from first finisher, then won a Charleston allowance hurdle. (147)