by Myra Lewyn
A little-known Irish import named Your Sum Man (Ire) made a big name for himself with an upset win in the Grand National Hurdle Stakes last month.
Your Sum Man now will bid to capture another of steeplechasing’s most coveted prizes on Saturday in the $100,000 Colonial Cup Hurdle Stakes at Springdale Race Course in Camden, South Carolina.
The seven-year-old Pistolet Blue (Ire) gelding, winner of a novice stakes in Ireland, was making his first official start in the U.S. in the Grand National on October 17 at Far Hills, New Jersey. Your Sum Man made a strong impression with his 3¾-length triumph over General Ledger (Ire) to halt a long winless stretch dating December 2007.
Trained by Tom Voss for Betty and Laddie Merck’s The Fields Stable, Your Sum Man will seek to keep his momentum going in the 2 3/4-mile Colonial Cup while taking on ten opponents, including Pierrot Lunaire, who vanquished champion Good Night Shirt in the Iroquois Hurdle Stakes earlier this year but finished fifth in the Grand National; Lonesome Glory Hurdle Stakes winner Red Letter Day, fourth in the Grand National; New York Turf Writers Cup Steeplechase Handicap winner Spy in the Sky, winner of a 1 3/8-mile optional claiming flat race at Aqueduct on November 5; and A.P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase Stakes winner Mixed Up.
Myra Lewyn is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor