MIDDLEBURG,Va.--Jack Fisher saddled his mother's Keys Discount to win the Timber Stakes and then in the next race saddled Riverdee Stable's Zabeel Champion (GB) to win the G2 Temple Gwathmey Stakes.

Zabeel Champion, left, and Ziggle Pops early in the Temple Gwathmey (Photo by Tod Marks)Zabeel Champion, ridden by Freddie Procter, won the G2, $100,000, 2 1/2 mile Temple Gwathmy  by 1 length over Hidden Path, trained by Ricky Hendriks, and Ziggle Pops, also trained by Fisher.

"The plan is to go to Iroguois," said Fisher. "We expected this to just be a school."

Fisher said this win moved Zabeel Champion up in his estimation.

"Zabeel Champion was owned by some English owners that sent him over here in  2023, said Sean Clancy, manager of the Riverdee syndicate. "I manged him for them, and he won the Appleton Hurdle Stakes and the Noel Laing Stakes. Riverdee bought him in 2024. He was a really good third at Iroquois to Snap Decision that year." 

"He doesn't run in the summer. Last year in the Iroquois he was running well and was right in contention when he fell over the last fence. We couldn't figure out why he fell, he jumped the fence fine, just fell after it. We were getting him ready to run in the fall, but he had a minor issue, so we stopped with him."

 

"WE'RE PLANNING to run him at Iroquois," said Clancy. "He's a bit of a specialist. There aren't many places he can run. Iroquois is his kind of race, it's 3 miles and usually there''s a bit of cut in the ground,   He'd had a year off, so we felt he needed a prep race.

Jack Fisher "In the paddock, Jack said to Freddie, `This is not the goal,' and I said, `If he's third and finishes on the bridle we're in good shape.'

"Winning the Temple Gwathmey was a real thrill," said Clancy, who won the race twice as a jockey, in 1996 for Fisher and then again a couple of years later. "You grow up dreaming of something like this. 

"I've always liked the horse. He didn't go up in my estimation with this win, but to win the Temple Gwathmey is a career highlight, so with this win he went way up on my list of horses that I've been lucky to have."

Mrs. John R.S. Fisher's Keys Discount, ridden by Graham Watters, won the $30,000, 3 1/4 mile Middleburg Hunt Cup Timber Stakes by 34 1/2 lengths over Track and Trace, (Ire), trained by Mark Beecher, and Druid's Alter (Ire), trained by Willy Dowling.

Keys Discount now has now won six races in a row, all of them stakes.

He want straight to the lead, leading by 30 or 40 lengths throughout and finished eased.

"It's the way he gets away from his fences," said Watters of what makes him different fro other horses. "He's a little quirky. He likes to pull. He's a great horse. He's a horse for Virginia timber races. The Maryland timber races have bigger fences and are for slower horses."

"He'll go back to the Gold Cup next," said Fisher.

Predominate, owned by Gail Jackson Clark. trained by Todd McKenna and ridden by Harry Beswick, won the $50,000, 2 1/8 mile Allowance Hurdle by 5 lengths over Awesome Man, trained by Todd Wyatt, and Salted Camel, trained by Keri Brion.

Awesome Man went out to a very big lead but was finally caught in the stretch by Predominate.

Conor Tierney, who's hurt, did all the work with this horse, he did a great job," said Beswick "I thought maybe I'd  given him too big a lead, but it worked out."

Brion saddled Fiery Dart, owned by R and K Racing and Brion and ridden by Stephen Mulqueen, to win the $35,000 Filly and Mare Maiden Hurdle by 1 1/4 lengths over Wilma Flintshire, trained by Laird George, and Kobe's Smile, trained by Leslie Young.

"I thought she was one of my best on the flat, but she'd go tot he lead and fade," said Brion. "We wanted to bring her along slowly."

"She's young, so we're just teaching her," said Mulqueen. "Teaching her was more important than winning, but luckily we did both."

Brion the next saddled Leipers Fork Steeplechase's Siennois (Ire), ridden by Mulqueen,, to win the $40,000 Maiden Hurdle by 1 3/4 lengths over De La Cruz, trained by Julie Gomena, and Mission Man, trained by Young.

"This was a perfect start for his first start over fences," said Mulqueen.

"He's a typical classy horse," said Brion. "You'll see a lot of him in the future.

George saddled Riverdee Stable's JHirsch, ridden by Jaime Bargary, to win the $25,000 Maiden Starter, Maiden Claiming Hurdle by 7 1/4 lengths over Really Good, trained by Matthew Sims, and Roundtop, trained by Brion.

Tom Garner saddled Bruton Street-US' Quick Master, ridden by Bargary, to win the $20,000, 2 5/8 mile Steeplethon by 2 lengths over Decisive Triumph, trained by Beecher, and Anzio, trained by Sandra Webb.

Cyrill Murphy saddled Irv Naylor's Alpamayo, ridden by Beswick, to win the Training Flat by 1/2 length over Time Toshine (ire)  trained by Beecher, and Mr.Percy (Ire), trained by Neil Morris.

Just a month in the 2026 steeplechase year, and the three top trainers from the past few years have already made their mark.

Brion leads in Trainer, Money Won and saddled Swore, one of the only two hurdle stakes winners as yet.

Young leads in Trainer, Races Won and saddled Uco Valley, one of only two timber stakes winner as yet.

Fisher has saddled both the other hurdle stakes winner, Zabeel Champion, and the other timber stakes winner, Keys Discount.