Jack Fisher might not have the favorite in the $50,000 Valentine Memorial Stakes on Monday at Fair Hill, but he will have the numbers in the 2 1/4-mile hurdle race. The trainer has three outside contenders entered in the field of 12 and said he is eager to get back to stakes action over the renovated Maryland turf course. “It’s great to have it back,” Fisher said. “It’s beautiful turf and a beautiful meet.” Despite rain this week, and the cancellation of Sunday’s flat racing at Fair Hill, Monday’s Steeplechase program was scheduled to be held as of Saturday morning. “The forecasted rain is likely to leave the turf course labeled good to soft,” Bill Gallo, the director of racing for the National Steeplechase Association, said in a press release. “Those conditions are, in fact, ideal for steeplechase races. In general, softer turf creates a safer environment for our horses, with a statistically lower risk of injury. The pace of our races is considerably slower than in flat racing.” The Valentine Memorial will be run over National fences and is restricted to 4-year-olds and up who have never won an open hurdle stakes. Fisher, one of the leading steeplechase trainers in the country, has won the race six times since 1999. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Neotropic, an 8-year-old gelding breaking from the rail, returned from a 25-month layoff in April and has since finished well back in a pair of similar stakes at Percy Warner and Foxfield. Fisher said he always had “excellent expectations” with jumpers coming off long breaks, and he is still waiting for this one to break through. “[Steeplechase] is more forgiving, but I’ve never taken an older horse that wouldn’t try,” Fisher said. “It’s like me. I might do it, but I don’t do it well.” Vintage Year, a 7-year-old gelding, will make his stakes debut for Fisher after falling at the seventh fence in a handicap at Percy Warner last time out. A maiden winner in a mile race at Colonial and 2 1/8-mile hurdle race last year, he kicked off his 2026 campaign with a runner-up finish behind his stablemate, Roja Redemption, in a handicap at Foxfield. Fisher’s third Valentine Memorial runner, Smart Uncle, has not finished within 15 lengths of the winner in a jump race since April 2025, when he won the $75,000 Daniel Van Clief Memorial at Foxfield. Keri Brion, another highly recognizable trainer due to her work in both flat racing and steeplechases, also has a longshot entered in the Valentine Memorial. Fiery Dart, the only female runner in the field, won a maiden race at Middleburg last time out and will step up to face males in restricted stakes company in her second start as a 4-year-old. “She’s a really smart, really cool filly,” Brion said. “It is a step up for sure, but she’s a unique filly in the sense that she needs a hot pace to settle behind because she wants to be quite strong herself. So she wants a race where horses are running quick ahead of her.” Two Past Eight, the 3-1 morning-line favorite trained by Leslie Young, is the only other last-out winner in the field, having won a $15,000 allowance at Willowdale in front-running fashion on May 9. She finished well back in the $75,000 Carolina Cup Hurdle at Camden in March, the first time she finished a race worse than second since 2024. Predominate, a quick study for trainer Todd McKenna, switched to steeplechase last August and has already picked up two victories. He finished third in the $125,000 Marcellus Frost at Percy Warner last time, putting him on track to earn a stakes score at Fair Hill. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.