Lord Flintshire working bullets for steeplechase return in Kiser Memorial
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It’s not often you will see a bullet workout for a horse preparing to run in a steeplechase race. Lord Flintshire has a trio of bullet workouts at the Fair Hill training center in preparation for Thursday’s $75,000 Jonathan Kiser Memorial Novice steeplechase at 2 3/8 miles that kicks off the nine-race card and the third week of the Saratoga meet.
Lord Flintshire is the definition of a steeplechase novice, having jumped just twice in his 30-race career. Three years ago, in his first start for trainer Keri Brion, Lord Flintshire finished fifth in a maiden steeplechase event in Middleburg, Va. Brion said that race was just okay, and since Lord Flintshire had all of his New York-bred conditions remaining, the decision was made to return him to flat racing.
Lord Flintshire finished second or third in four of his next five starts, finally winning a flat race going 1 3/8 miles at Saratoga in August 2024. Later that year, he finished third in the $150,000 John Forbes Stakes at Far Hills in New Jersey.
Lord Flintshire returned to steeplechase racing in April 2025 and won a 2 1/8-mile maiden race at Middleburg by 3 1/4 lengths. The idea was to bring him to Saratoga, but the horse got injured following a last-place finish in a flat race at Aqueduct that June.
Off nearly a year, Lord Flintshire finished fourth in a two-mile flat race at Fair Hill, a race run over less than firm ground.
“We used that two-mile race at Fair Hill as a prep coming back. He caught soft ground, which he didn’t like,” Brion said. “He’s been training really well since. Those workouts haven’t been by design. He just works really good.”
Lord Flintshire’s flat experience at Saratoga – a 1-3-2 record from eight starts – should be beneficial, as the final three furlongs in jump races in New York are run without a fence.
“Big time,” said Brion, who won last year’s Kiser with Blue Creek. “That’s where these European horses struggle. These European national hunt horses, they’re not fast enough to run around Saratoga. Taking away the last fence changes things a lot. This is a great spot for him.”
Stephen Mulqueen, aboard for Lord Flintshire’s maiden hurdle victory in April, is back on again Thursday.
Cyber Ninja, who is 3 for 5 over jumps, won the Daniel Van Clief Memorial at Foxfield in April. He beat Rocket One, who has come back to run second in a pair of Grade 1 stakes in Saratoga. Jack Fisher trains Cyber Ninja as well as Vintage Year, who fell over a fence in a handicap race in Nashville last out.