New rider for Rawnaq in Grand National

Rawnaq, the leading steeplechase horse in America this season, will have to adapt to a new jockey when he faces Sharp Rise, a fresh face with good European form, in Saturday’s Grade 1 Grand National, the featured race during the 96th annual Far Hills Races in central New Jersey.

With a purse of $350,000, the Grand National is the richest race for jumpers in the U.S. It headlines a seven-race program worth a National Steeplechase Association-record $700,000. The Grand National, contested at 2 5/8 miles over National Fences, goes as race 4 at 3 p.m. Eastern. All seven races will be shown live on the Internet at farhillsrace.org and nationalsteeplechase.com.

The 9-year-old Rawnaq, third in last year’s Grand National, a length behind stablemate Dawalan, will be making his first start since the spring, when he won back-to-back races in the Grade 3 Temple Gwathmey going 2 1/2 miles and the Grade 1 Iroquois, a three-mile event.

Rawnaq’s regular rider, Jack Doyle, fractured his pelvis when he fell during last month’s Grade 1 Lonesome Glory at Belmont Park. Ruby Walsh will be aboard Rawnaq for the first time Saturday.

The most intriguing of Rawnaq’s seven challengers is Sharp Rise, who has enjoyed a career resurgence at age 9. During his first four seasons of racing in Britain, Sharp Rise won five races and about $27,000 in purses. Purchased for roughly $39,000 by trainer Charlie Longsdon on behalf of owner Robert Allen at the Goffs UK sale of horses in training this past spring, Sharp Rise has won 4 of 6 starts for his new connections.

Sharp Rise is rated 154 in steeplechase events, contested over fences at least 4 1/2 feet high, and 156 in hurdle events, contested over fences at least 3 1/2 feet high. In comparison, Rawnaq was rated at 144 when he came over from the United Kingdom last fall for owner Irv Naylor and trainer Cyril Murphy. Rawnaq is now rated 162 by the National Steeplechase Association, an indication of how much he has improved since coming to America.

Both Rawnaq and Sharp Rise do their best running up front early, which could compromise their chances if they get involved in a duel.

The field also includes Scorpiancer, a 7-year-old who won the Lonesome Glory by 2 1/4 lengths on Sept. 22 and was a close second in another Grade 1 event, the A.P. Smithwick Memorial at Saratoga.

Trainer Jonathan Sheppard will try to fire fresh with the 10-year-old Parker’s Project and 8-year-old Martini Brother, both graded-stakes-caliber jumpers but idle for more than a year.

In the supporting stakes:

◗ The first four finishers from the $75,000 William Entenmann Memorial Hurdle last month at Belmont Park, led by daylight winner Hardrock Eleven, and Swansea Mile, fourth in the Grade 1 Lonesome Glory on that same Sept. 22 card, will clash in the $100,000 Foxbrook Hurdle, a 2 1/2-mile race for novices (first-year hurdle runners).

◗ The 8-year-old One Lucky Lady will try to win the $50,000 Peapack, a 2 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares, for the second straight year.

◗ Officer's Oath, coming off a two-length maiden win three weeks ago, is the lone winner over hurdles among nine 3-year-olds going 2 1/8 miles in the $50,000 Gladstone.

◗ Old Timer, a 10-year-old who finished second in the Radnor Hunt Cup in his most recent start in May, and Le Chevalier, runner-up in the Mason Houghland Memorial Timber in May, look like the prime contenders among six horses going 3 1/4 miles over timber fences in the $50,000 New Jersey Hunt Cup.

◗ Last-out winners Lune De Caro and Time Out are among nine runners ranked between 110 and 140 in a $50,000 handicap at 2 5/8 miles.