Nichols Canyon travels from Europe for Grade 1 Iroquois Steeplechase

A potential $500,000 payday has tempted the top jumps trainer in the United Kingdom to bring two of his better horses to the United States for the richest race of the National Steeplechase Association’s spring season.

Nichols Canyon, a six-time Grade 1 winner in hurdle races in Europe, heads a two-horse entry for trainer Willie Mullins in Saturday’s Grade 1, $200,000 Calvin Houghton Iroquois Steeplechase at Percy Warner Park in Nashville, Tenn.

Mullins, nine-time champion jumps trainer in the United Kingdom, has his sights set on the $500,000 bonus up for grabs if any horse can win the Iroquois and the Ryanair World Hurdle next March at the Cheltenham Festival. Both are three-mile events over hurdles.

The Iroquois is the feature on a stakes-rich card that includes the $75,000 Marcellus Frost Novice Stakes, the $50,000 Margaret Currey Henley for fillies and mares, and the $50,000 Mason Houghland Memorial over timber fences.

The best horse Mullins is running Saturday is 6-year-old Nichols Canyon, whose 7-for-12 record over jumps includes six victories at the Grade 1 level. He was third in this year’s Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham and third in the Aintree Hurdle, both Grade 1 events, this spring.

Mullins also plans to run Shaneshill, whose 7-for-15 record over jumps has been compiled mostly in novice races. He most recently fell during the running of the Champion Stayers’ Hurdle in late April, but earlier that month was second, beaten seven lengths, by 2016 Ryanair World Hurdle champion Thistlecrack.

The American challengers to the strong Mullins entry include 2014 Eclipse Award steeplechase champion Demonstrative, who won the Iroquois in 2013 and last year, and Rawnaq, winner of the Grade Temple Gwathmey in Virginia on April 23. Rawnaq is owned by Irv Naylor and trained by Cyril Murphy, a combination that has been almost unbeatable so far this spring. Murphy has gone a remarkable 9 for 12 with his starters. Naylor’s horses are 10 for 33 with nearly $296,000 in earnings.

Also in the field are 2012 Eclipse Award champion Pierrot Lunaire, who won the Iroquois for Calvin Houghland in 2009 and now is owned by his widow, Mary Ann Houghland, along with Italian Wedding, winner of the Grade 1 New York Turf Writers Cup in 2013 but idle for nearly 20 months.

In the undercard stakes:

African Oil, who closed out his 2015 season with three straight victories, including the Jonathan Kiser Novice Stakes at Saratoga, and Maserati, a three-length winner in the Queen’s Cup going 2 3/8 miles two weeks ago, are the top contenders in the Marcellus Frost Novice Stakes at 2 ¼ miles.

Tax Ruling, who won back-to-back runnings of the Iroquois in 2010 and 2011 and finished second three straight times in the Mason Houghland Memorial, comes back in the latter event to head a strong field in the three-mile timber feature.

Ivy Mills and Bittersweetheart, the female champions of steeplechase racing each of the past two seasons, square off in the Margaret Currey Henley at 2 1/4 miles.