Slip Away dealt a huge blow to the competition in the race for champion steeplechaser when he bounded away to a 25 3⁄4-length victory in the Colonial Cup Hurdle Stakes (NSA-I) at Springdale Race Course Nov. 13 in Camden, S.C.
The triumph not only clinched an Eclipse Award but gave Slip Away the National Steeplechase Association’s Lonesome Glory Champion Award based on earnings. Slip Away, who earned $191,500 in 2010 for owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey, overtook Percussionist in the standings. Percussionist finished sixth in the Colonial Cup.
Ken Ramsey credited Maryland trainer Tom Voss and jockey Paddy Young with much of Slip Away’s success. “Tom Voss gets 80%, Paddy Young gets 15%, and Sarah and I will take 5%,” said Ramsey, adding that a barn at Ramsey Farm near Nicholasville, Ky., will be named in Slip Away’s honor. “We do that for all of our grade I winners.”
The Ramseys originally tried Slip Away on the flat. “We sent him to trainer Dale Romans as a 2-year-old, but Dale was unimpressed,” Ken Ramsey said. “We had him for a time at 3 with Ronny Werner, and he thought he was too slow. Then I sent him to Tom, who thought he’d make a good jumper.”
Slip Away, whose other 2010 triumph came in the Temple Gwathmey Hurdle Handicap (NSA-III), proved tough enough to compete in all five grade I hurdle stakes in 2010, finishing in the top two in four of them. He ran second in the Grand National Hurdle Stakes (NSA-I) to Percussionist and was runner-up in the Helen Haskell Sampson Hurdle Stakes (NSA-I) and the Calvin Houghland Iroquois Hurdle Stakes (NSA-I).
A Kentucky-bred, Slip Away (Skip Away—Aurora Slew, by Slew’s Royalty) was bred by the Greathouse family’s Glencrest Farm in partnership with Rick Trontz and Stewart Madison.
Slip Away, who is in Maryland with Voss, will remain in training this year.
First-Place Vote Totals:
Slip Away, 175; Arcadius, 25; Percussionist, 6; Sermon of Love, 4.
Slip Away (right, gray)
Adam Coglianese