Lonesome Glory offers tantalizing clash among championship aspirants

It's a clash that could go a long way toward determining who will wear the crown of 2019 champion steeplechaser. Thursday's $150,000 Lonesome Glory (G1) at Belmont Park features a field of nine, but all eyes figure to be on the trio of Scorpiancer, Moscato, and Winston C.

Scorpiancer, the champion jumper of 2017, missed all of last season but has put himself in position to win a second title with a late surge in both the Lonesome Glory and next month's Grand National (G1). The 10-year-old did not finish the Temple Gwathmey (G3) in April following a near two-year break, but rebounded with a one-length score over Surprising Soul in the Iroquois (G1) in Nashville on May 11.

"Scorpiancer is a classy horse," said trainer Jack Fisher, who will also saddle Temple Gwathmey winner and Iroquois third Moscato. "He came back off an injury this spring and we gave him a race at Temple Gwathmey, but the Iroquois is what we were aiming for and he won that."

Moscato, who also missed all of 2018, won four of his first six starts in the U.S., including a couple novice stakes on the New York circuit. Like Scorpiancer, his only two starts this term have been in the Temple Gwathmey and Iroquois.

"Moscato won the Temple Gwathmey and I think he probably should have won the Iroquois except he got blocked in the stretch. He was a decent flat horse too. He won a race at Ascot, so he does have some flat form which may help him here.

"Both Moscato and Scorpiancer are coming back off a couple months layoff and the bigger goal for them is the Grand National at Far Hills. But, if they're right, they can go ahead and win this."

Winston C, trained by Hall of Famer Jonathan Sheppard, swept both of Saratoga's top hurdles, the A.P. Smithwick Memorial (G1) and New York Turf Writers Cup (G1), in convincing style. A close third in the $100,000 Marcellus Frost on the Iroquois undercard in his U.S. bow, the son of Rip Van Winkle is only five and thus has youth, and a very bright future, on his side.