ST's Joe Clancy wrote a sports feature in Tuesday's New York Times that covers the victory and death of Arcadius at the Iroquois Steeplechase Saturday. The powerful event struck Joe and pretty much anyone else who was there. You can read the Times article online or in Tuesday's print edition (page B13). Below, Joe writes about what it was like.

Catching up with the results from Willowdale, here Augustin Stable's Radio Flyer won the open timber feature for Richard Valentine and Darren Nagle.

They’re not supposed to end like this. Winner’s circle ceremonies are for the good in the sport, the triumphs, the back-slaps, the excitement, the joy. Saturday at Nashville, the aftermath was anything but happy as Arcadius died of an apparent aneurysm shortly after winning the Grade I Iroquois Steeplechase.

Short fields at Nashville. Full fields at Willowdale. Strange how that works. Looks like some collusion in the big one, the Iroquois, an internal ST inquiry is underway. Last week, Joe picked four winners (Forgotten Man, Swimming River, Incomplete, Hold Your Fire) while Sean countered with four of his own (Forgotten Man, Swimming River, Incomplete, Grinding Speed). Kudos to Joe for hitting the cold trifecta in the opener at Great Meadow. As for the season, Sean still leads Joe 23-17.

Multiple Grade I-winning steeplechaser Tax Ruling tries to make history Saturday with a three-peat in the Iroquois at Nashville, Tenn. Thirteen horses have won the $150,000 race, first run in 1941, twice in a row. None succeeded in the three-peat.