'Jump' - Super Saturday: Picks for Foxfield and The 127th Maryland Hunt Cup, Irish Jockey, Andrew Burke-Ott tries his luck + All of Today's Entries!
'Jump' - Super Saturday: Picks for Foxfield and The 127th Maryland Hunt Cup, Irish Jockey, Andrew Burke-Ott tries his luck + All of Today's Entries!
Satday April 27th, Edition #31
In Case You Missed It: This Weekends Top 5 USA Jump Racing Stories
Contents
Saturday Picks - Foxfield, Md. Hunt Cup Preview by Joe Clancy
Weekend Preview - The Maryland Hunt Cup and Foxfield Races: Super Saturday
Saturday’s Entries - Entries for the 127th Running of The Maryland Hunt Cup and Foxfield Spring Races
The Maryland Hunt Cup - Irish Jockey, Andrew Burke-Ott tries his luck in today’s Maryland Hunt Cup
The Jumping Game Podcast - Join Megan Connolly, Aiden Coleman and Harry Beswick to discuss the VA Gold Cup - May 2nd
“The ‘Jump newsletter’ is an absolute boon to me. Now domiciled in the UK, it keeps me updated on US jump racing. Thank you.” - Barbara Shaw (Facebook)
SATURDAY PICKS
Foxfield, Md. Hunt Cup picks & preview
April 27, 2024 - News - Joe Clancy
Maryland Hunt Cup. The Granddaddy of them all. Or something like that anyway. The 4-mile timber race for amateur jockeys dates to 1894 and has been run at its same Worthington Valley location since 1922. With wars and pandemics and who knows what else, this is the 127th running.
And it’s a puzzle. Nine runners, just one coming off a win, contest the $100,000 race and its 22 fences.
Rocket Star Red and Blackhall jumped around in 2022 and fell last year. Withoutmoreado won last year, in an upset. He has struggled this year – a distant fourth at Cheshire and a lost rider after a mistake early last week at the Grand National. Goodoldtimes finished third in 2022 and lost his rider last year. He fell last week at the Grand National. Shootist pulled up last year and was third in the Grand National last week. Mr. Fine Threads won an allowance timber at the Grand National last week, over Blackhall and Rocket Star Red. Wagner won a maiden at the Manor two weeks ago and was going nicely before jockey Freddie Procter jumped the wrong fence while leading the race Mr. Fine Threads won. New jockey Eric Poretz gets aboard the English chase/point-to-point veteran. Royal Ruse is most likely to get around. He was second last year and has won four timber races including last year’s Pennsylvania Hunt Cup. Erin Scully gets back aboard. Vintage Vinnie set course records when he won in 2021 and 2022, wow, but was pulled up last year. The 15-year-old, wow, comes off a second at My Lady’s Manor.
Post time for the day’s only race is 4 p.m. Get there in time to walk the course – or at least to stand next to the third, 13th, sixth and 16th.
Joe: Mr. Fine Threads, Royal Ruse, Shootist.
Sean: Royal Ruse, Mr. Fine Threads, Shootist.
Tom: Mr. Fine Threads, Vintage Vinnie, Royal Ruse
Foxfield Races. Kudos to the Virginia Equine Alliance for bolstering the state’s steeplechase meets, and to the Foxfield organizers for beefing up this course and meet. Foxfield, a staple on the spring Charlottesville/UVA calendar, should be a destination meet and this year proves it. The cancellation of the Queen’s Cup in North Carolina is not a positive, but did help Foxfield fill out a strong card. Post time is 12:30 p.m.
First race. $20,000 maiden claiming hurdle going 2 1/8 miles. A full field of 10 (with two on the also-eligible list) for the opener. Westerland, still a maiden, has been close often and makes his 16th hurdle start. I Am Fortunata was second at Tryon. Trainer Sean McDermott puts his 2-for-2 record on the line with rookie Reel Well. Auchincruive (glad we don’t have to say it) won at the Old Dominion Point-to-Point over Middleburg winner Tiz A Giant and gets to waive the claiming tag.
Joe: Auchincruive, Reel Well, I Am Fortunata.
Sean: Auchincruive, Reel Well, Penicillin Success.
Tom: Westerland, Penicillin Success, I Am Fortunata.
The Hunt Cup and Foxfield Races: Super Saturday
Withoutmoreado © Douglas Lees
By Tod Marks
This weekend promises to be a bonanza for jump racing fans with a pair of showcase National Steeplechase Association meets. In Glyndon, nine horses are expected to face the starter in the 127th Maryland Hunt Cup, America’s oldest, longest, and most challenging timber race. Meanwhile hurdlers will take center stage at Foxfield in Charlottesville, Va., where $260,000 in purses are on the line in a seven-race card highlighted by two stakes worth a combined $125,000.
At four miles over 22 post-and-rail fences — some nearly five-feet tall — the Maryland Hunt Cup – the third and final leg of the Maryland Timber Triple series over a three-week span – is a unique test of jumping skill and stamina. In keeping with tradition, the $100,000 race is restricted to amateur riders. Neither winner of the first two legs of the series will run in the Hunt Cup. But two previous winners, including the defending champion, are in the field.
Last year, Armata Stable’s Vintage Vinnie, who was seeking his third straight Hunt Cup win, towered over the field. But after leading for 18 fences, he tired and was pulled up, losing his aura of invincibility. When Vintage Vinnie faltered, it opened the door for Irv Naylor’s Withoutmoreado, who took over under Conor Tierney and roared to the wire 10 ¾ lengths ahead of the only other finisher, Charlie Fenwick’s Royal Ruse.
Vintage Vinnie prepped for the Hunt Cup with a non-threatening second in an allowance contest at the My Lady’s Manor races two weeks ago. One of four Hunt Cup entries trained by Joe Davies, Vintage Vinnie will be ridden by Teddy Davies, the trainer’s son. Withoutmoreado, trained by Kathy Neilson and again ridden by Tierney, lost his rider after the eighth fence in the second leg of the series, the Grand National, on April 20. Royal Ruse, who experienced a career moment when taking the 2023 Pennsylvania Hunt Cup, has had two preps this spring for the big race, finishing second in an allowance event at Cheshire in March and fourth in the My Lady’s Manor stakes, the first leg of the series. Elizabeth Scully rides for trainer Sanna Neilson.
Also taking aim at the past champs are seven additional foes, four of whom have attempted to win the great race before. Kinross Farm’s Blackhall, a maiden trained by Joe Davies, finished fifth in 2022 and fell at the 16th fence last year; he’ll be ridden by Charlie Marshall. Armata Stables’ Goodoldtimes, who captured the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup in 2021, has a third in two previous tries. He’s one of two Mark Beecher trainees, and will be ridden by Dan Nevin. Lucy Goelet’s Rocket Star Red, Beecher’s other entry, is seeking his first win after finishing second and third in three attempts. Brett Owings has the mount. Upland Partners’ Shootist, trained by Todd McKenna, made his Hunt Cup debut last year, but tired and pulled up at the 18th fence. Freddie Procter will be aboard.
The prospective field includes two first-timers as well. Armata Stables’ Mr. Fine Threads, a lightly raced 11-year-old who has made just 11 career starts, has a maiden and allowance victory in his past three outings. If there’s a wild card it’s Meriebelle Stable’s Wagner, an NSA newcomer who runs for Blythe Miller Davies. Coming off of a 17-race career in the UK, the Irish-bred nine-year-old, came from off the pace to break his maiden over timber in his very first try at the My Lady’s Manor races. A week later at the Grand National races, he set the pace early but jumped the wrong fence on the second circuit and pulled up after leaving the course. Eric Poretz is the rider.
Gates open at 11 a.m. Post Time is 4 p.m. For full entries, including owners, trainers, and riders, click here. You can access full past performance information at www.equibase.com.
At Foxfield
Home to presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, as well as the University of Virginia, the city of Charlottesville will host the new-and-improved Spring meet on Saturday.
The Foxfield card consists of seven races worth a record $260,000 – $80,000 more than last year’s event. The meet is anchored by the $75,000 Daniel Van Clief Memorial Sport of Kings novice stakes at 2 ⅛ miles, the distance of all hurdle races over the course. The race has gotten a $15,000 purse bump over 2023. Foxfield will also host a new stakes race, the $50,000 Good Night Shirt Sport of Kings Handicap Hurdle for horses rated at 130 or less. The race is named, of course, for Virginia horseman Sonny Via’s Hall of Fame star, who won six straight Grade 1 stakes among his 13 NSA triumphs and ranks second in all-time earnings.
The rest of the card features four hurdles races – a $15,000 maiden claimer; $30,000 maiden special weights contest; two handicaps, a $35,000 race for horses rated at 115 or less and a $30,000 event for those rated at 110 or less; and a $20,000 maiden race over timber at 3 miles.
Post time is 12:30 p.m. For full entries, click here.
If you can’t make it to the races, you can watch the live stream via the NSA web site at www.nationalsteeplechase.com.
SATURDAY’S ENTRIES
Entries for the 127th Running of The Maryland Hunt Cup
Post Time: 4:00PM
Entries for Foxfield Spring Races
Post Time: 12:00PM
THE MARYLAND HUNT CUP
HEART OF RACING: Andrew Burke-Ott (IRE)
After getting his career going in point-to-points, Andrew tried his luck in the US and has had a good season and rides in the Maryland Hunt Cup this today.
Read the full article in TheIrishField.ie
THE JUMPING GAME PODCAST
Join Megan Connolly, Aiden Coleman and Harry Beswick on May 2nd to discuss all things VA Gold Cup
Live on You Tube at Thursday May 2nd at 2pm (EDT)
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