The Maryland Hunt Cup Association presented the 2015 S. Bryce Wing trophy to Margaret Howard Worrall for her outstanding contribution to Maryland timber racing.
Worrall is an equestrian writer, active environmentalist, and the owner of a Maryland Hunt Cup and Virginia Gold Cup winner. In 1995 after she and Jay Griswold co-chaired the 100th Anniversary of the Maryland Hunt Cup, Worrall was made the first female member of the Maryland Hunt Cup Committee. In 1998, she became secretary and served in that capacity until 2006.
Worrall then undertook the conservation of the Maryland Hunt Cup archives. Working with conservators at Johns Hopkins University (Md.), she had the entire archival collection digitized, including minute books dating to 1894, newspaper clippings, copies of every program, and all films in the archives. Worrall remains an active member of the Hunt Cup Committee.
“I have the luxury of having Margaret, a walking timber racing encyclopedia, on the Committee to help in innumerable ways,” said Sherlock “Shockey” Gillet, the current secretary. “Her spearheading of the Hunt Cup’s archive project—a multi-year effort that required patience, attention to detail and commitment—was invaluable. In addition to her direct contributions, Margaret has been an advocate for open space, which is critical to continue the foundation of our sport, foxhunting.”
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Worrall advanced the cause of steeplechasing through hundreds of magazine articles and the majority of her eight books, including The History of the Green Spring Valley Hunt Club (1993), 100 Runnings of the Maryland Hunt Cup (1996), The Grand National Steeplechase 1898-1998 (1998) and The My Lady’s Manor Races 1909-2009 (2010). In the late ’80s and early ’90s, the Worrall family’s sensational timber horse, Von Csadek, owned by Margaret and her uncle Herb Sheppard, trained by husband Doug Worrall and ridden by son Patrick, won more than 20 races in the United States and England, including My Lady’s Manor (Md.), the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup, Virginia Gold Cup and Maryland Hunt Cup.
In the 1970s, Margaret and Doug were among the first in Baltimore County to put their Butler farm, Scanden, in the Maryland Environmental Trust. From 1991 through 1995, Margaret worked full time as the executive director of the Valleys Planning Council and then served 10 years on the Baltimore County Board of Appeals. Recently, she has served as an MET representative on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where she now lives in Cambridge.
Growing up in the Butler area, Margaret hunted with the Green Spring Hounds and grew to love the Green Spring hunt country. She has worked as a volunteer in many Maryland venues, including serving as District Commissioner of the Green Spring Hounds Pony Club and serving on the Maryland Horse Industry Board for Historic Horse Trails.
Bryce Wing was a member of the Maryland Hunt Cup Association from 1939 until his death at age 85 in 1975. He was secretary of the Maryland Hunt Cup from 1956 to 1966 and president of the National Steeplechase and Hunt Association (now the National Steeplechase Association) from 1948 to 1964. He was also a member of The Jockey Club and a MFH at Elkridge-Harford (Md.). Mr. Wing’s devotion to horses, hounds and racing was lifelong. The first Bryce Wing award was presented in 1976. In the following 39 years, the trophy has been awarded 29 times.
