There was a decidedly international flavor to the Morven Park Races, Oct. 14 in Leesburg, Va., with several riders from across the pond stepping into the winner’s circle.

The first of the British invaders was veteran jump jockey Robert Massey, who rode last year’s winner, Hounds Cry Farm’s Te Akau Five, for trainer Richard Valentine in the $15,000 allowance timber race.

Hotspur (Gregg Ryan) set the pace for most of the 31�4 miles with Te Akau Five, Heir To The Throne (Carl Rafter) and Mr. Fater (Jeff Murphy) not far behind. By the last mile, Te Akau Five and Hotspur were the leaders, both jumping well on the front end, but Massey’s horse still had another gear, and at the last he showed the rest of the field why he dominates Morven Park, galloping up the long hill of the stretch.

Ryan had to settle for second, 1 1/2 lengths back. High Watermark (Chip Miller) was third, and Seeyouattheevent (William Dowling) finished fourth. Valentine’s other horse, Heir To The Throne, suffered a leg injury and pulled up.

Born in England, the 33-year-old Massey first appeared on the U.S. steeplechasing circuit in 2000 after winning 85 races in his home country. The 2002 National Steeplechase Association’s leading rider in money earned has had a couple of quiet years. This year, he chose to ride in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., for the better part of the year and has been working mostly for Valentine but said he misses the Virginia ‘chases.

“Richard has been a very big supporter of mine this year. I just wanted to come back and ride a winner over Virginia,” Massey said. “That stretch is a long haul, but he was actually full of running and jumped the last nicely and went away from it. He’s a neat little horse to ride.”

Valentine, who now has Rafter as his first call, as well as Massey and Chip Miller, is hopeful for a good fall season.

“Te Akau Five is a classy little horse,” Valentine said. “Rob gave him a beautiful ride, and I felt good about putting Rob up even though he doesn’t ride timber very often because Te Akau Five is such a schoolmaster.”

Valentine added: “I am so lucky to be able to get great riders. I put Chip on High Watermark, because the horse had had a fall, and Chip is so good giving them confidence. Carl knows Heir To The Throne. Being the stable jockey I put him on the one I thought would win; unfortunately it looks like he has broken down.”


Wild Races
Several loose horses decided to stick with the field after dislodging their riders, starting with the $15,000 maiden hurdle when Matthew McCarron popped off Brigadoon Stable’s No Not I.

Danielle Hodsdon kept Look At Him focused on the front end but had a couple of close calls with the loose runner. After the last, she urged the 4-year-old on and won by a whopping 36-plus lengths.

Top trainer Jonathan Sheppard (who was born in Ashwell, England) was pleased to see the horse he bred and owns with William Pape conduct himself so professionally.

“We like him a great deal,” Sheppard said. “It was a bit of an ugly race. For a very inexperienced horse he seemed to have handled it very well. He made a major mistake at the first jump, which I think was actually good for him because he jumped very well after that. I trained his mother and his father so it is kind of neat to have him out there now.”

The next native from England to make her mark on American soil comes with quite the varied resume. Lucy Horner loves to race, but for the past few years her job as Infantry Platoon Commander in the Army kept her a little busy.

Born in York, the 28-year-old Horner did five tours of duty in the service, including one in Bosnia and Afghanistan. She chose not to re-enlist and concentrate instead on race riding.

Horner picked David “Dai” Williams, who is familiar with the U.S. steeplechasing circuit, to help with her quest for timber wins. Williams said her horses, the German-bred Hanko and the Irish-bred Make It Easy, arrived about 14 days prior to Morven Park and seemed to have no problems with the journey.

“I rode some great horses when I was in the Army, but now I am in a position where I can ride when I want and not worry about getting back to somewhere whenever or where ever,” said Horner.

Make It Easy certainly had no issues with foreign timber in the maiden race. As expected, Stone Valley Farm’s Ice Bullet (Anne Hambleton) set a blistering pace, but Horner trailed the pair and took over the lead when she was ready. Loose horse Assembly (Teddy Mulligan) made a little trouble, but Make It Easy was not distracted and won by 6 lengths over Hambleton. Mary Fleming Finlay’s Dr. Ramsey (Michael Cooney) placed third.

Horner believes she can get an additional mile out of the 10-year-old gelding, so the four-mile Pennsylvania Hunt Cup could be a possibility.

“He would do 5 miles if I let him,” Horner said. “He won five point-to-points and loves firm ground. We schooled him over timber in England, and he jumped quite well so we thought perhaps he would do well over here and it would be good fun to try.”

But the most frequent flyer miles of the month have to go to New Zealander Shelley Houston. She and fellow jump jockey Missy Brown arrived the Wednesday before Morven. They plan to ride for Arch Kingsley Jr. and any other trainers.

Houston wasted no time by soundly winning the $10,000 conditioned claiming race with Augustin Stables’ Capital Peak. This is not the first time she sat on the horse. Houston placed fourth in the $150,000 race at Keeneland (Ky.) in the spring before she went back to New Zealand for their winter.

“He’s a lovely horse. I rode him in the Royal Chase, but he was out of his grade,” Houston said. “He’s quite tough. I tried to sit as quiet as I could so he would have some confidence, and he went well this time.”

Claimed by Kinross Farm for $15,000, owner Zohar Ben-Dov said they plan to run him over
timber.


On The Mend
The 2004 Eclipse Award winner Hirapour left no doubt that he was feeling better in the first of the training races at Morven Park. Owned by Eldon Farm, the 10-year-old gelding was sidelined with a bone chip after the $150,000 Turf Writers (N.Y.) in August, and it looked like his career was over.

With his usual jockey Matt McCarron up, the two sped around the course to win by more than 3 lengths. McCarron, who is still sporting a fractured collarbone from a fall at Shawan Downs (Md.), had a hard time pulling the bold horse up and went an extra turn while standing in the stirrups.

Trained by Doug Fout, the horse was scheduled for surgery in September, but at the last minute they decided to try IRAP (interleukin-1 receptor antagonist protein). In this treatment, antibodies taken from Hirapour’s own blood are injected into the joint to promote long-term healing and help alleviate pain.

Normally it takes about 10 injections, but Hirapour only needed four, Fout said. The entire process is much more costly than surgery, but Hirapour had such a bad reaction to the initial bone chip surgery last year, they decided anesthesia was not an option.

Fout is still hopeful they will make the $250,000 Breeders’ Cup (N.J.) on Oct. 28.

“If he didn’t win and run off with Matt we would have retired him plain and simple,” Fout said. “If the ground is firm at Far Hills we have a shot; if the ground is soft we haven’t a prayer against McDynamo. The only other place to go would be the Colonial Cup [S.C.].”

In a bizarre accident in the same race, John K. Griggs’ chestnut Kary G (Darren Nagle) took the turn into the stretch and jumped a beacon, falling to his side, and died a short time later. Officials speculated he either broke his neck or had a severe head injury.

Fout and McCarron also won the second division of the training flat with Betsy Meade’s Kilbride Rd.


Sarah L. Greenhalgh