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Charlie Fenwick III can thank the Transportation Security Administration for one of several chance encounters that helped him reach the winner’s circle at the 103rd running of the Maryland Grand National. The TSA wouldn’t let Irish jockey Gordon Elliot into the country, which gave Fenwick the ride on Rosbrian two days before the April 23rd race in Butler, Md.

Fenwick had planned to ride Ann Stewart’s Swayo, but when his mother instead decided to run the 14-year-old, two-time Maryland Hunt Cup winner at the Plumstead Point-to-Point (Md.) on Sunday, he was temporarily left without a ride in the Grand National.

But when Rosbrian landed in his proverbial lap, Fenwick took the reins for Maryland owner George P. Mahoney and Maryland-based trainer Casey Randall and came home the winner. It wasn’t a walk in the park, however, as Rosbrian had to dig deep in defeating last year’s Maryland Hunt Cup champion Bug River, who ran into trouble after the last fence.

Rosbrian, 10, was also up against a tough field in the three-mile $30,000 timber race. In addition to Bug River (Blair Waterman), there was the 2004 Pennsylvania Hunt Cup champ Dr. Ramsey (Zach Miller) and Charlie’s Dewan (Brian Korrell) who won the 2003 Radnor Hunt Cup (Pa.) and was the Shawan Downs (Md.) timber champion.

Other challengers included Bruno Castelli (Christopher Lyons), Lil Starvin Marvin (William Meister) and Brankman with Stewart Strawbridge.
The race started slowly, with Dr. Ramsey dwelling some 40 lengths behind the field at the start.

Lyons sent Bruno Castelli to the front, which caused the rest of the field to spread out. Then, Brankman lost Strawbridge at the eighth fence, and the rest of the field bunched up behind Bruno Castelli.

It wasn’t until after the second-to-last fence that Waterman asked Bug River to catch Bruno Castelli just before the last, taking Rosbrian and Fenwick with her.

As the diminished field approached the last, Bruno Castelli gave a Herculean effort, twisted and fell on the landing. Bug River, unable to avoid the fallen horse, momentarily got tangled up, which gave Fenwick his second lucky break of the week.

Rosbrian held on to win the race by a head over Bug River in the fast time of 6:151³5. Lil Starvin Marvin was third, while Dr. Ramsey finished fourth. Charlie’s Dewan pulled up.

Family Traditions

This is Fenwick’s first Grand National win after he took the allowance timber Murray Memorial in 2003. His father, Charlie Fenwick Jr., holds the record after winning the Grand National 10 times between 1973 and 1994. Father and son talked strategy before this race.

“I was concentrating on getting into a groove and jumping well,” Fenwick III said about his win. “Really, he couldn’t have jumped any better. We just hunted around. I asked him a few times just to see how much horse I had left, and I had plenty of horse so I thought I would just sit with Bug River and go when he goes. That was the plan.”

After the race, his father was beaming, but it was all white knuckles watching the fall at the last.

“I always thought the anxiety was terrible as a rider; it’s ten times worse as a parent,” Fenwick Jr. said.

Fenwick Jr., who also has five wins in the Maryland Hunt Cup, has a special fondness for the Grand National.

“I think horses love this course,” Fenwick Jr. said. “Every fence is different. They’re not in a routine of going around on an oval. In their perspective, they’re looking to see what’s next. You have their attention, and it keeps them interested.”

Even though Fences 3 and 13 get all the attention at the Maryland Hunt Cup, Fenwick Jr. said there’s another far worse.

“I think the next-to-last fence at the Grand National is the toughest fence in timber racing,” said Fenwick Jr., “because you’re under a lot of pressure and you’re going down hill. You’re driving, so they’re on their forehand. There’s no taking back. And you have that steep hill afterwards, and you don’t want the tank to be empty up the hill. It’s a rough fence, and that makes this race that much more exciting.”

Rosbrian’s owner, Mahoney, named his farm Rosbrian after the Mahoney Clan’s fortress in Ireland. He bought the horse Rosbrian as a 3-year-old, naming him after the farm. After running him in a few point-to-points in Ireland, Mahoney sent the horse to the United States.

“We brought him here because he didn’t seem to like the deeper going,” Mahoney said. “Then we discovered he had hoof problems, so they took some time to correct.”

Rosbrian broke his maiden in the allowance race at the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup in 2002, but his only big claim to fame was the $25,000 Queens Cup (N.C.) in 2003. After that, he had a few good third-placed finishes.

“He has always been a bridesmaid, but a very legitimate bridesmaid,” Mahoney said on Monday after the race. “And luck was on our side Saturday. He’s bucking and squealing in the field right now. Knock wood, I’ll be smiling again at the [Maryland] Hunt Cup, but then I could be crying too.”

Mahoney believes this time his jockey will get through immigration. He said the problem the week of the Grand National was TSA and immigration didn’t believe Elliot was only going to be in the country for a couple of weeks to ride.

“They took one look at all his gear and thought this man was staying a while,” Mahoney said.

No Looking Back

The $15,000 Murray Memorial saw two rivals at it again. The race scratched down to a match race–Waterman on the 6-year-old Coal Dust from Armata Stables for trainer Tom Voss, while William Meister brought Lucy Goelet’s Sky And Sea, a horse he trains.

After getting beat at the wire the weekend before by Waterman in the allowance timber at My Lady’s Manor (Md.), Meister left nothing to chance and sped around the course. By the last, it was obvious Meister still had tons of horse, and he beat Waterman by 2 lengths in the time of 6:51.

This was a sweet victory for Meister, who hasn’t won the Murray since 1991, and his last Grand National win was in 1993.

His partner, Sky And Sea, raced last year, but then Meister discovered the horse needed wind surgery. Now, after the horse’s recovery, everything’s coming together this year for the 41-year-old trainer and jockey.

“He’s a fast horse,” Meister said. “I have to see how he comes out. And Lil Starvin Marvin too; he ran well also. I like them both for the Hunt Cup.”

This time Meister left nothing to chance with Waterman. “I wasn’t looking back this time. I didn’t care where she was,” he said. “I was just running to the wire.”

Waterman was fine trading places on the winner’s stand this week.

“I didn’t want to push it and make my horse fall,” Waterman said. “I don’t think I could have beat Billy this time. He had a lot more horse than I did. I was very happy, and my horse is still a youngster.”

Todd McKenna broke his maiden at the Grand National with his first sanctioned win over timber in the Western Run Plate. This was the inaugural running of the race over a modified foxhunter’s timber course.

McKenna, the husband of trainer Kathy McKenna, rode the veteran timber champ Young Dubliner. Young Dubliner, nicknamed “Y.D.,” was the 2002 Maryland Hunt Cup winner. Now at age 16, he was supposed to be retired, but Y.D. had other plans.

“He was going to be a staff horse at Cheshire Hunt for my uncle,” said Neilson. “But he was a little too keen to take the field. It full on just happened that he ended up being Todd’s foxhunter chase horse. Had I planned it, it would have never happened.”

McKenna finished first, Mason Lampton and Ivorgorian was second after going off course then coming back on course.

Make Your Own and Danielle Brewster Oster fell after the last fence. Hot It Up and Michael Finney also went off course but chose to
pull up.

“He’s very easy to ride and is just a beautiful jumping horse,” McKenna said. “They went off course when Mason went toward where we started and missed a fence completely, and he took Michael’s horse with him.

“I didn’t touch Y.D. the whole way,” he added. “The win was kind of anticlimactic when I turned around at the finish and Danielle wasn’t there. I ended up coming across the finish almost at a trot.”