An early nor’easter dumped a solid 41�2 inches of rain on the Glenwood Course in Middleburg, Va., giving horses a good cut in the turf at the Virginia Fall Races on Oct. 7-8.
At one point officials even debated canceling Saturday’s meet and moving all the races to Sunday, but by Saturday morning everyone decided to tough it out.
For Jody Petty, this was a chance to ride his favorite foxhunter, Irv Naylor’s Albert’s Crossing, against some very experienced company in the $35,000 National Sporting Library Chronicle Cup timber stakes.
The six starters included the 2005 Pennsylvania Hunt Cup winner Acorn Hill Farm’s Northern Thinking (Robert Walsh), the 2005 Morven Park Races (Va.) timber winner Hound’s Cry Farm’s Te Akau Five (Carl Rafter) and 2005 International Gold Cup (Va.) winner Randolph Rouse’s Fields Of Omagh (Tom Foley).
Northern Thinking snatched the start and dragged the rest of the field along for most of the 31�4-mile race. The 10-year-old son of Northern Baby jumped well on the front end. The normally speedy Fields Of Omagh appeared not to like the softer going and tried to keep up with Northern Thinking but ended up pulling up with several fences to go.
Petty used this opportunity to move his horse up to jump with Northern Thinking. Only about 7 lengths separated the field as they approached the final fence. Petty and Walsh’s horses jumped abreast, but when they landed Albert’s Crossing shot off down the hill toward the long stretch.
By the time they reached the wire, Northern Thinking was more than 4 lengths back for second.
This win gives Albert’s Crossing, trained by Sanna Hendriks, $21,000 for the year so far. Naylor’s other champion Allimac is the National Steeplechase Association’s leading timber horse with $54,000.
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Petty really likes Albert’s Crossing’s jumping style: “He enjoys a good solid pace; he likes to be dragged around the fences. I would not call the going today slick, but it is tiring. He’s a great, bold jumper and takes to any kind of footing.”
Coming to the last, Petty thought he was going to be second. “I thought this was going to be a knockdown, drag-out fight to the wire, and when I asked him to go, he really went,” said Petty. “He showed me more than I knew he had.”
Albert’s Crossing and Petty have an understanding. Just by his mannerisms, Petty knows what kind of day the pair will be having. “He’s a really funny horse, kind of loopy,” Petty said. “He loves to root with his nose about two inches from the ground. Most people find that annoying. I don’t. The loopier he is at the start, the better the chance I have that day.”
The Steward’s Call
But Petty’s good day ended abruptly on Augustin Stable’s Noble Bob in the $12,000 maiden timber race. A full field of 12 horses entered the race, but only four took home money. Among them was the eventual winner Kim Zito’s Straight Gin with Chip Miller up.
At flag fall, Willard Freeman’s Father Paul (Walsh) took the lead with Anne Hayne’s Reverse Acquittal (Foley) and Noble Bob. As they entered the wings for the third fence, Noble Bob suddenly crossed in front of the others as he jumped, causing Seeyouat-theevent (William Dowling) to crash into his backside. Dowling was unseated in the collision.
Father Paul, Noble Bob and Reverse Acquittal continued out in front until Father Paul and High Watermark (Carl Rafter) fell. Soon several other contenders pulled up and all that was left was Noble Bob, Make It Easy (Lucy Horner) and Reverse Acquittal, with Straight Gin leading the field.
The final fence was all Straight Gin’s. He cleared it easily and it appeared he had the most horse coming into the stretch, but Petty was far from out done and came up on Miller’s inside to win by a head in a grueling stretch battle.
But the officials refused to call the race until they had seen the videotape from the third fence. Over and over they played the video, calling up Seeyouattheevent’s trainer Jack Fisher, Noble Bob’s trainer Hendriks and all participating jockeys. At one point they asked course photographer Douglas Lees to bring up his digital camera so they could see his angle of the incident.
After about 25 minutes of deliberation, the stewards ruled that Noble Bob did indeed interfere with Seeyouattheevent and caused the accident. Noble Bob was disqualified and unplaced in the race, but Petty was not fined. This is Noble Bob’s second disqualification at Virginia Fall Races. The 5-year-old son of Lord Avie was disqualified last year from a hurdle race weeks later after he tested positive for a banned substance.
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Straight Gin was placed the winner, and English owner-rider Lucy Horner was second with the Irish-bred Make It Easy who is trained by Britain native Dai Williams.
Straight Gin’s trainer Richard Valentine was surprised by the ruling: “You don’t like to win them that way and poor Sanna–I have never seen a horse taken down like that before.”
Although Miller won in the end, he thinks he should have beat Petty in the stretch. “I got to the lead too soon after the others fell,” Miller said. “And letting Jody on my inside was unacceptable. I maintained the line and gave Jody too much room to sneak in, and that is just bad riding.”
Nicely Bred
Straight Gin is no stranger to controversy or the racing world. The 7-year-old son of Go For Gin is steeplechasing’s first successful Triple Crown flat racing crossover.
Bought at the 2000 Keeneland sales as a yearling for $80,000, he was originally trained by Hall Of Fame flat track trainer Nick Zito and started in the 2002 Preakness Stakes (Md.). After an injury, Zito gave him to his wife Kim to rehab and make into a show jumper. The big bay gelding took to the new job pretty enthusiastically, so much he was ruled dangerous and then was switched to steeplechasing.
Valentine got the lucky call from the Zitos and started him over hurdles. Unfortunately, in 2005 he had time off again for an injury. This year, with the help of veteran timber rider-trainer Jill Waterman, he has been jumping well, winning the Thornton Hill Hounds Point-To-Point (Va.) maiden timber on Sept. 16.
When Valentine first got a look at the horse, he knew there was one ultimate goal for this horse—the Maryland Hunt Cup.
“I am so happy that he is doing so well,” Kim Zito said from the $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont (N.Y.), where her husband’s horse Wanderin Boy (Edgar Prado) placed second. “He’s a really neat horse and a great jumper. It looks like he has finally found his calling.”
Miller, who has sat on many a Maryland Hunt Cup prospect and helped train them for his father Bruce Miller, said Straight Gin is an effortless jumper and super intelligent–the exact package you need to win that four-mile monster race.
“He was flawless; he did not put a foot wrong,” Miller said of his run around the Glenwood course. “He was much more in tune with what timber racing is about this time. It’s hard to believe he’s still inexperienced; he’s only been over hurdles a couple of times and never fox hunted. And timber racing is not like hurdle racing. One mistake can ruin a timber horse. They lose all confidence.”
Sarah L. Greenhalgh
