Trainer Sanna Neilson Hendriks put James Slater in the irons in Howard County-Iron Bridge Race Meet’s $12,000 open timber. Aboard Allimac, Slater rocked and rolled around the new course in Elkridge, Md., March 25. By the wire, Hendriks’ father’s horse, Matherwood Stable’s The Barker (Molly Hannum), was the closest by 2 lengths.

Although the entries were down, in part because of a drought, Slater was pleased with his horse. “He’s a nice jumper,” he said. “This is really his first time out in two years, and Sanna told me just to take care of him and make sure he comes back in one piece.”

Slater, who works for Jonathan Sheppard in Pennsylvania, has suddenly become the “it” boy in timber racing with Jody Petty still recovering from his fall at Little Everglades (Fla.) three weeks earlier.

“There are not many of us out there with amateur status,” Slater said. “I was hoping to get the ride on Make Me A Champ for the Maryland Hunt Cup, but it looks like Bruce Miller won’t be running him back. If I stay healthy, I don’t know who I will be riding for–there are so many horses and not enough amateur jockeys.”

Hendriks has about 30 horses in work this season, many of them timber prospects. With both the Maryland Hunt Cup and Iroquois (Tenn.) timber stakes looming, offering a record $75,000 apiece, Hendriks is not sure where Allimac fits in. She is going to prepare him for the Elkridge-Harford Hunt Point-To-Point (Md.) and see how he likes the bigger timber before making a decision.

Louis “Paddy” Neilson III trained the second-placed finisher The Barker and was happy to see the horse out running again.

“We had nothing but bad luck last year,” Neilson said of the 9-year-old. “Everywhere we turned something happened. He’s my favorite hunter. I rode him in the Foxhall Team Chase [Pa.], and our team was second. He ran under the name of Traveler–our whole team was named after famous Civil War horses.”

Neilson, who piloted countless horses over timber for decades, added, “I haven’t ruled out taking him to any of the big timber contests this season. We will have to see how it goes.”

Maryland trainer Alicia Murphy was also happy with the new course and the conditions at the Howard meet. She brought Pack Up Stable’s Fappa Fire and Move Up Stable’s In Kent’s Memory. Blake Curry rode Fappa Fire to win the novice timber and guided In Kent’s Memory to third in the open timber.

“It’s a nice course,” Murphy said. “I may be in the minority, but I really did not think the footing was that bad. I would like to have seen the fences a wee bit higher, though. I think the fences were a little small for this time of year. It is a little tricky with some of the turns, but I think they will iron it all out by next year.”

Piedmont Takes A Hit
The Piedmont Fox Hounds Point-To-Point, also March 25, suffered from hard going and few entries. The Upperville, Va., meet took the biggest hit entry-wise of all the races this season.

Two elements had trainers gravitating toward Howard County–a new course and the lure of money. Howard County ponied up $24,000, the most of any point-to-point this spring, and they had an unprecedented winner-take-all $12,000 purse for the open timber.

Central Entry Director Will O’Keefe was sorry to see such an old, established point-to-point meet like Piedmont scratch down to so many walkovers.

“There is only a certain number of horses, and they are spread pretty thin and when you do put up money like Howard County did, where do you think they are going to go?” O’Keefe asked. “I think these races would have been all right if the ground had been better.”

Even though Virginia trainer Don Yovanovich came away with five wins at Piedmont (two in walkovers), he said that is not how he wants to win.

“Unfortunately, you can’t control the weather. You can restrict races with horses and riders and we can tweak things to make things work when you are lacking horses, but we can’t control the weather,” Yovanovich said. “The last eight weeks have been dreadful. We need days of soaking rain. We had the rain in January, then the drought set in February and then the equine herpes virus prevented us from training at the tracks.”

Yovanovich isn’t just worried about the meets. “It’s not just the racing; it’s training every day. What these horses are putting up with is amazing,” he said. “My swimming bill is three times what it usually is just from the past two months. Old injuries are flaring up. You have to be very careful.”

The Rokeby Challenge Survives
Entries for Piedmont, a 65-year-old race meet, have dwindled in the past couple of years since the meet stopped offering hurdle races. For spectators, four walkovers highlighted the first couple of hours; only the feature Rokeby Bowl and three flat races saved the meet.

In 2005, the coveted Rokeby Challenge Bowl timber feature had four participants; this year only two chose to run the 31�2 miles over timber and stone walls. Last year’s winner, Apache Twist, defended his title with owner-rider Loring Heard, for trainer Simon Hobson.

Thomas Hulfish III decided to give his horse, Bad Dog Press, another chance at the title, this time with the 2003 Maryland Hunt Cup and 2004 Rokeby Bowl winner Chris Gracie in the irons. But from flag fall, Gracie knew this was not going to be his race as his horse sucked back and allowed Heard a 20- to 30-length lead.

“The ground is horrible, and it’s so hard from the first fence I could tell he did not like the ground. It really was just stinging his feet,” Gracie said. “I tried to just take care of him. I still think he is a really good horse, but I got beat by a better horse.”

Hobson, who had 10 wins as a flat track trainer in 2005, said that even though 13-year-old Apache Twist won the race by 3/16 of a mile over Bad Dog Press, it was not an easy ride for Heard.

“This is a very difficult horse to ride. Even the hurdle jockeys who used to ride him years ago used to say he was tough, a real challenge,” Hobson said. “He is a difficult horse to sit on every day; he is not your average push-button horse at all. I give Loring a great deal of credit keeping him interested for that long running all by himself.”

Hobson has been doing a lot of slow hill work and trotting to keep the horse fit with the hard ground.

Semi-retired jockey Patrick Cooney donned silks for the maiden timber, winning in a walkover on Astaires Tipallade. He can understand why trainers chose to scratch their horses, but he also sees the other side of the dilemma.

“Everyone has been cautious with their horses. I want to be cautious with this guy, too, but at some point in time you do have to run,” Cooney said. “You can’t train for seven months and not race because of conditions unless you want to wait another year.”