Enduring a long course on a rainy day, Incomplete gives rider Charlie Fenwick a first-time win.

Charlie Fenwick III not only crossed the Potomac simply to contest Virginians on their turf in Upperville, he ran away with a wide victory as well, delivering a win for Maryland owner Robert Kinsley and Maryland trainer Ann Stewart on Incomplete in the Rokeby Bowl open timber, at the Piedmont Fox Hounds Point-To-Point on March 22.

“I thought it was a challenging race, from my perspective, because there’s always a couple of good horses.
To get eight or nine [horses] is really good, I thought,” Fenwick said.

The race was anyone’s until Fenwick headed to the second-to-last fence, a stone wall that re-entered the main course. Incomplete tore away upon landing, galloping ahead of the pack for a win by 9 lengths. William Santoro followed in second on Private Attack, and Calvin McCormack finished third on Hall Of Angels.

“Mom [Ann Stewart] could be mad at me for winning, but I don’t think I let him get away too much,” Fenwick joked. “Hopefully he’ll come out of it all right.”

Fenwick and Stewart eagerly agreed on the Salem Course to bring Incomplete back to his racing career. “The horses don’t flatten on this course, and we like that Maryland timber, fences that are straight up and down,” he explained. “The turf here is great; you don’t get any better turf than you do here.”

Incomplete gained his first win at the Elkridge-Harford Hunt Point-To-Point in March 2007 and later won in the amateur timber with jockey Blake Curry at the Grand National (Md.).

They Can Do Anything

Dawn Williams found Incomplete (Press Card—Sioux Lady, Poker) at the Laurel Racetrack (Md.), positive the horse, bred by Hugo Procopio, would become a contender over timber courses.

“Poker was a phenomenal jumper and produced a lot of good jumpers,” Williams said. “I also had the half brother, Calico Sioux, who was a solid runner over hurdles. Mr. Procopio always wants to find them another life for which they’re suitable. He has a mindset that they can become anything.”

Williams also found Sioux Sunset, a hunter who competes successfully in the amateur-owner division with Debbie Kelly.

Kinsley purchased Incomplete two years ago from Williams and Bruce Fenwick, uncle to Charlie and also winner of the Rokeby Bowl in 1968 and 1978.

“Bruce had him, and then my sister [Beth Fenwick] had him, but he was a little too much horse for her so we sold him to Bob,” Fenwick explained.

After racing in the spring of 2007, Incomplete’s focus was shifted to foxhunting. Kinsley, MFH of the Elkridge-Harford Hounds, hunted the gelding while Stewart concentrated on getting him to relax. With a new interest in racing, Kinsley has become an avid supporter of the sport and finds horses for Stewart to train into steeplechasers.

“Unfortunately, he had his final meet today, so he had to stay back in Maryland with the hounds,” Stewart said. “But he’s been a great owner, and he’s got more that we’re bringing along.”

Fenwick credited Stewart, in addition to others, for preparing Incomplete for the win. “We’ve had some really good help with Mom schooling, since she can’t do it all, and people have really been working to get the horses to relax and jump well,” he said.

Fenwick, son of leading timber rider Charlie Fenwick Jr., now retired, finds time to race on the weekends while raising a young family and working in commercial real estate. “I come out, get on about one day a week, and then do the races,” he said with a laugh.

He also has high hopes for the Gold Cup, a race his father won in 1976, ’79, and ’86. “It would be nice, maybe I’ll ride one of Mom’s,” he said.

A Home Course Win

George Hundt Jr., Malvern, Pa., couldn’t have been more proud of Westbound Road as they crossed the
finish line first for the owner-rider timber win, galloping away by a winning margin of 12 lengths.

“It was his first timber race, and he was comfortable the whole way through,” Hundt said with a beam. “We had about three dodgy fences, but the rest of the course was good.”

With a clear lead from the beginning, Westbound Road (Gone West—Jood, Nijinsky II) galloped the 3 miles with a steady pace but pulled away once he spotted the finish line.

“I think he knows how to pace himself in a long timber course. He’s got a nice turn of foot, and he’s got a good heart,” Hundt said.

Hundt said that trainer Richard Valentine of Whitewood Farm, The Plains, Va., “had him just primed enough for the course.”

The owner of three timber horses, Hundt foxhunts with Piedmont in his spare time and finds the race to be “a classic course.”

“This is just one of the best point-to-points. Half the fences are stone walls. There’s tight turns but the turf is great, and you’re going over hunting country,” he said.

Westbound Road, originally from Kentucky and bred by Gainsborough Farm, will be Hundt’s partner for upcoming point-to-points. “I want to do more with him and just take it from there. Old Dominion is next on our agenda,” he explained.

Beth Johnson