Riding over fences might be “just a hobby,” for flat trainer Roger Horgan, but he is definitely making his mark yet again in the timber world.

The 33-year-old Irish native has ridden the $25,000 timber stakes at My Lady’s Manor in Monkton, Md., four times and won every time. Horgan’s latest triumph came with Brick’n Brew Stable’s Sham Aciss on April 15, for trainer Jack Fisher.

Even Horgan didn’t think he stood much of a chance against last year’s maiden timber winner from The Manor, Equistar (James Slater), or the 2005 Grand National (Md.) winner Rosbrian (Charlie Fenwick III). He also had to contend with the 2005 Far Hills (N.J.) $50,000 timber winner Thari (Stewart Strawbridge) and multiple point-to-point winner No Fast Moves (Chris Read).

Sham Aciss had won the maiden race at The Manor in 2004 with Paddy Young, but a bad second-to-last fence resulted in a fall last year. He also fell with Fisher in the International Gold Cup (Va.) in 2005. Horgan rode him at the Green Spring Valley Point-To-Point Races (Md.) on April 1 and was a nice second to Equistar, so he knew if he was in striking distance he might be able to take down the Saratoga Springs (N.Y.) track record holder. Slater was named on Equistar after Blair Waterman Wyatt, who suffered a concussion at Green Spring (Md.) aboard Bug River, decided not to ride the rest of the spring.

A generous storm the night before made the lush turf perfect for the five-horse field, but with Salmo out of the running the field had lost a front-runner. Soon after the start, Strawbridge urged Thari to the lead with Sham Aciss somewhere in the back of the pack.

As the field left the bottom part of the course and proceeded up the hill and through the chute (fences 9 and 10), Equistar and No Fast Moves started to pressure Thari. As they jumped fence 13, Equistar shot away from the fence, dragging No Fast Moves, Thari and Sham Aciss. But just as suddenly, a few fences later, Equistar pulled up sharp, and Horgan found himself comfortably in the lead with Read.

Sham Aciss proved to have the better turn of foot on the landing off the last fence, and he carried Horgan down the stretch 8 lengths ahead of No Fast Moves. Equistar left the course in the horse ambulance with a severe bowed tendon and is out for the season.

Horgan said the first part of the race was a little frustrating.

“We had no pace in the race whatsoever,” he said. “Luckily, Stewart jumped up at a nice genuine gallop.”

An Elite Crew
This win places Horgan in an elite cate-gory of jockeys who have won the timber stakes at My Lady’s Manor four times. He joins Charlie C. Fenwick Jr. and H. Turney McKnight. Stuart Janney Jr. holds the record with six wins.

Owner Pedie Killebrew has had a lot of faith in Fisher and Sham Aciss. “He had some bad luck last year,” Killebrew said. “But he really seems to be going strong.”

A tough competitor, 8-year-old Sham Aciss is the grandson of the late Sham, who had the distinction of knocking two teeth out in the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby, running while bleeding profusely and placing second to Secretariat in the hunt for the Triple Crown. In doing so, he ran the second-fastest Kentucky Derby to course record holder Secretariat.

Assistant trainer Sheila Fisher said she and her husband Jack haven’t really done anything different this year with Sham Aciss. “I think he is just a happier horse,” Fisher said. “He seems happier in the paddock and he seems fitter.”

Horgan said that this win–after taking almost four years off to establish his flat track training business–doesn’t mean he’s back. “I am just visiting,” Horgan said. “It’s nice to come and see everybody. If I can, I will ride. I have priorities. Steeplechasing is secondary to my business. This is just a hobby for me now.”

Horgan had three wins last year from 16 starts on the flat, but he came to this country almost a decade ago to ride in the legendary Maryland Hunt Cup. Now that Horgan is an amateur jockey again, he has that chance. Horgan won The Manor in 2000, 2001 and 2002 all with John Filbert’s Ironfist for trainer Tom Voss.

With a deficit of amateur timber jockeys, Fisher is more than happy to fly the multi-talented Horgan in from Florida or New York to ride his horses in the big races.

No Laughing Matter
Jockey Chris Gracie was worried that Maryland native Ellen Horner might try to steal the $10,000 maiden timber, and that is exactly what she attempted.

Horner sped off from the start with Jamaica Me Laugh, putting at least 20 lengths of daylight between her and Armata Stable’s Coal Dust (Slater). As the horses reached the top of the course, Coal Dust had started to gain on Jamaica Me Laugh. But not until the 13th did it look like Fappa Fire (Blake Curry) and Coal Dust might have a shot at catching the fleet Jamaica Me Laugh.

By the second-to-last fence, Fappa Fire and Turkish Corner (Gracie) out-jumped Jamaica Me Laugh and headed for the final obstacle. Both horses found new gears and barreled down the stretch with Turkish Corner just a length ahead of Fappa Fire at the wire.

Gracie was proud of Turkish Corner’s first maiden timber win.

“The horse has so much class,” he said. “He’s still jumping green, especially at fence 10, but he jumped well enough. The only way this horse would have lost that race would have been because of a jumping mistake. My horse looked that other horse [Fappa Fire] in the eye in the stretch and he took off.”

Gracie added, “I knew Ellen was going to try to steal it. She stole it at Cheshire [(Pa.) in March], and I knew I would need to stay close. You can’t leave too much to do and I almost did. She did set a very good pace. It worked out well.”

Bad Luck
The amateur highweight timber was pockmarked with a series of mishaps. The first came near the start, when Little Dewey Know, who had been acting up in the paddock, fell over the first fence. His rider, James Stierhoff, was unhurt, but Little Dewey Know proceeded to run among the rest of the five-horse field, weaving in and out of horses.

The eventual winner, Augustin Stable’s Seeking Seattle (Strawbridge), had taken the lead but was plagued by the horse until the seventh fence when Little Dewey Know bolted through some tailgates and was finally apprehended by an outrider and some picnickers.

Seeking Seattle led the rest of the field around the course, but just as Mary Fleming Finlay’s Dr. Ramsey (Tim Maddrix) started to make his move on Seeking Seattle, he caught fence 14, cutting his leg and flipping in the process. At this point, Zaratanie (Gracie) was in position and tried to catch Seeking Seattle but had to settle for second at the wire, 1 1/2 lengths back.

Maddrix was taken to the hospital with a compression fracture in one of his vertebrae and was released on Monday. Dr. Ramsey received about two dozen stitches, and trainer Dorothy Smithwick said, “He’s out of the Maryland Hunt Cup,” but she does not know if he is quite done for the season.

This was Seeking Seattle’s second timber start and first sanctioned win for trainer Sanna Hendriks.

Strawbridge, Hendriks’ brother, was very impressed with the homebred, who is out of a Seattle Slew mare. “He folded great,” Strawbridge said. “The worry was just settling him. Once the other horse [Little Dewey Know] left us alone he was fine. If it wasn’t for that loose horse I think we would have settled sooner.”