Deep footing, firm footing—it doesn’t seem to matter to Sanna Neilson’s timber champion.

Augustin Stables’ New Zealand-bred Irish Prince showed that no matter the conditions, he is the horse to beat. His win in the $25,000 timber stakes at Shawan Downs, Sept. 29, is putting him on the fast track to the timber horse of the year title.

The majority of the best runners came out to stretch their legs at Shawan Downs after a long summer off. The only horse missing was top timber earner Irvin Naylor’s Salmo, who was injured after winning the Virginia Gold Cup in May and is out for the season.

Trainer Jack Fisher brought out his foremost finishers: Harold Via’s Mr. Bombastic (Robert Walsh), Arcadia Stable’s Bubble Economy (Diana Gillam) and Arthur Arundel’s Seeyouat-theevent (William Dowling).

William Meister brought last year’s maiden timber winner, Naylor’s Earmark (James Slater). Bruce Haynes shipped in from Tennessee with Anne Haynes’ Shady Valley (Russell Haynes), and Dabney Thompson brought Jubilee Stables’ Woodmont (Jeff Murphy) to round out the field.

Shawan course preparers tried to keep the course irrigated, and there was a definite difference in the compaction. It even appeared greener, but without good soaking rains it was still very firm. So race officials decided to modify the timber course to include only the irrigated sections on the right-hand oval, following along the same route as the hurdle course.

This change took out many of the larger inside fences and backside figure eight of the Hunt Valley, Md., course. In order to keep it 3 miles and a consistent jumping course they brought in several mobile timber fences. Unlike the angled mobile timber fences used in the foxhunter’s race at the Grand National (Md.), which tipped over when a horse hit one, these were steadier, newly built and approved by the National Steeplechase Association.

Built by Fisher, these fences are straight up and down and have two extra large telephone poles at the base on either side doubling as counter weights and ground lines. The fences are designed to break away when a horse hits them, and poor jumping in both timber races successfully trashed several panels.

He’s Got The Edge
At flag fall, Mr. Bombastic wasted no time getting to the lead. The stakes winner took to the new fences and the larger standard fences, gaining ground with every jump. But by the last three fences he started to fade, and Bubble Economy and Irish Prince were making up ground, finally passing him at the second-to-last.

Irish Prince zeroed in on the last fence, sailed over it and dug in on the other side. Bubble Economy tried to catch the speedy horse, but was 3⁄4 lengths shy by the wire. Seeyouattheevent placed third, and Mr. Bombastic held on for fourth.

New to timber this year, Irish Prince started the year winning at Piedmont Fox Hounds Point-To-Point (Va.) in March then he ran back to win under rules in the $20,000 timber stakes at Carolina Cup. But the 8-year-old son of Prince Of Praise has not run since winning the $75,000 timber stakes at Iroquois (Tenn.) in May, and trainer Sanna Hendriks was a little worried about galloping him on such firm going.

“A lot of these horses have some old leg problems,” Hendriks said. “And you worry about them. You can wait only so long to run. Our goal is Far Hills [(N.J.) Oct. 20]. He has run on firm going; it was pretty firm at Carolina Cup.

I said to Jody, ‘Go ahead and win if you can.’ Obviously, we thought any one of Jack’s would be the horse to beat, and they were all there.”

Petty was pleased with the horse’s performance. “The thing about him is he’s such an amazing jumper, and I don’t think he even notices what the ground is like,” said Petty. “It was deep at Iroquois; he was good there too. I take my hat off to Sanna; she got these horses fit under miserable conditions.”

Petty added, “But going to the last I could feel he was finally starting to get tired. They were going plenty quick. It was going to be really short or really long. He took the long one, and that gave us the edge. My guy just doesn’t give in.”

This win sends Augustin to the top of the leading timber owner standings at $132,500 with $72,000 made by Irish Prince over Salmo’s $63,600.

Erin Go Bragh Tops Maidens
The maiden timber race turned out to be a little more eventful. English trainer Gary Brown shipped seven horses overseas this year to run over U.S. timber for the next five weeks. At Shawan, Brown entered Emma Wettern’s Profowens (Michael Traurig), but the horse appeared unhappy with the course, jumping poorly. He then refused the sixth fence, pitching his rider over his head.

Anne Stern’s Latino (Robert Walsh) made his second start over timber, running with his head mostly on the ground. He ended up stumbling over a fence around the two-mile mark and lost his rider.

By the end, Brigadoon Stable’s Erin Go Bragh (Matt McCarron) was never threatened and easily pulled away to win by 7 lengths over Hollbrook Hollow Farm’s Ravens Rock (Paddy Young).

“Jack has done a good job with the fences,” said Fout, trainer of Erin Go Bragh. “I have to give Jack and all the guys a lot of credit for them. They do make the horse back off a little bit the first time around. You don’t want them ducking through them. I think they are a good alternative. It sure saved the day. There is no way they could have run on the inside part of the course; it was concrete.”

Two For Aizpuru
Hurdle rider Xavier Aizpuru picked up two wins at Shawan, solidifying his lead in the NSA standings. His first win came with Gil Johnston’s feisty little chestnut Super Fame in the $20,000 optional allowance/claiming race.

Super Fame battled with Kathryn Fitzpatrick’s Valley’s Pride (Danielle Hodsdon), but in the end Aizpuru had more horse left and swept past to win by 1 length.

Although Super Fame is a little fractious in the paddock and at the start, he is all business when it comes to racing.

“He knows what he’s here to do,” Aizpuru said. “He’s just nervous about things. He was a little on his toes at the start but nothing too serious, and once the flag dropped he was a professional.”

Aizpuru expected his horse and Hodsdon’s to be the pacesetters.

“I had a chat with Danielle. We both had been given similar instructions, so we both could have been the speed if there wasn’t any. But there is no point in us going out there and cutting each other’s throats so to speak,” Aizpuru said. “After the first fence Danielle took the lead, and my horse seemed to be happy to follow her. He dug in at the end. He’s a tough cookie, and I really appreciate horses with that kind of heart. He’s only a little horse, but he stuck his head out as far as it would go.”

Aizpuru’s second win came in the $15,000 maiden filly and mare hurdle with Lair, a horse bred by Mimi Voss and her husband, trainer Tom Voss. Because Lair is a Maryland-bred they scooped up an extra $5,000 with the Maryland Million bonus.

Voss really likes the 5-year-old daughter of Lion Cavern out of Lostris.

“She’s bred to run all day long, not real fast, but she’s a good jumper. She just stays and stays, just wears them down,” Voss said.

The Maryland trainer said it has been difficult to get all the horses ready. “We have been training on the indoor track and the all-weather track, and they just get more and more sour because they do the same thing day in and day out,” Voss said. “But there’s not a lot you can do about it until the weather breaks.”

Chip Miller is continuing his winning streak getting victory 201 on The Fields Stable’s King Hoss in the $15,000 maiden hurdle, also for Voss.

“With a turn to go, I gave him a slap and he just took off,” said Miller. “If I had known he would react that way, I would not have used the stick. I was actually cussing myself, because now he was basically running off with me.”

But once the horse got in front he was fine. “He still had his ears up, and anytime a horse has his ears up in a race you know there is something left,” said Miller. “You just wait until someone gets to you to ask for more.”

Sarah L. Greenhalgh