William L. Pape’s Mixed Up showed no signs of confusion as he surged past early pacesetter Charlie Whiskey after the last fence to win the $75,000 National Hunt Cup grade II hurdle stakes, May 21.

The win gave jockey Danielle Hodsdon her first stakes victory, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by leading jockey Matt McCarron, who doused her with water in the winner’s circle. The National Hunt Cup, the second leg of the Steeplechase Triple Crown for novice horses, was held this year at the Radnor Races in Malvern, Pa.

“You never expect to win a graded stakes like that; you just hope,” said an ecstatic Hodsdon. “We had a great trip. I wanted to lay second or third; I wanted to have somebody in front of me giving me a lead to the fences.”

Mixed Up relaxed early, but as the race went on he became tougher to hold. “There wasn’t any point in dragging him back, and I probably couldn’t have anyway,” said Hodsdon. “He was just jumping so great; he made the lead just jumping his way up there.”

For the first 2 miles, Mixed Up stalked Charlie Whiskey (Cyril Murphy) before Hodsdon swung him to the outside and asked the 6-year-old son of Carnivalay for his best run.

Mixed Up drew even with Charlie Whiskey as those two jumped the second-to-last fence at the top of the stretch abreast and battled their way up Radnor’s long hill toward the last fence. A determined Charlie Whiskey was still on even terms with Mixed Up as they landed over the last, but Mixed Up, a restricted stakes winner on the flat, slowly edged away on the run-in, prevailing by 2 lengths at the wire.

It was another 3 lengths back to Move West (Jody Petty) in third, while Irish Actor (Clayton Chipperfield) finished fourth.

“The race worked out perfectly for us,” said trainer Jonathan Sheppard. “Charlie Whiskey gave us a nice lead. He [Mixed Up] jumped beautifully, and Danielle gave him a smooth, confident ride. It was nice to have the co-owner and co-breeder Bill Pape here to see it.”

Sheppard had pointed Mixed Up to the National Hunt Cup all spring. “I wanted to skip the first race in the series [the Temple Gwathmey at the Middleburg Races (Va.)]. I thought, ‘Let’s start him off in an easier spot–try to win the non-winners of two [allowance race at Middleburg], and if he does well, then we can take a stab at this.’ So he ran at Middleburg and won, which helped his confidence.”

Mixed Up also won a training flat race at the second Atlantic City (N.J.). “His last race at Atlantic City was a little bit last minute,” Sheppard said. “It was either that or give him a work over the very hard ground at the farm where he’s been training, and I thought it might be safer to give him his last work in a race. Sometimes they say a race is as good as three works, and it seemed to pay off today.”

True To Form?

Going into the National Hunt Cup there was speculation as to whether the form from the Temple Gwathmey, run April 23, would hold up. In that race Tom Foley set a blazing pace on Paradise’s Boss, last year’s novice champion, only to have the bay struggle home third, beaten 11 lengths.

When the speed collapsed in the Gwathmey, the race set up for Toughkenamon, who came from just off the pace to win his first stakes race in just his second start over hurdles.

“The form of the Gwathmey was suspect,” said Pape. “Jonathan and I both thought Mixed Up had enough seasoning to run well in this race, so we thought we’d take a shot. I’m glad we did.”

The National Hunt Cup set up as a race within a race. The top three finishers from the first leg of the Steeplechase Triple Crown–Toughkenamon (Robert Massey), Erin Go Bragh (Matt McCarron) and Paradise’s Boss–faced five new shooters, Charley Whiskey, Corporate Express (Calvin McCormack), Irish Actor, Mixed Up and Move West.

Paradise’s Boss changed tactics from the Gwathmey and was restrained off the pace while Toughkenamon raced much closer to the early pace, but both strategies backfired. The new horses claimed the top four places in the National Hunt Cup, while the top-three finishers from the Gwathmey finished fifth (Erin Go Bragh), seventh (Toughkenamon) and last (Paradise’s Boss). Welcome to the topsy-turvy world of the Steeplechase Triple Crown.

Sheppard will point Mixed Up to the third and final leg of the Steeplechase Triple Crown, the $75,000 Meadow Brook, to be contested at Belmont Park in New York, June 12, the day after the Triple Crown’s Belmont Stakes.

Miles Ahead Indeed

Miles Ahead continued to display his fondness for racing over timber as the Kinross Farm color bearer won his fourth timber race this spring, his second stakes race in a row, to remain undefeated in five career starts over timber.

Winner of the Virginia Gold Cup in his last start, Miles Ahead and jockey Chris Read found themselves behind a wall of horses as they came to the last fence of the $40,000 Radnor Hunt Cup. Read swung Miles Ahead out for the drive upon landing, and the 8-year-old son of Unaccounted For rocketed from fourth place into first to win by a length going away.

Hall Of Angels (Robbie Walsh) just edged Sham Aciss (David Bentley) by a neck for second as Chinese Whisper faded to fourth after hitting the last fence and causing jockey Paddy Young to lose his whip.

“He’s got an amazing turn of foot for a timber horse,” said a smiling Read in the winner’s circle. “I gave him some racing room after the last, and he just switched gears and mowed them down. He’s a terror over timber!”

While Miles Ahead may be dominating the timber stakes scene, parity was the order of the day at Radnor as six different jockeys and trainers won each of the six races at Radnor.

Leading rider Matt McCarron guided Molino Rosso to victory in the maiden hurdle for trainer Don Yovanovich. Meet At Eleven (Massey) won the allowance hurdle, and 11-year-old Popular Gigalo (Xavier Aizpuru) gave trainer F. Bruce Miller his third win of the year when he took the Mary E. Carrier Sport of Kings claiming hurdle race. Former steeplechase jockey James “Chucky” Lawrence sent out Rouge Sensation (Dave Bentley) to win the maiden claiming hurdle, the last race on the card.