Aah, the Colonial Cup Races–it always comes down to the Colonial Cup races doesn’t it? Held in Camden, S.C., the perennial last meet of the steeplechase season is almost always the deciding factor in many of the National Steeplechase Association’s year-end title battles. This year’s meet, Nov. 26, proved no different.

When Jody Petty drove McDynamo across the finish line just a length and a half ahead of Hirapour (Matt McCarron) in the $100,000 Colonial Cup Grade I hurdle stakes, it was like Ali knocking out Frazier or the Red Sox defeating the Yankees.

He not only clinched his first NSA leading jockey title after more than a decade of hard-fought years riding jump races, he also robbed McCarron of the chance to win his third straight jockey title. And he gave McDynamo the NSA horse-of-the-year-money-won title, along with a very probable second Eclipse Award over Hirapour.

Both Hirapour and McDynamo needed the Colonial Cup win to solidify their claim on the HOY title. Of the four Grade I open stakes races of the year, each horse had one win under his belt. Hirapour also had the Grade II $150,000 New York Turf Writers (N.Y.) win, but McDynamo won the $250,000 Breeders Cup Steeplechase (N.J.), and the lucrative purse pushed him to within reach of Hirapour if he won the Colonial Cup.

The other two major stakes contenders, Sur La Tete and Preemptive Strike, did not make it to the Colonial Cup due to foot problems and lost training.

Then there was the jockey race. Petty was just one race ahead of McCarron in the jockey standings at the start of the Colonial Cup race, the very last jump race of the season. In the five Camden races before the Colonial Cup, McCarron had been second an agonizing four times. The Cup was his only chance to at least tie Petty for the title.

Do Or Die
So the Cup race was it for both beasts and men, but like any good title match or championship game, the difference in being crowned in glory and having to settle for a hard-luck second came down to simply being the best on the day.

“We just had the best trip, the perfect trip,” said Petty. “My horse’s jumping won him the race.”

As McDynamo led the nine-horse field for every step of the way, McCarron, used to riding a late-closing Hirapour, settled his horse in behind the pace and then launched his bid to catch McDynamo around Camden’s sweeping turn for home.

Hirapour, the course record holder, is renowned for a blazing turn of foot late in the race, and he made up a huge amount of ground on McDynamo but never headed him.

“Even though we won the Breeders Cup on the front end, that wasn’t the plan necessarily for the Colonial Cup,” said Petty. “Sanna [Hendriks, McDynamo’s trainer] told me she just wanted to let her horse get the trip he needed.”

A relentless galloper with a stride as big as Texas, McDynamo has won from off the pace before, but Petty said there was no stopping him.

“He was sharp and we broke sharp and we sailed the first fence. He settled right away, and I kept waiting for someone to come by,” he said.

At the second fence, Petty saw Mon Villez (Chip Miller) come to him out of the corner of his eye, but after the jump he was just gone. The same thing happened at the third fence. “My horse just jumped unbelievably and gained ground at every fence,” Petty said.

Petty knew there was always pressure on his heels. He could feel them breathing down his neck, but he concentrated on riding his own race and “didn’t have a clue” who was coming at him. At the third last, as Hirapour started to really run him down, he heard someone say, “Go get him Matt!”

“I heard that and knew Hirapour was coming. I let my horse out a notch, and we met the last two fences absolutely perfectly. I take nothing away from Hirapour–he’s one of the greatest–but my horse’s jumping won him the race, and he was brave in the stretch too. He wasn’t going to let Hirapour by,” said Petty.

While McDynamo’s race couldn’t have gone any smoother, Petty had a harried ride in the 3-year-old hurdle stakes. He finished third to Kinross Farm’s South Of Fifty (Chris Read), but it was a hard-fought third.

It was a little scary for Petty going down to the first fence as it was the first start for many of the nine contenders, and a fit, anxious 3-year-old Thoroughbred is always a handful. Horses were ducking and diving, and Petty was glad he was on South Monarch, who had run well in his two previous starts over hurdles.

“My horse jumped the first perfectly, but Michael Traurig’s horse, [A Grand Smile], did not want to go, and somehow Michael came off right before the fence. Michael hit the green roll of the hurdle and then bounced over the brush landing in a heap on the other side. His horse fell, and in falling, wiped out my horse’s hind legs. My guy stayed on his feet but slid really badly. He took two or three strides without any hind legs. It was a mess,” said Petty.

To add to their troubles, somehow Petty’s elasticized breastplate snapped too, so as they galloped on, the breastplate was left flapping and banging on poor South Monarch.

“He was scared to death at the next fence and we were miles behind the field at this point. But I wanted to finish on a positive note so we kept schooling around. We were dead last down the backside for the last time when all of a sudden I felt him [reconcile] things in his head, and all of sudden he kicked in and said, ‘Hey, I want to do this now.’ He ran huge and just picked off horses to be third,” said Petty with a big smile.

By A Whisker
James Slater ran into a fence problem, too, on his way to winning the $15,000 open timber, but it was the last fence that proved a mite tricky, not the first.

The English native defeated Shady Valley (Traurig) by a nose on the Jonathan Sheppard-trained Foiled Again in the most thrilling finish of the day.

After 3 1/2 miles the race came down to three horses all gunning for the last fence. Te Akau Five (Chip Miller) had the inside track, and Shady Valley was on the outside making a sandwich of Foiled Again.

Slater was well aware that he had to look out for Chip as they rounded the turn for home and straightened out to jump the last. But in an effort to save ground, Traurig cut his turn a little short and put the squeeze on Slater, who bumped Te Akau Five hard. The fence came up fast and furious among all this discombobulating, and all three horses gave it a good knock.

“We basically flattened the fence to the ground,” said Slater. “Michael’s horse landed first, but my horse just showed such grit and determination, he caught him at the wire and just won by a whisker. It was so close I honestly didn’t know if we had won or not. When I rode back to Mr. Sheppard he asked me and I asked him who won.”

Thinking they’d lost by a nose, the Sheppard crew unsaddled Foiled Again. Moments later the officials declared him the winner and requested their presence in the winner’s circle.

Now a little sheepish and caught a tad flat-footed, they improvised and just threw the numbered saddle towel over Foiled Again’s back, boosted Slater up bareback and recorded the moment for posterity.

Slater’s other win on the day was much more clear-cut. Catch riding Barrington for trainer Tom Voss in the starter allowance hurdle, he cruised to a 1 1/4-length victory over the embittered McCarron on Sweep Domino.

Slater, 27, replaced named jockey Carl Rafter after Rafter broke his ankle in a car accident over Thanksgiving. He had never ridden for Voss before, but assistant trainer Todd Wyatt gave him the advice he needed.

“Todd told me that Barrington would idle if he got to the front too soon, so his only instructions were not to get there too soon,” said Slater.

But Barrington’s jumping was so efficient that he ended up closer to the front than Slater really wanted. “We went into the last turn almost in the lead and all I could hear were Todd’s words ringing in my ear. It was all I could do not to hit the front. I had to take a big pull around the turn, and then thankfully Danielle Hodsdon on Mulahen came by my outside. I gave my horse a little click and that was that. Anyone could have won on him; it was just his day,” said Slater.