Every once in a while, a little guy sneaks in and bests the bigger-name trainers, and on July 22 at Saratoga Open House in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., trainer Leslie Falini Young did just that with Silverton Hill Farm’s More Fascination.

Young entered her charge in the second division of the $25,000 Sport of Kings maiden hurdle. This was More Fascination’s first run over hurdles, and he was up against some solid company. Only one other entry
in the seven-horse field was a first-time starter, Kenneth Ramsey’s Master William (Cyril Murphy). Harold Via’s Fantorini (Xavier Aizpuru) was definitely the horse to beat.

Young was just hoping for a good con-fidence builder for the young horse, ridden by Young’s husband, Paddy Young, and instructed her husband to stay in the middle of the pack and out of trouble.

More Fascination settled well and soon was jumping his way up toward the front. In the stretch he went three wide in the turn and held off a driving Fantorini by half a length. Lindenhope Stables’ Most Bossest (Jody Petty) placed third.

“This is his first proper sanctioned jumping win, and to have it at Saratoga is just an amazing feeling,” Young said. “Paddy did everything just right. He said the horse was very bold from his first fence on. Truthfully, we would have been very happy with a fourth-place finish.”

But More Fascination is not just some claimer the Youngs have taken on as a hopeful—this horse is owned by Silverton’s Bonnie and Tommy Hamilton. Well-known in the flat track world, the Hamiltons most recently had two horses entered in the 2007 Kentucky Derby, Dominican and Sedgefield.

More Fascination has even more ties to some of the best in the business. Bred by music moguls Jerome and Ann Moss of Kentucky (who bred the 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo and the 2006 Santa Anita Derby winner Tiago), the 4-year-old son of Dynaformer first broke his maiden on the turf at Churchill Downs (Ky.) in a maiden special weight this spring.

Young, 34, has spent her life around horses and made some great connections in the flat-track world when she was married a few years back to jockey Roger Horgan and living in Florida. She has always let flat-track trainers know, if they ever have a horse that they think might make a good jumper, to give her a call. It appears her gentle pestering finally paid off.

They certainly could have gone with one of the bigger names in the business, someone with more experience,” Young said. “The great thing about the Hamiltons is they are inter-ested in many aspects of horse racing. They are very sporting people and want to learn more about the jump racing. We need more owners like them, willing to make the switch with some of their horses. I think it was just as thrilling for them to have a win at Saratoga.”

More Fascination arrived in Young’s barn in early May, and although he was very fit, he needed a little more to run the longer distances and over hurdles.

“He’s a very smart horse,” Young said. “We needed to build up his top-line, so we started doing long slow hills then had him hopping over some logs before moving on to hurdles. He loved it and really took to the new job. I think he also enjoys being turned out. It’s refreshing for him. So many horses on the flat circuit don’t get that chance.”

Young joins a list of smaller trainers that have had recent success in the ranks. Jockey Cyril Murphy, Brianne Slater, Todd McKenna and jockey Danielle Hodsdon. Arch Kingsley Jr., Eddie Graham, Todd Wyatt and Chip Miller all started training chasers successfully a few years ago.

Young, of Unionville, Pa., acknowledges the challenges of being a trainer just starting out. “It costs about $7,500 to buy a couple of hurdles. That is way out of my budget right now,” she said. “I could never have gotten to Saratoga if I had not had the occasional use of trainer Jonathan Sheppard’s hurdles and a place with good gallops. Many of the bigger trainers have been very kind to us smaller ones by letting us use their
facilities.”

The first division of the $25,000 Sport of Kings maiden hurdle had some more familiar names at the finish line. Jump jockey Chip Miller is going to have to wait for another meet to get his 200th career jump win after Danielle Hodsdon ran him down in the stretch with William Pape’s Baby League, effectively
keeping him out of the record books for the time being.

Sitting on Perry Bolton’s Gigger, Miller looked the best coming into the last fence, and with a short fence by Baby League, he had all the advantage, but Hodsdon knew she still had a little left in the tank and chased after him, leaving Gigger for second more than a length back.

“The course is really fast in Saratoga,” Hodsdon said. “I was chasing Chip most of the way. When we got in the stretch I wasn’t sure how much horse he had and just asked for a little more from mine.”

Sarah L. Greenhalgh