LPT Junior Champions' Day |
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From LPT Champions' Day press release
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The inaugural running of Junior Champions’ Day, sponsored by the Land Preservation Trust, went off without a hitch under beautifully sunny skies at Shawan Downs in Hunt Valley, Maryland on Sunday, May 2nd.
The meet was organized to celebrate young riders. Ten races/divisions were carded including the newly conceived Polo Pony Flat race, Junior Field Master Chases for Shetlands and a Restricted Young Rider Amateur Flat for amateur jockeys age 14-18. The day was fortunate to have a mass of volunteers including Tom Garner and Daisy Fenwick as Field Masters, Tommy Fenwick as the Clerk of the Course, Gabrielle Bernier as steward, Forrest Kelly as the Paddock Judge and Ross Geraghty as the starter.
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Jockey Tom Garner won the Middleburg Hunt Cup on Saturday, and led juniors over a bit smaller timber on Sunday. |
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Amateur jockey and Cornell University polo team member Daisy Fenwick traded in her mallet for fences on Sunday. |
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Domino Effect, owned by Catie Keil, trained by Suzanne Stettinius, and ridden by Fritz Gische, prevailed in the Lead Line Trot Race. Olney Smarty Pants, owned by Sophie Perri, trained by Kate Perri, and ridden by Paige Wyatt, won the Shetland Pony Flat Race. Winners of the small, medium and large Pony Flat Races were, respectively, Savannah, owned and ridden by Emma Paternote, and trained by Rachael Lively. Fiona, owned by Nina McKenna, trained by Katherine S. Neilson and ridden by Ellet Sharp, and Charmed, owned by WMT Stables, trained by Bernie Houghton, and ridden by Thomas Houghton. |
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NSA jockey Hadden Frost was in on the action as well, leading Fritz Gische and Domino Effect to victory in the Lead Line Trot. |
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Shetland pony racing does not get ANY cuter than this. |
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The very popular Polo Pony Flat Race was split into two divisions and was dominated by the Work to Ride Program down from Pennsylvania. Division I was won by Work to Ride, Inc.'s Terasita, trained by Lezlie Hiner, and ridden by Jeannie Valasquez. The Second Division was won by Rosie, owned by Work to Ride, trained by Lezlie Hiner, and ridden by Josie Goldstein. The Garrison Forrest Polo program was also well represented. GFS Polo and Posey Obrecht’s help coordinating ponies and jockeys for this new and fantastic division made it possible. All were honored to have the awards for this inaugural Polo Pony Flat division presented by Kareem Rosser, a graduate of the Work to Ride program, a national polo Star, an author of the newly published memoir Crossing the Line: A Fearless Team of Brothers in the Sport that Changed their Lives Forever. |
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The stretch run competition was fierce between these two polo ponies, but the after-race comradery was second to none. |
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The Junior Field Master Chase included the first ever Shetland pony division. A very competitive group went to the start and were lead by Daisy Fenwick. First under the wire was Puck, owned by Tommy Fenwick, trained by Daisy Fenwick, and ridden by Libby Tellerico. The small and Medium divisions ran together and were led by Jockey Tom Garner. The small division was won by Mallory, owned and trained by Christopher Kern, and ridden by Carly Kern. The medium division was won by Fiona, owned by Nina McKenna, trained by Katherine Neilson, and ridden by Ellet Sharp. The Horse Division was won in a walk over by Grandiflora, owned by Ann Merryman, trained by Suzanne Stettinius, and ridden by Jaidyn Shore. |
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The restricted young rider Amateur Flat also proved to be so popular it was split. The First Division was won by To Be or Not To Be, owned by Skip and Vicky Crawford, trained by Joseph Davies, and ridden by Teddy Davies. Division II was won by Swim, owned by KMSN Stable, trained by Keri Brion, and ridden by Parker Hendriks.
The Inaugural running of the Junior Champions day was sponsored by The Land Preservation Trust, The Class Family, Charles Noell, Sheila J. Brown, MFH and the Green Spring Valley Hounds, Rick Jiranek and Backbone Mechanical Design, LLC, The Monkton Institute, Lornie and Sam Slater, Mantua Farm, Mike Wharton, Amata Stable, The Grand National Steeplechase Association, Brooke Voss and John Brown General and Butchery, and Temple Gwathamey Steeplechase Foundation. The day was supported by many, many volunteers who came together to make a day like this possible.
Photos from the day on Carol Fenwick's Facebook page:
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Kids were the priority at the Howard County Cup Races on Saturday as well, which hosted two timber races without spectators, and a whole host of pony racing opportunities in the Howard County Invitational Pony Races.
US Pony Racing hosted a free clinic for some of the kids earlier this year, with Regina Welsh, Erica Gaertner and Suzanne Stettinus teaching kids from the Schuster Foundation the basics of pony racing. The smiles on the faces of every single kid on Saturday show what a special day it was for all.
We apologize in advance for not knowing any of these kid's names, but quite honestly it doesn't matter - their smiles are infectious and we know you'll enjoy a quick gallery of smiling kids and ponies from Bob Keller: |
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A bit of timber racing began the day as well. The Howard County Hunt Cup, offering a purse of $1,500, drew a field of seven. William Russell's Holiday Mousse, who has bounced around a bit between hurdles and timber, jumped well from mid-pack on Saturday with McLane Hendriks and got up for the win. Neil Morris trains the eight-year-old bay gelding. You're No Better, with Courtney Dankanich up, outran Class Indian and Justin Batoff to the wire to grab the second spot. |
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Three horses ran in The Alda Clark Plate Novice Timber. Kinross Corporation's Blackhall, with Teddy Davies riding for Joe Davies, just nipped Morningstar Farm's Jawbone at the wire after a fierce stretch duel. Courtney Dankanich had the ride for trainer Ricky Hendriks.
Blackhall is an Irish-bred gelding who had one point-to-point win in Ireland from eight races before coming to the US. Saturday was his first official US race.
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The final Virginia-based point-to-point, in Middleburg, will be held this Saturday. Maryland hosts one more point-to-point on May 16th at the Potomac Hunt Races. |
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Jump Racing USA is sponsored by Brown Advisory, Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase Foundation, Charleston's Post & Courier, the Virginia Equine Alliance.
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