Senior Senator aims for history in the Hunt Cup

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From April 2019 Issue

Written by Joe Clancy

Joe Davies thought himself a competent amateur steeplechase jockey in 1983 so when Joy Slater went down with a broken collarbone a week before the Maryland Hunt Cup, Davies made a phone call.
“Mrs. Fanning, you don’t know who I am but I sure would like to ride Cancottage,” he said.
Trainer Jill Fanning, whose English-bred horse was bidding for his third victory in the race, didn’t really hesitate.
“Well, I already have Charlie Fenwick lined up, but you sound like a nice young boy and if you’re interested you could ride the pony and take Cancottage to the start for us.”

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Strong Fabric

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From April 2019 Issue

Written by Joe Clancy

West Virginia sire Fiber Sonde continues to climb

At Keeneland November in 2007, the sales catalog listed 31 horses as stallion prospects. You don’t know 30 of them. Eleven didn’t sell. One brought $130,000. Another just $1,000.
The one you do know, West Virginia phenom Fiber Sonde, sold for $8,000. Looking to expand the stallion roster at their Beau Ridge Farm near Charles Town, John McKee and Cyndy O’Bannon made the successful bid – and unknowingly changed their lives.

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Pa Pa Da

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From March 2019 Issue

Written by Maggie Kimmitt

“Wow.”
Ivan Dowling has grown accustomed to that reaction when people first set eyes on Pa Pa Da. Dowling, huntsman for the Cheshire Hunt Conservancy (Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds) in Unionville, Pa., felt the same way 12 years ago when he drove to a Maryland farm to pick up the huge bay gelding.

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A Verdant Land: Deep history of success carried Glade Valley for decades

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From November 2018 Issue

Written by Cindy Deubler

For nearly 100 years Glade Valley Farms operated on fertile land in north central Maryland, just a few miles northeast of the town of Frederick. It ranked as one of Maryland’s most important nurseries, turning out champions, standing leading sires and producing bloodstock that can be found in the pedigrees of racing’s elite. 

In the fall of 2016, a year after the death of co-owner Howard M. Bender, the era of Glade Valley Farms as a Thoroughbred breeding farm officially came to an end. 

All that remains now is the history.

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