Over some 36 years in flat and jump racing, the gray and blue Kinross Farm silks found their way to many winner’s circles after scores of races – three Virginia Gold Cups, two editions of the Iroquois Steeplechase-G1, the $1 million Charles Town Classic, even a maiden special weight about seven hours before Rachel Alexandra made history at Pimlico Race Course on Preakness Day 2009. The list is long and fruitful.
But the Maryland Hunt Cup, long a goal, managed to elude Kinross, owner Zohar Ben-Dov and a lengthy list of entrants. In 2013, Sand Box Rules finished second. In 2017, Old Timer lost his jockey while leading at the second-last. Others fell at the third fence and the 16th. They pulled up, finished last, you name it. The oldest steeplechase in North America all but hid from the Virginian.
The race remained a peak to be scaled, a challenge to be accepted. Four miles, 22 fences, nearly 130 years of history will do that to a race. And a person.
“The Maryland Hunt Cup requires thinking, it requires a great horse and it requires a gutsy jockey all put together by the trainer on one day,” Ben-Dov said. “You know the beauty about this race, this particular race? The entire community is very psyched about it and it’s one race. It’s a beautiful thing. You have to beat the course, not beat but you have to fight with the course. You have to beat the other horses. You have to beat the other trainers and riders and owners.”
Kinross colorbearer Blackhall (Ire) beat them all in the 2024 Hunt Cup, navigating the fences, miles, foes and demons to prevail in a four-way scramble to the finish line in the Worthington Valley April 27. Trained by Joe Davies and ridden by Englishman Charlie Marshall, Blackhall won by a neck over Shootist, who was a half-length in front of Goodoldtimes (Ire), who had a length on two-time Hunt Cup winner Vintage Vinnie (Ire). The only other finisher, Rocket Star Red, was 18 lengths back in fifth. The final time of 8:17 was the second-fastest in history, behind only Vintage Vinnie’s 8:15 of two years ago.
None of it was lost on Ben-Dov, who watched on the hill overlooking the course. I watched every progression, you can’t get excited early on or even midway,” he said. “You can’t. There are too many questions to go, and too many obstacles. Perfectly good horses fall, or something goes wrong. I know. I’ve been there.”
Nothing went wrong for Blackhall, who picked the right day to turn in the race of his 10-year-old life.
Bred by Ann Fortune, Blackhall lost eight starts on the flat – the last three by a combined 239 lengths – before finding his way to the Doyle family’s Irish point-to-point yard Baltimore Stables in 2019. The following November, he won a 3-mile maiden chase for 6-year-olds and up at the Borris House Point-to-Point in County Carlow. American steeplechase trainer Keri Brion met the horse while based with the Doyles that winter and tipped him to Davies as a potential timber horse.
The chestnut son of Caspar Netscher (GB), a Group 2 winner in England and Germany who finished eighth in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint-G2, didn’t immediately join the upper ranks of a stable known for its Hunt Cup prospects. Blackhall won a three-horse race at Howard County Point-to-Point in 2021. In 2022, he prevailed in a pair of two-horse point-to-point starts before losing three National Steeplechase Association starts including the Hunt Cup where he was the last of five finishers, 103 lengths behind Vintage Vinnie. Last year, off two point-to-point runs, he finished second in the allowance timber at the Grand National and gave the Hunt Cup another try. He fell at the 16th while out of contention.
Back for his 10-year-old season, Blackhall finished second in a two-horse race at the Green Spring Valley Point-to-Point March 31 and was a decent if non-threatening sixth in a maiden timber at My Lady’s Manor. A week later at the Grand National, Davies turned to Marshall, a British amateur with 57 point-to-point victories and among the top 15 in the 2023-24 standings. After jumping the first timber fence of his life two days earlier, Marshall finished second to the Davies-trained Mr. Fine Threads in the allowance.
For several years, Davies has sought out European amateur jockeys for the Hunt Cup. They typically have more experience than American counterparts, even if they’ve never seen a timber fence. Marshall, who runs a Dorset point-to-point yard with his fiancé Hannah Clarke, made the most of the opportunity after missing out on the 2020 Hunt Cup due to Covid.
“I’ve been dying to do it,” Marshall said of riding in the Hunt Cup. “I’ve done all the big rides in England like the Melton, cross-country rides, the foxhunters around the Grand National course, but I just wanted to do this. It’s such a prestigious race and just I love riding cross country. I grew up foxhunting in England, jumping big hedges, team chasing and this is the combination of that and racing and I think that set me up quite well.”
Jumping “hundreds” of timber rails in less than 10 days at Davies’ Maryland farm didn’t hurt, and neither did the ride aboard Blackhall at the Grand National.
“He went very well last week so I was confident, and he actually felt better schooling yesterday than he did before the race last week,” said the 26-year-old. “He just had a bit of confidence to him. He finished the race well last week without me being too hard on him.”
Despite opting for the more experienced Marshall, Davies gave American apprentice Theresa Dimpfel credit for helping Blackhall learn the basics. She rode him in four NSA starts and another five point-to-point tries.
“I really think having a young rider like Theresa ride the horse helped,” Davies said. “There were no hard races. She gave him good experiences and that has to help. Charlie has ridden hundreds of races though, which has to help too.
Raceday
If somebody posted morning-line odds on the 2024 Hunt Cup, Blackhall would have been down the list of nine.
Vintage Vinnie returned at 15, carrying his two wins over the course. Age, a pull-up in last year’s race and a second at the Manor two weeks earlier provided the question marks for the Armata Stable runner trained by Davies and ridden by his son Teddy. Withoutmoreado (Ire) won the 2023 Hunt Cup for Irv Naylor and Kathy Neilson, but struggled in two starts this spring – last of four at Cheshire and a lost rider in the Grand National. Last year’s runner-up Royal Ruse won the 2023 Pennsylvania Hunt Cup for Charlie Fenwick and Sanna Neilson and prepped with two spring starts – a second at Cheshire and a fourth at the Manor. Mr. Fine Threads, also representing Armata and Davies, came off a win but made his Hunt Cup debut. Another Armata runner, the Mark Beecher-trained Goodoldtimes (Ire), was third in 2022 but lost his jockey at the 11th in 2023 and fell midway through the Grand National a week earlier. Upland Partners’ Shootist pulled up last year for trainer Todd McKenna, but came in off a third in the Grand National while teaming up with jockey Freddie Procter. Rocket Star Red jumped around the Hunt Cup in 2021 and 2022 for Beecher and owner Lucy Goelet, but fell at the 13th last year. Merriebelle Stable’s Wagner (Ire) brought plenty of English form, but gave up experience. In his corner were a win at the Manor and an even-better jumping performance before going off course at the Grand National, plus Hunt Cup winners in trainer Blythe Miller Davies and jockey Eric Poretz.
Raceday rain softened the course a little, but mainly gave the participants something to fret about.
Vintage Vinnie made the early running. As in 2023, Withoutmoreado and Conor Tierney stayed in touch while second, followed by Royal Ruse, Blackhall and Rocket Star Red. Vintage Vinnie flew the 4-foot-9 third fence. Withoutmoreado hopped it and landed on all fours. Mr. Fine Threads and Andrew Burke Ott fell. At the sixth, Vintage Vinnie led by 2 lengths over Withoutmoreado, 10 clear of Royal Ruse, followed by Blackhall, Rocket Star Red, Shootist, Wagner and Goodoldtimes.
Tierney came off Withoutmoreado after a steep landing at the ninth fence, handing Vintage Vinnie a wider advantage. The leader went for a short spot at the 10th, bobbled and nearly lost his scrambling jockey. Disaster averted, they carried a 15-length advantage into the 12th, where Royal Ruse took out two rails and lost Elizabeth Scully. At the 13th, 4-foot-9 companion to the third, Vintage Vinnie got in tight but lost little time. As a loose Royal Ruse sailed high over the even taller wing to the left of the fence, Shootist jumped into second. Just behind Shootist and next to Royal Ruse, Blackhall twisted a bit. Behind them Wagner went to his nose, but recovered and Goodoldtimes nearly went down as well.
Poretz set Wagner in motion coming to the 15th and the 9-year-old swept into second. The uphill (and 4-foot-10) 16th fence asked a big question everyone managed to answer. Vintage Vinnie still led, but slowed to set himself.
Fifteen lengths back came Wagner, whose lack of experience finally caught up to him at the 17th. He clipped the top rail in front, pitched forward and couldn’t complete the landing, sliding to his right as the others galloped past.
Now a clear second, Marshall glanced behind him and worried about what was in front.
“Don’t chase him, don’t chase him,” the jockey told himself of Vintage Vinnie. “Don’t go with him, don’t go with him.”
Not that he wasn’t assessing his horse throughout the race.
“He just jumped fence to fence,” Marshall said. “I was in such a lovely rhythm and at 16, 17, 18 every single time I was able to fill him up, take a pull, fill him up, take a pull and fill him up again.”
Vintage Vinnie soldiered on. He led over 18 and 19, and turned toward the 20th. He set himself for that and crossed Tufton Avenue still well clear. Behind him, the others pooled together for a potential last challenge.
Marshall gave his mount a squeeze and liked the response. Blackhall came alive. “Oh we’ve got something here,” his jockey thought.
“I was cautious about getting straight on the road crossing so I didn’t slip,” Marshall said. “I got straight, went across the road and then I gave him a kick. I was chasing Teddy down.”
At the tricky 21st, a leaning board fence over a small brook, Vintage Vinnie’s lead shrunk as Blackhall “winged” the fence and accelerated up the course’s final hill. He brought Goodoldtimes and Shootist into the frame as Rocket Star Red couldn’t match the pace. Blackhall got there first, drawing abreast of the leader at the last fence and flying it. To his right, game but tired, Vintage Vinnie jumped with less power and landed second. Behind them, Goodoldtimes and Shootist kept finding to set up a final rally. They passed Vintage Vinnie in mid-stretch, with Shootist chipping into Blackhall’s advantage. He got to the winner’s girth, but not much farther as Blackhall – long neck nearly level with his withers – hung on for the first official win of his career.
“He just flew home,” Marshall said. “That was the best feeling in the world. I’ve ridden big races in England, but I haven’t won them so to cross the line first in the Maryland Hunt Cup is special.”
By most accounts, though nobody’s checking old birth certificates, he’s the first Briton to win the race which dates to 1894. Irish-born Anne Moran won aboard Buck Jakes in 1995 and again in 1997. Since then, her countrymen Brian Moran, Mark Beecher, Dan Nevin and Tierney joined her, as did Frenchman Gonzague Cottreau.
Marshall called Joe Davies and assistant Ashton Williams great “coaches” coming into the race. They walked the course, talked strategy, went over what the pre-race weather meant for his chances and provided a calming base of knowledge.
“The mental part of it was huge,” Marshall said. “I had never jumped timber in my life and every bit of advice mattered and I had the horse underneath me to do it. He jumped great, I was always where I wanted to be."
Just like the owner. He and Davies met at the finish line after Blackhall completed the job and before the traditional hay-wagon trophy presentation in the paddock.
“What do you say now, boy?” Davies hollered before a bear hug with his client. “Did I tell you I was going to get you up on that wagon?”
“Yes, you did,” said Ben-Dov. “Yes, you did.”
Davies won the Hunt Cup for the seventh time as a trainer, all in the last eight years, to go along with three victories as a jockey. The barn focuses on producing Hunt Cup horses, be they high-value imports or less-heralded projects from the flat track.
Winning is the challenge, delivering for owners such as Ben-Dov the reward.
“I couldn’t be happier for the opportunity to train for someone like Zohar and to be able to deliver that, especially at this stage of his life, that’s why I do it really,” Davies said. “He was so close to winning a few times. It’s a lifetime thing. To be able to deliver that for him matters.”
