Yippee, I’m going! Anybody else?
I’ve never been, so any good places to stay/eat/drink ( OK, drinking everywhere :lol:) or other helpful hints much appreciated!
Thanks in advance!
I’ll be there, trying to decide between the hill or the first/last fence to stand and watch. If you own binoculars bring them.
One my way to join 20,000 others. Look for me
Two horses finish the race. This just isn’t the sport for me.
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I hope the dnf’s are all OK.
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If anyone knows how the fallen riders/horses are, please update us!
No horse’s or riders hurt. Just pride
One rider has a broken arm but she broke her neck last year so this year was a major improvement.
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The Baltimore Sun said all horses and riders ok - so not sure how a broken arm exactly squares with that.
Senior Senator - who had never fallen before - was out of it early with a fall at the 3rd fence. A 4-mile race, the vast majority of the field was out by the end of the first mile.
Not the official video (HCP/NSA Films; typically released Monday) but if you want “fresh from the cow” video, have at it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNjk5ndlrY8
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“so not sure how a broken arm exactly squares with that”
Guessing you haven’t worked with, rode many races, horses, lol. I broke my shoulder coming off a horse that was basically walking. Something spooked him, threw a big buck and I got pile driven into the ground. No bragging rights with that one.
As the old horsemen’s saying goes, “it a long way from the heart”.
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Too funny! Worth quoting a second time.
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One of the more moderate fields to go to the start in a lifetime of going/following the race. A lot of them really weren’t ready, qualified for the Hunt Cup IMO.
Taking nothing away for the winner or the other horse who finished a VERY close second.
3 horses were still in the running up until the 2 fences from home. Old Timer who has been a solid performer for a number years was jumping like a stag and looked to be the horse to beat after clearing the 20th.
As has happened to many a rider and horse, it wasn’t a big fence that took them out. It was the smallest at 2’-11" the “water jump”. And there isn’t much “water” to be dealt with either. Murphy’s Law.
A big Congrats to the husband and wife training team, Joe and Blythe Davies. They trained last year’s winner also.
Both have won the race as riders. Blythe is the daughter of one of the all time great Jumps trainer in this country, Bruce Miller. She was a top pro jumps jockey for a number of year. Retired, sat out for a couple of years to get her amateur status back to be allowed to ride the race.
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Who specifically are you talking about? Because I believe Casey Pinkard has a broken collarbone, but since she didn’t even ride the race last year I can’t image how she possibly broke her neck in it? Please let us know.
Don’t know the name sorry.
Agree Gumtree, not the strongest field, and yet the ending sure was strong! The water jump is quite the boogey fence. Not sure if it’s the long run before it, the angle, the ‘water’ or that everyone is making their push for home, but it gets it’s share of victims.
Ok, well I don’t recall anyone breaking their neck last year, and none of last year’s female riders were hurt this year…so that sounds like you don’t quite have it right.
Bethany Baumgartner broke her neck last year. Whoever was on the 12 horse was injured this year. I was told it was the same person but that may not be correct as I do not attend so my information was from the someone else and not first hand.
steeplechasing/timber racing isn’t for the faint of heart; never has been and never will be. Quite a few of the riders lost their seat when they ran into traffic from other loose horses (Bethany Baumgartner was the one who fell off when her horse dodged right to avoid Senior Senator who had fallen
I am quite surprised Senior Senator did not break his neck in that fall. I have seen the sequenced photos and by pure miracle that horse got up afterwards. The fall would’ve been avoided if he wasn’t buried at take off to the fence which cause him to flip. Essentially the rotational fall that has killed some eventers.
The Maryland Hunt Cup is known as one of the hardest jump races in the world for the sheer height of the fences (which do not fall down) and the physical demands of the race. It is exciting to watch and it’s exciting to look into the pedigrees behind them. Surprised we don’t see more Sadler’s Wells bred horses in this race, and other timber races down south. Immense jumping ability. Some of the horses out on the course didn’t appear to have the scope or stamina for the race.
Interesting that one jockey will have a hearing on the charge that he punched his horse when the horse refused at the 3rd jump.
Bethany Baumgartner broke her neck in the Green Spring Valley Hounds Point to Point. I have a hunt cup program- she didn’t ride. She was there leading a horse in her neck brace though! And she was reportedly unhurt from her fall this year. I have the programs to prove it and it might be 2017 but I don’t like ‘Alternative facts’.
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