March 14, 2016
Jimmy Day Saddles Two Hurdle Winners at Blue Ridge
Maiden Hurdle winner Prima Facie and rider Jeff Murphy (center) keep in touch with the field the first time around. / Douglas Lees photo
March 12, 2016 saw the sixty-seventh running of the Blue Ridge Hunt Point-to-Point Races going off on the hunt’s normally scheduled weekend for the first time in four years, the three previous race meetings having been postponed because of winter weather conditions. With the weather and the footing close to ideal for horses and spectators alike, the meet, usually the third in the series, also served as the kick-off for the 2016 Virginia point-to-point season.
Jimmy Day-trained entries won two of the three hurdle races: Amateur/Novice Rider with Bruce Smart’s Dai Bando and the Open Hurdle with Daybreak Stables’ Manacor. In the Maiden Hurdle Race, Day's horse, Zol Zayne had to settle for second place, as he did last year in the same race. The Maiden Hurdle was won by Celtic Venture Stable’s Prima Facie, trained by Eve Smithwick, MFH and huntsman of the Snickersville Hounds (VA). Jeff Murphy held Prima Facie to the pace he wanted and patiently stalked the leader much as he rode the same race last year on winner Bedizen. Murphy took the lead from Hardly Patient on the final turn, accelerated to the last fence, and flew it cleanly for a convincing win.
Foxhunters Will Benefit From NFL-Financed Research
National Football League/industry/government consortium funds research by riding helmet manufacturer to reduce sport-related head injuries. / Nico Morgan photo
Charles Owen, a leading developer and manufacturer of protective equestrian head wear, has been selected as one of five finalists to receive funds for the further development of new materials for protection from head injuries. Funding for the research has been made available by Head Health Challenge III, a partnership of the National Football League (NFL), Under Armour, General Electric, and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Helmet design expert, Roy Burek, President and CEO of Charles Owen Inc., in collaboration with Cardiff University (Wales), Cambridge University (UK), and the High Performance Computing Center (Wales), has been working on the development of new energy absorbing materials based on the ancient Japanese art of origami. By using super-computers to analyze new material structures that fold, hinge, and compress, Burek aims to create new multi-reaction materials capable of protecting against soft falls differently than harder falls, oblique impacts differently than direct impacts. Their revolutionary material is called C3.
