Look, Ma, no stirrups! Mark Beecher flies four timber fences without stirrups on his way to victory aboard Professor Maxwell in the 117th running of the Maryland Hunt Cup.
In a gutsy performance, Mark Beecher rode Mrs. George Ohrstrom’s Professor Maxwell to victory in the Maryland Hunt Cup despite a recently broken collarbone and a lost stirrup.
The collarbone was broken only two weeks earlier at the My Lady’s Manor races. Fortunately, the horse is a careful jumper and, according to Beecher, requires only that the rider sit quietly and do nothing. Beecher did just that without stirrups over four of the imposing solid timber fences.
Trainer Richard Valentine called Beecher’s ride “remarkable.”
Kinross Farm’s Sand Box Rules (Diana Gillam) finished a close second.
Kinross Farm’s Sand Box Rules, ridden by Diana Gillam and trained by Neil Morris, finished second in a close stretch rush. Sand Box Rules was the Open Timber winner at the Orange County Point-to-Point this season.
Twill Do, a two-time Maryland Hunt Cup winner (2010 and 2012) finished fourth. Battle Op, another strong contender that placed second by just half a length to Twill Do in 2012, lost his rider near the eighteenth fence.
The Maryland Hunt Cup—four-miles over twenty-two fences, some nearly five feet high—is the stiffest timber race in the world.
See Nelson Coffin’s article in the Baltimore Sun. Click for complete results.
Posted May 2, 2013
Trainer Richard Valentine, owner Mrs. George Ohrstrom, Jr., and rider Mark Beecher celebrate Professor Maxwell’s victory.