Hold Your Fire (Gus Dahl up) went on to win the Open Timber Race. / Douglas Lees photoThe ultimate equine athlete—the Thoroughbred—saved the bacon for at least two riders at the Elkridge-Harford Point-to-Point Races at Atlanta Hall Farm, in Monkton, Maryland on Saturday, April 5, 2014.
In the first race, Open Timber, Hold Your Fire led the field into the last fence, where he caught his right front on the top rail. Robbed of momentum, he twisted his rear end fully ninety degrees to get his hind end over. Rider Gustav Dahl stayed in the middle, and the pair went on to win the race. Click on Doug Lees’s brilliant photograph to see the three-shot sequence.
This was trainer Elizabeth Voss Murray’s first of two wins on the day. Ms. Murray, daughter of the late Tom Voss, is a new Master of the Elkridge-Harford Hunt.
Atlanta Hall Farm, the race venue, was home to Tom Voss, MFH of the Elkridge-Harford Hunt and a top trainer of racehorses. Tom Voss was the grand-nephew of renowned sporting artist Franklin Voss, who in 1944 memorialized Atlanta Hall Farm in his well-known painting, Elkridge-Harford Hunt Crossing Atlanta Hall Meadow.
At the last fence in Novice Timber, Courella (Nick Carter up) stays on his feet and finishes second to Don’t Tell Sailor, ridden by David Byrne. / Douglas Lees photo
In the next race, Novice Timber, Irish-bred Courella left both his front legs on the wrong side of the last fence in the race, rattling his rider, Nick Carter, into a less-than-preferred jumping seat. Courella miraculously recovered his footing and carried his rider to a second-place finish just behind Don’t Tell Sailor. The winner, ridden by David Byrne and trained by Louis Nielson III, is also an Irish horse.
Trainer Elizabeth Voss Murray. MFH (rt) greets Wildcatter and jockey Bethany Baumgardner after their win in the Lady Timber Race. / Douglas Lees photoTrainer Elizabeth Voss Murray’s second win of the day was in the Lady Rider Timber Race with Wildcatter, Bethany Baumgardner up. Trainer Sanna Hendriks, another Master of Foxhounds (Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds in Pennsylvania) saddled a winner in the Maiden Flat Race: Guts for Garters (also Irish) with Jody Petty in the irons.
Click for complete results.