Teddy Davies, shown between (l-r) father Joe Davies and grandfather Bruce Miller, won two pony races. Trainer Joe Davies is a Maryland Hunt Cup winning rider. Trainer Bruce Miller is ex- MFH of Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds (PA) / Douglas Lees photoTwo of the four timber races at the Piedmont Point-to-Point on Saturday, March 24, 2018, were split, giving race goers six well-filled and exciting races over the beautiful timber course at Salem. Turf conditions were good.
Dakota Slew, a multi-winning timber horse was back. Slew had the honor of retiring the Rokeby Bowl here two years ago after his third consecutive Open Timber win at Piedmont. Still trained by Richard Valentine, the old favorite that for a time practically “owned” the course settled for a second place finish under McLane Hendricks in the first division of the Amateur/Novice Rider Timber Race.
Rutledge Classic, another old favorite and oft-winning timber horse trained by Eva Smithwick and ridden by Woods Winants was also bested in that same race, proving there are some new young bloods in the fields this year.
Blair Wyatt’s Witor, Eric Poretz up, won the First Division of the Amateur/Novice Rider Timber Race for trainer Todd Wyatt, one of Wyatt’s three wins over timber for the day. / Douglas Lees photo
The winning trainer in both divisions of the Amateur/Novice Timber Race and in the second division of the Maiden Timber Race was Todd Wyatt. Of all the trainers counting wins, this day was Wyatt’s, with three firsts and two seconds of the six timber races run.
Wyatt saddled Armata Stables’ Rudyard K and put Brett Owings up in the second division of the Maiden Timber, beating Kingofalldiamonds by three-quarters of a length at the wire.
In the Amateur and Novice Rider Timber Race, Wyatt put Eric Poretz aboard Blair Wyatts’ Witor for the win in the first division (over Dakota Slew) and Brett Owings on Prime Prospector to win the second division.
The trainer/rider team of Neil Morris (left) and Darreen Nagle won two timber races and a flat race. Here they meet up with Balistes, winner of the Virginia Bred/Sired Flat Race. / Douglas Lees photo
Trainer Neil Morris saddled the winners of two of the timber races, including the Open Timber with Zanclus, and also took Balistes to the Winners Circle after the Virginia Sired/Bred Flat Race. Darren Nagle was in the irons for all three of Morris’s wins, and Sara Collette had pride of ownership for two of those wins—Zanclus in the Open Timber and Balistes in the Flat.
Sweet Talking Guy, owned, ridden, and trained by Erin Swope, on his way to winning the Lady Rider Timber Race. / Douglas Lees photo
Piedmont also carded three exhibition pony flat races—small, medium, and large—for the enjoyment of the crowd and to stimulate interest in racing amongst young riders. Teddy Davies, a young member of a family racing dynasty, was the big winner of the day. And a more photogenic poster boy for racing would be hard to find. Teddy won the Medium Pony Race on Count Chocula and the Large Pony Race on Bailey. Both ponies are trained by Betty McCue and owned by EHM Stables.
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Posted March 29, 2018
Teddy Davies hoists the pony trophy. / Douglas Lees photo