Photos by Douglas Lees
Maiden Hurdle race (l-r): #1, Apollo Landing (Bryan Cullinane up) finishes 1st; Leopard Cat (Paul Cawley up) places 2nd.
The trainer-rider team of Jimmy Day and Bryan Cullinane won four of the nine races carded at the Old Dominion Point-to-Point at Ben Venue Farm on Saturday, April 6, 2019. The Amateur/Novice Rider Hurdle (first race) was a walkover, and the rest of the fields were sparse, but Day and Cullinane won over hurdles, over timber, and on the flat.
In the Maiden Hurdle, Cullinane took Charlie Fenwick’s Apollo Landing right out to the front and pulled away from Leopard Cat for the easy win.
Open Hurdle winner: Foxhall Drive (Bryan Cullinane, up)
Day and Cullinane repeated the same pattern with their Foxhall Drive over second-placed Inle, and won the Open Hurdle with ease for owner Cristina Mosby.
Novice Rider Flat: won by Hyperlapse (Bryan Cullinane up) with partially obscured Smoking Caraquena (David Pawlak up) 2nd in close finish
Day’s fourth win came in the Novice Rider Flat Race with Cullinane aboard Daybreak Stable’s Hyperlapse, an Irish-bred four-year-old. With just a half mile to run, Hyperlapse broke free of the tightly bunched three-horse field and kept himself just far enough ahead to cross the wire a half-length in front of second-placed Smokin Caraquena, winner of the Maiden Flat race at Piedmont in a ten-horse field two weeks earlier.
Open Timber and Lady Rider races were run together with two horses in each division: On the right is Sweet Talking Guy (Erin Swope up) winner of the Lady Rider Timber race; to the left, Just Wait and See (Sam Cockburn up) is running to a 2nd-place finish in the Open Timber.
The Lady Rider Timber Race was run together with the Open Timber horses, and Erin Swope on her Swope-trained Sweet Talking Guy visited the winner’s circle for the umpteenth time. She’s the 2018 Virginia Point-to-Point Leading Lady Rider with thirty-one wins for the season, compared to her runner-up with eight wins in the point-to-points last year.
Open Timber(l-r): #2, Monstaleur (Forrest Kelly up) wins; #1, Just Wait And See (Sam Cockburn up) places 2nd.
Of the two Open Timber horses (running with the Lady Riders)—Virginia-bred Monstaleur (Forrest Kelly up) kept pace with Just Wait and See (Sam Cockburn up) for two turns around, took over the race with a half-mile to go, and won by four lengths. Monstaleur is trained by Forrrest P. Kelly and owned by Black and Blue Stable.
Woods Winants after winning the Amateur/Novice Rider Timber race on Southern SailThe Amateur/Novice Rider Timber Race was won by Southern Sail. Trained by Eva Smithwick, MFH, and ridden by Woods Winants, a long-familiar figure in amateur racing in Virginia. Southern Sail held off second-placed Way Up High (Erin Swope up), last season’s Seven Corners Amateur and Novice Rider Timber Series Champion that posted seven wins for the title.
In the ninth and final race of the day, VHBPA Virginia Bred/Sired Flat, Talk Less with Brian Cullinane in the irons notched his second win in the annual series, the first coming at Piedmont this spring. Cullinane, with four wins on the card riding for trainer Jimmy Day, added one more with Talk Less for trainer Neil Morris and a total of five trips to the Winner’s Circle.
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Posted April 15, 2019
Virginia Bred or Sired Flat race (l-r): Talk Less (Brian Cullinane up) wins; Scented Up (Mike Woodson up) places 2nd in stretch run.