Lady Rider Timber: Cocodimama (Chloe Hannum up) battles down the stretch to hold his slim lead over Bridge Builder (left) ridden by Erin Swope. Aggressive (center, rear) finishes third under Skylar McKenna. / Douglas Lees photo
The Piedmont Point-to-Point Races at the Salem course in Upperville, Virginia, was the venue for Chloe Hannum and Teddy Davies to notched their first career wins racing horses over fences. The date was March 20, 2021.
Hannum won two races this day—Lady Rider Timber and Maiden Flat. Davies won the Amateur and Novice Rider Timber for his milestone.
Teddy Davies on Whiskey Chaser in the paddock for the Open Flat Race with father and trainer Joe Davies. / Douglas Lees photo
Davies, now in his mid-teens, attracted international attention at the age of twelve when he won the Small Pony Race at the Dubai World Cup in the UAE. This day at Piedmont he was tossed up on Costal Moon, a dark brown ten-year-old Kentucky-bred gelding owned by his mother Blythe Miller Davies and trained by his father, Joseph Davies. He kept his horse off the pace, jumped abreast with the leader at the last fence, and took over the race in the last sixteenth of a mile, winning by two-and-a-quarter lengths.
Amateur and Novice Rider Timber Race (l-r): Coastal Moon on the way to Jockey Teddy Davies’ first career win over fences on a horse. Hafajay (Chris Gracie, up) finishes second. / Douglas Lees photo.
Hunting and racing came naturally to Teddy from the start. Father Joe Davies was a champion jump jockey, now trainer. Perhaps his best-known horse is Potomac Hunt MFH Skip Crawford’s legendary timber horse, Senior Senator, who retired the Maryland Hunt Cup in 2019 with his third win. Joe Davies also serves as Joint-Master of the Elkridge-Harford Hunt (MD). Teddy’s mother Blythe was a champion race rider as well. Grandfather Bruce Miller was a longtime Master of Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds (PA) and is a trainer, too.
Lady Rider Timber (l-r): Cocodimama (Chloe Hannum up) finishes first. Aggressive (Skylar McKenna up) is third at the finish. / Douglas Lees photo
Chloe Hannum, another young rider from a royal family of the foxhunting world, registered her first win in the Lady Rider Timber Race on Cocodimama. Chloe’s mother Emily Hannum is the trainer. Her father is a Field Master at the Orange County Hounds (VA).
Bridge Builder ridden by Erin Swope set the pace throughout the race until the last fence which Cocodimama flew going away. The two horses dueled to the finish with Cocodiamna prevailing by one-and-a-quarter lengths.
Though this was Chloe’s first time in the winner’s circle wearing silks, she nevertheless had been sufficiently competitive in 2019 to accumulate enough points to share Championship honors with Erin Swope in Virginia’s Lady Rider Timber Series.
Chloe’s second win of the day came in the Maiden Flat Race, riding Paddy’s Crown to victory in the seven-horse field. Paddy’s Crown is owned by Chloe’s sister Flora and trained by Richard Valentine.
Open Timber Race: Kinross Farm’s Just Wait And See (Chris Gracie up) win’s the Rokeby Challenge Bowl. / Douglas Lees photo
Valentine also saddled the winner of the Rokeby Cup, Just Wait and See (Chris Gracie up), for owner Kinross Farm. This was Gracie’s first start over timber, and he had the horse for it. Just Wait and See, an Irish-bred gelding, was the 2019 Champion of Virginia’s Pageland Timber Horse Challenge Series.
Neil Morris, 2019 Leading Trainer in the Virginia Point-to-Point Foundation, saddled the winners of the two last races of the day—Open Flat and Virginia Bred or Sired Flat. In the latter, Vincent Van Gogo jumped to the lead at the start, and jockey Graham Watters kept him there to the finish.
Virginia Bred or Sired Flat Race: Vincent Van Gogo (center) takes the lead from the start with Graham Watters up. Just left of center, horse #3, River Deep (Gerard Galligan up), will finish second. At far left, Bell the Cat ridden by Teddy Davies will finish third. / Douglas Lees photo
Click for complete results of all races. Results are assembled and published by Will and Kathleen O’Keefe on the website of the Central Entry Office for Steeplechase Racing in Virginia, Maryland, and the Delaware Valley. Foxhunting Life race reports rely on the O’Keefes’ work and the stunning images by Eclipse Award-winning photographer Douglas Lees.
Posted April 8, 2021