Aero, Kieran Norris up, wins Open Timber at Warrenton. / Doug Lees photoTrainer Doug Fout and jockey Kieran Norris—the latter just out of the Novice Rider ranks this season—accounted for three wins at the Warrenton Hunt Point-to-Point at Airlie Race Course, Warrenton, Virginia on Saturday, March 15, 2014. Warrenton’s was the first hunt race to go off as scheduled this wintry spring season.
Fout’s and Norris’s three winners included Aero in the Open Timber Race. Aero settled into the third position in a three-horse, closely-bunched field. With a half mile to run, Aero drew up to the leader and pulled away in the final quarter mile for the win. Aero is owned by Alfred C. Griffin, Jr.
Balance the Budget wins the Maiden Hurdle; gives jockey Kieran Norris his first of three wins. / Doug Lees photo
In the first race on the card, the Maiden Hurdle, Kieran Norris rode Stonelea Stables’ Balance the Budget, trained by Julie Gomena, for the first of his three wins.
Novice Timber (l-r): Country Cousin (Mark Beecher up) 1st; Sumo Power (Mark Watts up) 3rd; Skunked (Muiris Hinchion up) pulled up. / Doug Lees photo.
Julie Gomena saddled her second winner of the day in the Novice Timber Race. Country Cousin, owned by Oakwood Stable and ridden by Mark Beecher, allowed Echo Bob to set the pace for most of the way around, jumping to the lead at the last fence and winning going away.
Amateur/Novice Rider Hurdle (l-r): Duc de Savoie (Tom Bennett up) 2nd; Foolish Surprise (Ben Swope up) 1st / Doug Lees photo
Foolish Surprise, owned, trained, and ridden by Benjamin Swope, led wire-to-wire but for a brief challenge at the last fence by Duc de Savoie to win the Amateur/Novice Rider Hurdle Race for the second consecutive year at Warrenton. This horse/rider team finished second in the final standings last year in the Virginia Point-to-Point Association Amateur/Novice Rider Series.
Click for complete results on the nine-race card.
Posted March 26, 2014