Trained and ridden by Amber Hodyka, Manacor returns to the races as a timber horse, and wins. / Douglas Lees photoManacor is back. Remade into a timber horse and now trained and ridden by Amber Hodyka, Manacor won the first race, Lady Timber, at the Old Dominion Hounds Point-to-Point Races on Saturday, April 7, 2018.
The bay ten-year-old was brought to the U.S. from Ireland by trainer Jimmy Day and was a frequent winner over hurdles out of Daybreak Stables for four years. He disappeared from the point-to-points last year and is back in the capable hands of Hodyka, a friend of the Days.
Manacor led throughout most of the race, held off a bid by Erin Swope’s Sweet Talking Guy, and won comfortably. Sweet Talking Guy—another familiar horse on the point-to-point circuit with a regular habit of winning Lady Timber races—was one of the top six Leading Horses in Virginia in 2017. Just off a Lady Timber win at Piedmont this season, he came up short against Manacor.
Virginia Envy (saddle cloth #1 in the background, Archie MacAuley up) wins the Maiden Hurdle in the stretch run. Saddle cloth #2 in the foreground is third-place finisher He’s One Wild Dude (Liam McVicar up)./ Douglas Lees photo
Trainer Carl Rafter is all smiles, taking Virginia Envy to the winner’s circle. / Douglas Lees photoTrainer Carl Rafter made his first trip to the winner’s circle this season after the second race, Maiden Hurdle, with Ridgeview Farm’s Virginia Envy. This was the four-year-old filly’s first win over hurdles, a week after she warmed up in a flat race at Orange County. Jockey Archie MacAuley held Virginia Envy just off the pace in a closely-bunched field until the last quarter mile. She jumped the last fence second to Renegade River and won by a length in the stretch.
Jockey Evan Dwan won both divisions of the third race, first aboard Wit’s End Stables Churchill D in the Amateur and Novice Rider Timber and in the second division with Maggie Bryant’s Plated in the Foxhunter Timber Race. Under Dwan, Churchill D made his move on the three-horse amateur/novice field with two miles to go, widened his lead steadily, and romped home alone. Plated went to the lead early in his foxhunters’ race, held off Air Maggy’s challenge in the last lap, and beat the four-horse field by eight lengths.
Maggie Bryant’s winning Plated (Evan Dwan up), trained by Jimmy Day, wins the Foxhunter Timber Race. / Douglas Lees photoAlthough running over timber at Old Dominion this day, last year the Jimmy Day-trained Plated won a flat race at Blue Ridge and a month later won a $35,000 hurdles race at the sanctioned Iroquois Races in Tennessee.
Bruce Smart’s Officer’s Oath won the Open Hurdle Race handily. At Warrenton earlier this season, Officer’s Oath warmed up with a win in the Virginia Bred/Sired Flat Race.The Jimmy Day-bred and -trained horse has been a big performer for the Smart Family with sanctioned wins last year including the $50,000 Three-Year-Old Hurdles at Far Hills and the $20,000 Three-Year-Old Hurdles at Shawan Downs.
In the Open Hurdle Race, it’s (l-r): Officer’s Oath (Liam McVicar up) first, Foxhall Drive (Bryan Cullinane up), second. / Douglas Lees photoJeff Murphy’s Secret Soul, with two Maiden Timber wins in 2017—unsanctioned at Piedmont Point-to-Point, then sanctioned at the Virginia Fall Races—moved up to the Open Timber and won in a walkover with two laps around the course. Murphy won a second race, the Virginia-Bred/Sired Flat, on Willisville, owned and trained by Jean Rofe.
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Posted April 15, 2018