Twill Do (left) wins in one of the closest Maryland Hunt Cup finishes ever.One after the other, the two favorites tumbled from contention, paving the way for one of the closest finishes ever in the 116th running of the Maryland Hunt Cup on Saturday, April 28, 2012. Twill Do ridden by James Stierhoff and Battle Op with Connor Hankin aboard battled down the stretch with Twill Do doing it by a head at the wire. It was the second Hunt Cup win (2010) for Twill Do, who is coming back this season from an injury.
Last year’s winner, Private Attack (Patrick Worrall), falls at the thirteenth fence.Private Attack, who won the race by sixty (60!) lengths last year, fell with jockey Patrick Worrall at the thirteenth fence. Four fences later And The Eagle Flys—winner of the previous week’s Grand National timber stake in Maryland—fell with his regular jockey Billy Meister. Of the twelve starters, six finished the race.
Bon Caddo, 2011 Timber Champion, finished third with leading English amateur jockey Sam Waley-Cohen in the irons. Waley-Cohen is a seasoned jump race rider with a win in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and a run over the Aintree Grand National course to his credit. The Maryland Hunt Cup, however, is in a class by itself. This four-mile course over twenty-two fences, some nearly five feet high, makes it the stiffest timber race in the world.
Posted May 4, 2012
l-r at the third fence:Battle Op (Connor Hankin), 2nd; And The Eagle Flys (Billy Meister); Bon Caddo (behind Meister), 3rd; Professor Maxwell (behind Bon Caddo); Haddix (behind Professor Maxwell); Private Attack; Volle Nolle (Woods Winants)