steeplechase racing
Jake Chalfin Wants Your Vote
Jake ChalfinYour vote in the HRTV Film Festival at Santa Anita could steer “some serious prize money” to the Jake Chalfin Beneficiary Trust. Jake is a brave young man with a healthy attitude, and I hope you’ll watch his film and vote.
Foxhunting Life first reported on Jake in Norm Fine’s Blog of September 18, 2010 and in a follow-up article a year later. What follows is Jake’s latest adventure, in his own words:
I recently met a wonderful woman, Kristy Cecil, who was in from California visiting her folks who are my neighbors. This chance meeting opened a new chapter in my life. Kristy and I instantly found a connection and the next thing I knew we were making a film.
Morven Park Will Reveal Master Plan to the Public
Morven Park has invited all interested parties to a meeting on Tuesday, January 31, 2012, at 7:00 p.m. Director Frank Milligan will share maps and explain the recently adopted plans charting Morven’s future. A new “easy-to-find” entrance is planned; a visitors center; trails for hiking, riding, and bicycling; along with new uses for the land currently used for steeplechase racing. Those interested in attending should email Director of Development & Community Relations Judith Wodynski at [email protected]. Posted January 17, 2012
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Foxhunter Mary Motion Caught the Racing Bug on Her Pony
Mary Motion at sixteen is one of only four riders of that age in the country to have earned a steeplechase amateur jockey’s license. Riding against some of the best and experienced jockeys last fall on Pennsylvania Hunt Cup Day, she placed third. It was only a few years ago that Motion was tearing up the turf in the pony races at the point-to-points against the other moppets. Her latent genes were waiting to express themselves from the start, and she caught the racing bug early. Both her mother and grandmother raced, her father Andrew is a Thoroughbred breeder, and her uncle Graham, a trainer, saddled last year’s Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom. Motion is under the tutelage of a pair of the very best trainers in Neil Morris and Doug Fout, both in Virginia, and her sights are set on the Maryland Hunt Cup. Read more about this talented young foxhunter/race rider in Danielle Nadler’s article in Leesburg Today. Posted December 8, 2011
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Equestrian Sports and Oil Paintings: A Traditional Partnership
Bundled at the Races by Linda Volrath, oilPainting is a poetic visual language. One of the most satisfying aspects of creating my paintings is using this language to translate a fleeting moment in a tangible and permanent way.
I’m endlessly inspired and fascinated by the thrilling sports of steeplechase racing and foxhunting and the beautiful countryside that encompasses them. Incredible sights, sounds, and events unfold. Jockeys and grooms, athletic horses, hounds, and wildlife all have their role to play. I see my job as an artist to be the visual storyteller. The passion I have for these equine traditions and rural way of life seems perfectly paired with my passion to paint. It is a gold mine of images for my artistic vision.
The Simple Game: An Irish Jockey’s Memoir
The Simple Game:
An Irish Jockey’s Memoir
by Thomas Foley
Foreword by Otto Thorwarth
Caballo Press of Ann Arbor Book, Ann Arbor, Michigan
2010, 163 pages, ISBN-13: 9780982476659
Thomas Foley was an empty-headed (by his account) seventeen-year-old when he came to America from Ireland to pursue a career in jump racing. This month he will be seen by millions of movie goers as he plays the part of Secretariat’s exercise boy in Walt Disney’s long-hyped movie about the great racehorse. Between the two events, which bracket a period of twelve or thirteen years, young Foley has experienced a bit of life.
