Senior Senator wins the 120th Maryland Hunt Cup! Owner: Irvin Crawford, trainer: Joe Davies, jockey: Eric Portez © Katherine O. Rizzo
Senior Senator took the lead early in the 120th running of the Maryland Hunt Cup this afternoon at Worthington Farms in Glyndon and held on till the end for the win. The six-year-old gelding by Domestic Dispute and out of Queen Kennelot, by Awesome, widened the gap between himself and the rest of the field of 13 horses by the fifth fence and kept the gap wide for most of the 22 fence race. Owned by Irvin L. Crawford and trained by Joseph G. Davies, Senior Senator only gave up the lead for a moment at the last fence as 2014 Hunt Cup winner Guts for Garters (owned by Stewart Strawbridge, trained by Sanna Neilson and ridden by Jody Petty) pull ahead. Jockey Eric Poretz pushed Senior Senator forward to take back the lead and win by less than a length.
Guts for Garters settled for second place with Drift Society (Bruton Street-US) in third and Serene Harbor (Welcome Here Farm) in fourth.
Lillian Heard and Share Option jumping the final fence at Rolex © Katy Hansen
Rolex KY Update
Meanwhile, back in Kentucky, Maryland riders headed out onto the cross-country course at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event, sponsored by Land Rover. The rain throughout the day caused many riders to withdraw and those that did compete finished outside the allotted time. The closest to making the time was the overnight leader Michael Jung (Germany) with Fischerrocana FST. The pair jumped clean and only two seconds over to add 0.8 time faults to their dressage score. They are still in the lead by 12 points over US rider Phillip Dutton aboard Fernhill Fugitive. Dutton is also in third place with Mighty Nice.
Lillian Heard was the first from Maryland to ride this morning, jumping clean with Share Option. The pair only had 22.8 time faults to move into 32nd place. Later in the day, Lillian and LCC Barnaby also jumped clean and a bit faster occurring only 15.6 time faults. They moved up into 23rd place and are currently the highest ranked Maryland entries. Lillian withdrew FYI before cross-country began.
Katie Ruppel had a run out at 14b and also added time faults to move down into 46th place with Houdini.
Unfortunately, fence 22 seemed to be an issue for both Marilyn Little and Colleen Rutledge. Both parted ways from their mounts at that fence and were thus eliminated. Riders and horses are all ok.
That leaves Lillian with two rides and Katie for Maryland moving on to Sunday’s final horse inspection and show jumping phase.
