Camden Horse Fall 2022

Johnna

Belinda

Hilda

FEATURES

Proving He Belongs

Snap Decision

Conversation with neighbor brings back flood of memories

From the Publisher: Mike Mischner Camden Media Co.

Funny how a casual conversation with a next door neighbor can bring back memories from over 30 years ago. But, that’s exactly what happened recently when the wife and I were talking to our neighbor (incidentally, our neighbors are a wonderful young couple with 3 terrific kids).

It began with the normal neighbor chit-chat--“how are the kids, what are they up to, etc.?”. You know, the typical back-and-forth banter.

But then our neighbor (I’ll call him Paul) said something that jarred my memory. He said that his youngest son (I think he’s 9 years old) was taking horseback riding lessons. He said that his son didn’t want to play the usual fall sports like soccer or football---he wanted to learn to ride. The son even asked for and got a riding helmet and riding boots for his birthday.

And I said, “what a “Camden thing” to do”. I seriously doubt that in many other small southern towns there are the variety of equine activities for kids to do, like we have right here in Camden. What a wonderful option for our local kids to participate in.

Well, what about the flood of memories from over 30 years ago?

OK, you see our youngest son Will (at an even younger age as our neighbor’s son) also took riding lessons. In fact, coincidentally, he took them from the same riding instructor---a long-time local horsewoman named Candy. Her horse’s name was Smokey---who was 35 years old at the time (a lot of Camden kids learned to ride on Smokey).

Yes, Candy is still around instilling the love of horses in Camden kids. But, you know, for some reason I think Old Smokey has been long retired and been replaced by another gentle horse---just like himself.

Morgan Mankins, FNP Primary

Carolina Cup

While you might be busy making holiday preparations, the Carolina Cup office has been staying busy preparing for the 88th edition of the Carolina Cup Races presented by Mullikin Law on April 1, 2023.

Actually, our office started gearing up for this coming’s spring event on Sunday, April 3 of this year, which was the day after the 2022 Carolina Cup. It is never too early to start the planning process!

are planning on having live traffic updates every several minutes. By doing this, customers can tune in to either of these stations for live updates as to what is happening with the traffic in the area surrounding the race course to help ease your way into the facility.

By TOBY EDWARDS

Almost all of the issues, which we have been addressing throughout the past spring and into the fall, have been with our loyal customers in mind. In order to bring you what activities we have broached and our future plans to make your day at the Races the best it can be, I have decided to break this column down by subject matter.

Entering the race course: Before moving on, I must say that there was a fantastic turnout last April for the races; probably as big a turnout as we have had in recent memory. That alone created some issues that we spent steady time addressing and solving for these upcoming races.

Come race day, we will be increasing the amount of staff that we have at every gate as well as increasing the number of scanners. We are asking the general public to think about the direction from which they will be coming to the race track and remind them that maybe the most direct route will not, necessarily, be the quickest route. Plan accordingly and look at the street address of your gate on the back of your hangtag to find the exact location to enter into your GPS. Gates are numbered and color coordinated, therefore your hangtag color will correspond to the color of the gate you are entering.

I always kid that all of our guests want to show up at exactly 10:30 a.m., which creates the long lines entering the race course. So, consider an earlier arrival and enjoy our wonderful Paddock Shoppes and Truvista Kid’s Zone before setting up your tailgate!

On-course public address system and communicating to our guests: We had some issues with our public address sound system at last spring’s races. We have a new sound company working for us and they have had two on-site visits to Springdale already, with a third one scheduled to take place in early November. We don’t foresee having any issues in 2023.

By creating more avenues by which to communicate with our guests, we hope to utilize all our social media channels on race day to reach all of our guests. We will get more use out of our Twitter account by updating the results after each race and using that outlet as our form of immediate news updates throughout the day.

Beginning in 2023, the Carolina Cup entered a partnership with Kool 102.7 FM and Carolina Country Classics 98.7 FM and 1590 AM. As well as helping us promote the Carolina Cup in the days and weeks leading up to the event, on race day, we

Once the races start, the stations will be carrying a live race feed from our on-track announcer, Tony Bentley, on each of the afternoon’s races. The stations will cut away from their regular programming and will carry the live call of the race. If you are either at the races or some other location, you will be able to turn on your car stereo or radio and be able to listen to the races and hear the results of each race. We do know that people sometimes struggle to hear the results of the races and, depending on where you are parked on the race course, you can’t necessarily see the results board, so hopefully this can be a positive solution.

We’re looking to improve all communication from the Carolina Cup to our guests in every possible way that we can.

Sponsorship opportunities still exist: All our sponsors from the 2022 races have indicated that they will be back on board in 2023, that being said, we are always looking for new sponsors, businesses and industries in the community to get involved in partnerships with the Carolina Cup. Please don’t hesitate to call the office to discuss ways to become involved with this community event.

Ticket sales for the 2023 Carolina Cup: All past guests should have already received their “Save the Date” card from our office.

Past guests may start to renew their spaces and tickets beginning on Monday, January 2 at 9 a.m. The window to renew spaces and ticket orders for existing guests will be through Friday, January 27 at noon. If you are a past guest, you have probably already set up your account on our ticket platform which makes for a very easy and straight-forward ordering process.

Tickets and all remaining parking spaces will go on sale to the general public on Wednesday, Feb. 1 at 9 a.m. That date will also be when we start early bird general admission ticket sales, when you may purchase general admission tickets for $40 each, which is a $10 savings on each ticket. The early bird tickets will be on sale until Wednesday , Feb. 15 at noon.

Partnership with USC. In more recent news, we continue our ongoing partnership with the SPTE and the HRSM programs at the University of South Carolina and for the second straight year, we will have three interns working in our office and gaining experience in the industry while earning college credit. This internship program is fun for them and for us. It’s always nice to have young people in the office helping us and learning about the Carolina Cup along the way.

Until then, we here at the Carolina Cup office wish you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season and look forward to seeing you here at the Springdale Race Course on April 1, 2023!

(Toby Edwards became the executive director of the Carolina Cup Races in 2019. The former owner/trainer/steeplechase jockey is also the race director for the Block House Races in Tryon, N.C., and The Steeplechase at Charleston.)

CarolinaPreparationCup

very important for those patrons to watch their emails for important dates to renew lest their space is forfeited for someone else to enjoy. In 2022, there were less than 40 available reserved spaces on the entire property. This means that if a previously reserved space comes available, it will be snapped up quickly. We love our legacy renewers and give them as much time as possible to renew, however, be aware! There are deadlines.

By WILLIAM COX

Ahhh, Fall, the most temporary of seasons in South Carolina. Our thoughts turn to football, basketball, holidays, cookouts, fires and other traditions that come this time of year. Of course, 80 degree days sprinkled here and there tend to mar the idyllic daydream of “fall” but in SC we just learn to grin and bear it. Soon enough the cool stuff will come around, for the second shortest season…. Meanwhile, the office staff at CCRA is busy incorporating innovative ideas and new concepts from lessons past to make way for a better 2023 Carolina Cup race day. There will be a new sound system. There will be better access options on race day. There will be more improved ticketing software and capabilities for folks who want to get ahead and cement their spaces early, or even to transfer their spaces to a friend or family member online. There might even be a designated FM radio station to livestream each race and provide real-time traffic updates on race morning. Already, staff are working full days because the busy pre-season has arrived! Some much time and effort goes into preparing for an event that won’t take place for another almost 6 months.

We are working to be certain that the online platform is de-bugged so that your ticketing experience is as smooth as possible and that the patrons who are renewing their 2022 spaces can do so effortlessly to be guaranteed their spaces for 2023. It will be

We are also working with the Clemson Agricultural program to improve upon our track maintenance and growth program as we always want the race surface to be lush and thick. The condition each year can vary greatly depending a lot on how much rain we get and nutrients provided. The good folks at Clemson are going to help us make the course as strong as possible.

This race event is very important to the sport of Steeplechase and the day is made much more exciting when the course is packed with race fans. Therefore, it is our responsibility to create as inviting and exciting a day as possible for our patrons so that they will want to extend and create traditions of their own from year to year. Multiple generations of families from around the state (and elsewhere) make Camden their destination when bursting out of the winter hibernation and we are taking the steps necessary to make sure that this year is the best year yet.

We hope to see you all there on Saturday, April 1, 2023- no fooling!

(William Cox, managing partner with Savage, Royall and Sheheen, L.L.P. in Camden, is the chairman of the Carolina Cup Racing Association. In addition, he is past chairman of the South Carolina Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and is currently an active board member with the SCTRF.)

Camden Horse & Equestrian- Spring 2021

For more information about how you can support economic development in Kershaw County, contact the Kershaw County Committee of 100 at kccof100@gmail.com

12 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Fall 2022

Holiday Busman’s

A trip to Ireland was not all just fun and games for Camden’s Eliza Edwards and Taylor Kingsley who rode and worked during their stay on the Emerald Isle

By TOM DIDATO

It doesn’t seem all too long ago that Eliza Edwards and Taylor Kingsley, both outfitted in racing silks, hopped on the back of a pair of ponies and took to the inner course at the Springdale Race Course to compete on the four-race Camden Pony Derby card which served as the lead-in to the 2019 Cup Runneth Over Races in the spring of 2019.

Kingsley, then 14, boarded Snowflake in the large pony race while the then-16-yearold Edwards competed against Kingsley, riding Miss Chitchat in the same event. It was just another event in which the two Camden residents competed against each other without having given thought to how their riding lives might intertwine.

14 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Fall 2022

Camden’s Taylor Kingsley has her sights on becoming a jump jockey as the next step in her equine career.

Photo by Tom Didato

Both girls come from equine backgrounds; Kingsley the daughter of 1999 National Steeplechase Association champion rider Arch Kingsley Jr., and Edwards, whose father Toby was also a jump jockey before, like Kingsley, turned to a career as a trainer. Ultimately, Toby Edwards took on his present position as executive director of the Carolina Cup Racing Association.

Having cut their teeth in the pony races sponsored by the Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase Foundation, the two young ladies took the next steps in their lives working in various barns doing everything from mucking stalls to moving hay bales to eventually, doing what they love in riding horses. With jumping pedigrees, they soon earned their keep and the confidence of their respective trainers to put them in the saddle on jumpers.

For Kingsley, her apprenticeship came under the watchful eye of her father. Edwards found riding gigs at various barns in Camden before hitching her wagon and heading to Pennsylvania where she works for trainer Leslie Young.

There has probably no task, within reason, which the girls did not undertake. That work, however, came on this side of the Atlantic. All that changed this summer when the duo were selected as part of a three-rider contingent which earned a trip to Ireland to work in horse yards there as recipients of the Temple Gwathmey Steeplechase Foundation

(TGSF) Developing Rider Trip.

Edwards and Kingsley submitted their applications to the program with the recipients of the honor being chosen based on their riding strengths and history, career aspirations, recommendations from their trainers and their professionalism when interacting with TGSF board members and when observed during their time in the industry.

Former TGSF Chairman Sam Slater and wife Lornie Forbes are the masterminds behind the trip, which is based out of Slater’s family Cahervillahow estate in the Golden Vale region of County Tipperary.

“The intention of this trip,” Slater said, “was to introduce young amateur American jockeys to how other parts of the world train flat and jump race horses. We want these up and coming riders to have a chance to make connections with Irish trainers that they normally would otherwise not come in contact with. A few of the past attendees have gone to work in Ireland after their experience on the trip.”

Under the leadership and guidance of National Steeplechase Association-licensed trainer and founder and director of U.s. Pony Racing Regina Welsh, the American trio learned how horses were trained and what riders do on their typical --- if there is such a thing in the world of horse racing --- day.

Edwards and Kingsley submitted their applications to the program with the recipients of the honor being chosen based on their riding strengths and history, career aspirations, recommendations from their trainers and their professionalism ...

Kingsley, a 17-year-old Camden High School senior, left for Ireland after having spent part of the summer working for her father with his string of jumpers and flat horses at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va. When her internship in the Emerald Isle was completed, she returned to the race track.

The 20-year-old Edwards works for trainer Leslie Young in Pennsylvania, like Kingsley, she left from and returned to work at Young’s barn after the program.

As wide as the ocean was which separates the two continents so, too, are the way trainers go about getting their runners and jumpers fit and ready. It was, both said, an eye-opening experience. One major difference which they noticed was the sheer number of horses which were stabled in the yards of the three trainers whom they visited.

“One thing, for sure, is that their sets are massive,” Edwards said of her morning rides in Ireland. “I think (trainer) Willie Mullins had at least 40 riders in a set. I’ve never been on set that big. The track is always harrowed before each set and each barn has their own bridle, which I found really interesting.

“I think (trainer) Willie Mullins had at least 40 riders in a set. I’ve never been on set that big, The track is always harrowed before each set and each barn has their own bridle, which I found really interesting .

Eliza Edwards confidently rides over the sand and wood chip course while on her Irish excursion.

Photo provided

“How they train was interesting and the surfaces … a lot of places had wood chips and sand, but it was very deep. The exercise was shorter because of that. A lot of times after the set, they would have you walk to a stream or, a man-made stream with your horse.”

Mullins, an Irish training legend, was one of the three main yards which the trio worked. They also found their way to the barn of Gordon Elliot and Pat Doyle. Each was unique, but also had if own flavor and not all training was done by the book as it is done in the United States, Kingsley said.

“Everyone does everything quite differently. You kind of went in there having no clue and you’re running around, kind of like a chicken with your head cut off not knowing how everything does thing, but that was part of the fun of it,” she said of a typical untypical day.

“For me, there wasn’t a huge difference because the way my dad trains his horses is similar. He has one horse behind the other at the gallop. That being said, their lots were absolutely massive. They would have 30-plus horses on a set. That was quite the eye-opener.

“I wouldn’t say the horses were much different than ours. They’re accustomed to going in behind which a lot of horses here get quite rank if you do that.”

“The work sets were interesting,” Edwards said. “Over here, when you go outside (of another horse), usually only one person will go. There, the first time the other horse behind them would come up to the front and then you would switch and them the person who was in front would come up a second time ahead of you.”

Another difference is the going over which the horses travel in Ireland. With the country getting so much rain each year, the grass is usually deep and lush while the moisture in the ground makes for a cushioned surface which is different than at the race track in America in which horses run over a dirt surface and, due to the lack of green space, spend little time out of doors once their morning work is finished.

Having worked at a race track in the summer months, Kingsley was well-versed in the life of a Thoroughbred in training.

“I would say their works were harder; you’re galloping was a lot deeper while with American horses, you’re galloping on top of the ground. It’s very firm here,” she said of her experience in both countries.

“It was like night and day from galloping at the race track which is what I had been doing before I went to Ireland and what I was doing after returning from Ireland. Obviously, those horses were getting a lot more hands-on time. If they’re not training, they’re on a walker and getting bathed. With the American race horse, you kind of just take them out, gallop them in

a circle and put them back into their stall.”

While Kingsley returned home after her Irish stay, Edwards enjoyed the added experience of visiting yards and riding in Great Britain, the homeland of her father, who set his daughter up with some of his racing acquaintances. It was there in which Edwards had the experience of galloping a horse over the peat surface which provides an even softer, more forgiving surface than grass.

“It was somewhat similar,” Edwards said when asked to compare riding in Ireland and England. “I went to Lambourne and rode for (six-time British jump racing champion trainer) Nicky Henderson and we went out to the peat moss grounds. I’ve never felt ground like that. It was so soft and lush on top and there was so much of it. There were seven trails like that where they could gallop.”

While traveling to Irish race courses and sampling some of the country’s cuisine was part of the excursion, the main thrust for the stay was to work, learn and experience a new and different way of doing things.

Edwards said she was a bit nervous when she arrived in Ireland as to what awaited her. She called the experience “surreal” and nearly had to pinch herself to make sure this was not all just a dream. A few hours in the barn cured her of that as she went on with her duties.

“The first day at Pat Doyle’s barn, we got on the horses and it was just fine. It went well from there on out. I wished it was longer,” said the Camden native and former resident of her experience. “Some yards were the same. I would say Gordon Elliot’s and Pat Doyle’s were the same. They had a big sand track. Jessica Harrington’s place was just massive. There were multiple tracks were you could train.

“It was more like you were a freelancer. Most barns, each rider had their own little grooming bucket. Before the horses would be ridden, they would mop them off and most of them got put on a walker after they had been ridden.”

“I’d say that they all followed the same schedule,” Kingsley added as to what her days were like. “We got up quite early and everything is quite close in Ireland, at least where we went was one hour to two hours away. We’d get up and gallop at one of the yards that Regina (Welch) had planned for us that day which was always very fun.”

Once assigned their mount, before each set, the riders would bring their horse before the trainer which would look at the horse and convey instructions to the rider as to what was to be accomplished in the workout. That happened some two to three times a day, as Edwards said the riders usually had that many sets per morning.

One of the many perks associated with the trip to Ireland was getting one-on-one time with riders Sean Flanagan, Danny Mullins and the country’s newest riding heroine and shining National Hunt star, Rachel Blackmore.

Blackmore is a celebrity is Ireland and Great Britain whose legend grew to meteoric heights when she won the 2021 Grand National at Aintree aboard Minella Time, becoming the first female jockey to win the race in its first 182 years of existence. That came on the heels of her becoming the first female rider to be the leading jockey at the 2021 Cheltenham Festival in which she rode six winners including winning the Champion Hurdle. In 2022, Blackmore became the first female to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The two young Americans were thrilled to meet and ride with Blackmore. Even better, both Edwards and Kingsley said that the 33-year-old native of Tipperary was quite engaging and down to earth.

“I met Rachel Blackmore at Willie Mullins’. She was very approachable,” Edwards said of meeting one of her racing idols. “We met her when we first got there. It was the last set and I got to the walking arena pretty quick and she was already there. When I walked in and was coming around the turn, I just hooked up with her and we started chatting away, asking all sorts of questions. She was super-open and giving advice. She’s just a really good role model.”

Kingsley said her experience with Blackmore was a pleasant one, but added, so too was her time spent with Mullins and Flanagan who all took an interest in the American contingent of young riders.

“Rachel Blackmore was very down to earth and talked to me about her experiences and answered any questions we had. It was the same with Danny Mullins and Sean Flanagan. Those three were quite welcoming,” Kingsley said.

“Danny showed us around the weight room at Galway which he did not have to do. He gave us a full tour of it, which they did not have to do. That was very kind of him. He was super-helpful in explaining how the whole process works. Sean Flanagan showed us around the Limerick Racecourse and was extremely helpful. We asked a lot of questions about their type of racing, the fences and how to ride on their race courses. They were open to answering any questions we had.”

While the established jockeys were more than forthcoming with information on their livelihood, there were those in barns who were unsure as to

what the Americans were doing there and were a big edgy as to possibly having their job security threatened. Those cases, however, were few and far between.

“It varied by yard. At Willie Mullins’, everyone was very helpful and were wanting to speak to us. At Gordon Elliot’s everyone was kind of like, ‘Who are these Americans? Why are they here?’ It was like they were kind of upset that we were stealing rides from them,” Edwards said. “At Jessica Harrington’s, they were all really sweet and helpful. They all wanted to interact with us.”

While the Americans had experience in having come up through the pony ranks to now riding Thoroughbreds, there was some lively give and take between the Irish riders and their guests from across the Atlantic as each group got to learn more about the experiences and the differences and similarities between training, riding and racing.

When giving her advice, jockeys in Ireland and England, especially, told Edwards to stick to racing on the flat rather than becoming a jump jockey. “Honestly,” she said with a laugh, “a lot of them told me to be a flat jockey. The best advice I got from all the trainers was to be a flat jockey.”

As if inside an echo chamber, both Eliza Edwards and Taylor Kingsley said the one thing about the trip they wished they could change was that it would have lasted longer than a few weeks. While back on American soil, they both said they would not mind returning to a land where horse racing is as popular as football, baseball and basketball are back home.

“It definitely exceeded my expectations,” Kingsley said. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I went there with the mindset of making contacts, getting experience riding different horses and I would say that it definitely exceeded my expectations in that sense. I was not expecting to be able to go and walk race courses like Galway and Limerick or be able to see behind the scenes of impressive facilities like Ballydoyle and Coolmore. That was quite the surprise and very fun, too.

“I really enjoyed going to the races and being in that atmosphere. Everyone there is so involved in racing. It’s so racing-based while here, if you go out and talk to the general public and say that you ride race horses, they would instantly think of you as riding in the Kentucky Derby or, something like that. There, when you would go downtown, it seemed as if everyone was knowledgeable in the sport and they respect it and you that you are involved in it.”

22 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Fall 2022

Photos by Salley McInerney, Betsy Wolfe, Melissa King and Lynn Evans

Donna Jordan and Benny

Lou Provenzano with TCH hound, Nolan

Billy Prather

Alex Coogler, flag bearer, TCH junior rider and barrel racer on Remington.

Alex McAllister, TCH junior rider

Fall 2022 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian

Amanda Malanuk, executive director of Carolina Therapeutic Riding Program with Ava Van Horn and Lindsay Emmons.

Lisa Smets enjoying a carriage ride

Coulson Ligon rides Wally, led by helper Lindsay Emmons.

Members, staff and masters of The Camden Hunt with a favorite, retired foxhound named Fiona.

Ava Van Horn, Carolina Therapeutic Riding program student on Wally, with helper Lindsay Emmons.

24 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Fall 2022

Alex Coogler riding Remington.

Staige DeBenedetti on Princessa, a Paso Fino.

Jill Allard riding Abby, Oakwood Dressage

Adorable!

Meg Evans, Staige DeBenedetti and Lynn Evans.

Many thanks to our cadets at Camden Military Academy.

- The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Fall 2022

Noah and the Ark carried Harry Beswick to an upet victory in the $150,000 Lonesome Glory Handicap in September.

NYRA photo/Susie Raisher

Proving he Belongs

After an extended layoff of 481 days and nights, Noah and the Ark make waves in the high water of the NSA

By TOM DIDATO

Harry Beswick paused for a moment before he came up with an answer to a question he had not been asked previously about Noah and the Ark, the 2021 winner of the $35,000 Carolina Cup.

On May 22 of that year, Beswick scored his biggest win in his brief time in America when he guided a Noah and the Ark to victory in a Camden spring classic which was pushed back two months to allow COVID-19 to dissipate. On that warm late spring afternoon at the Springdale Race Course, Beswick allowed the 7-year-old Vinnie Roe (IRE) gelding to settle into the race --- hanging around in eighth place in a starting field of 11 jumpers --- before asking and receiving a strong kick in the home stretch to take a threelength victory over Show Court and jockey Arch Kingsley.

As Beswick guided his mount back toward the winners’ enclosure, a wildly enthusiastic trainer Todd McKenna was racing toward the pair armed and ready to deliver a high-five to his jockey. It was a small, but jubilant scene when the Thomas Hitchcock Trophy was presented to McKenna, who was savoring the moment.

Little did anyone know how long it would take that opportunity to present itself again.

Noah and the Ark, a four-time winner in 11 starts in England, had a pair of nondescript starts in America. In his debut, he was seventh in a handicap hurdle at Saratoga in September of 2020.

In October of that year, Beswick --- his rider of call in the United Kingdom --- was, again, in the saddle for a sixthplace finish in a handicap at Great Meadow in Virginia.

The victory in the Carolina Cup feature was one which came from out of the blue for a jumper who did win two point-to-point races leading up to Camden after after being unable to run in a jump race a Willowdale earlier that spring. It was also the last time the jump racing community in this country would see of Noah and the Ark for a stretch of 481 days. In looking out for his horse’s best interest, if McKenna was to err, it would be on the side of caution.

“He came out of the race pretty well,” said Beswick, a 26-year-old who calls Cotswold, England home, in discussing what led to Noah and the Ark’s extended stay on the sidelines, “but Todd wasn’t 100 percent happy with him. He didn’t necessarily (injure) a leg, but he had a bit of tendonitis. We probably could have gotten away with running him last (2022) summer, but Todd was probably looking at the longer picture and we just turned him out and let time takes its place … it certainly did that.”

McKenna put Noah and the Ark back in training earlier this summer. There was some thought as to giving him a start at one of the race tracks with a flat layout which Noah and the Ark favors. There was also discussion as to giving him a run on the flat so ease him back into competition.

Before that, however, there were days and weeks of training at McKenna’s Pennsylvania barn with Beswick in tow. Nobody knew the horse better than Beswick who said after four years of partnering with Noah and the Ark, there was a different horse beneath him when he returned to training in the summer heat.

“He’s always been a good horse and, obviously, you liked riding him in his novice campaign back in England and then, on that great day in Camden last year,” said Beswick who combined with Noah and the Ark to win at Stratford On Avon, Kelso, Ffos Las in Wales and Worcester before their upset in the Carolina Cup.

“He was good and he was a good horse. Then, this year … I can’t really explain it. He just transformed.”

Without a graded stakes win on either side of the Atlantic, McKenna decided to go all in with Noah and the Ark. After a bit of apprehension, McKenna bit the bullet and nominated and then entered the top jumper in his barn into the $150,000 Lonesome Glory Handicap (Gr. I) at Aqueduct Racecourse in Ozone Park, N.Y. The sister track to Belmont Park is hosting Belmont’s fall and winter race season as the home to the third leg of the Triple Crown undergoes a facelift.

“There were a lot of question marks, but as the week of the race unfolded, I turned to (McKenna’s assistant) Skyler (McKenna) and said, ‘Yeah, I really think this is a Grade I horse.’ Then, to the last gallop he did, I thought ‘He could win this,’” Beswick said of the final days of training leading up to the Lonesome Glory. “We were probably nuts, but he went and did it anyway.”

Never having won a graded stakes race over fences, Noah and the Ark, along with Redicean, were assigned the low weight of 140 pounds. That was a 28-pound break from pre-race favorite and two-time Grade I winner Snap Decision, who came to the Big A after having won the $150,000 Jonathan Sheppard Stakes at Saratoga 29 days prior.

“In an ideal world,” Beswick said of throwing Noah and the Ark into jump racing’s major leagues, “it would have been great to have had a prep run. Taking him up to Grade I was always the plan at some point. It would have been great to have had an easier run, but with the program, there wasn’t really anything to run him in. We even debated running him on the flat to blow the cobwebs away.”

Without having a luxury of having a tightner to get his mount ready for the rigors awaiting him in the Lonesome Glory --- unless you considered the 2021 Carolina Cup a prep race --- McKenna went with his plan and sent his stable’s star into the deep end of the pool.

In spite of the long stretch between races, Beswick did not alter the way he rode Noah and the Ark. Like he did in Camden, he tucked his horse behind the leaders checking in sixth among the field of eight through the first mile of the 2 ½-mile journey. By the time the pack reached the 1 ½-mile mark, Beswick brought Noah and the Ark to third and stayed there until the top of the stretch. Once seeing the finish line, the pair overtook Snap Decision at the quarter pole and went on to the nine-length win.

“I didn’t feel that I rode him much differently than I always have,” Beswick said of the race. “It was the same theory that I had riding him in Camden. I’ve only ridden him one way and that had always works so I said, ‘Why change that now. ‘I fully expected him to be there at the back of the last at Aqueduct, but it was a long way from home.

“For him to do it the way he did it, that was the best deal I ever got with him. He was just a different animal. To have swept them aside the way he did was pretty remarkable, especially with 16 months off the track. It was certainly the best training performance I’ve ever been a part of. It was quite remarkable.”

In a near repeat of the Carolina Cup scene, McKenna took to the track to meet Beswick and Noah and the Ark, leading the 41-to-1 longshot to the winners’ circle in a career-changing win for both horse and jockey.

“We have a great team at home with Skyler (McKenna), Liam McVicor and myself,” Beswick said of Team McKenna. “He was as primed as we could get him at home. We were all very confident going into the race.”

Even with the win in the Lonesome Glory, there were naysayers who touted the 28-pound break in weights Noah and the Ark received from Snap Decision. The true test would come in the $250,000 Grand National in Far Hills, N.J., a hunt style course with rolling hills and a race which attracted an international field of jumpers.

Coming out of the September race in fine order,

- The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Fall 2022

McKenna pointed Noah and the Ark toward America’s richest jump race. Confidence was sky-high, even on a layout which was not the best for Noah and the Ark. When midweek rains hit in New Jersey, it softened the going which was not to Noah and the Ark’s liking.

“Obviously, we were well aware of the competition coming from overseas with (Irish invaders) Hewick and Global Citizen,” Beswick said. “Sadly, the ground went against us and he really did struggle on that soft grass, but what can you do. He showed his class to have done what he did.”

Trained by Irish conditioner John Hanlon, Hewick grabbed a four-length lead at the 2 ¼-mile mark of the 2 5/8th mile race and eventually extended that to 11 1/2-lengths at the wire with Noah and the Ark finishing a distant second.

Running at level weights with Snap Decision --- all jumpers went off with 156 pounds ---, Noah and the Ark were more than 32 lengths in front of the warm Eclipse Award favorite at the finish. As for Hewick, Hanlon has his sights set on a start at the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March.

The winter plans for Noah and the Ark will probably see him fox hunting before returning to training for his 2023 campaign. With an affinity for flat going which is featured at Saratoga and Belmont, Noah and the Ark will be pointed toward the feature chases in the Empire State. Should he need a run before that, a shot at the $75,000 Temple Gwathmey at Middleburg, Va., in the last spring could be in play. Beswick all but dismissed his mount competing in the $150,000 Calvin Houghland at Nashville run over the hilly Percy Warner Park terrain.

“We’d like him primed for the ($150,000) A.P. Smithwick at Saratoga next summer and see how he takes it,” Beswick said. “I think those flat race courses, especially in the summer with the quick ground, will suit him very well. That seems to be what he likes.

“He’s pretty versatile and he ran on a lot of different courses back in England and he can perform on all of them. I think he’s proven now that he wants a quick two miles to 2 ½-mile course which we’ll hopefully get at Saratoga next summer.”

As for Beswick, he plans to return to England after the conclusion of the 2022 National Steeplechase Association season. He said he would like to pick up as many rides as possible in his homeland while also making his way to France for jump races which go over a variety of fences and usually have firm footing.

When he returns to the United States next spring, he fully expects Noah and the Ark to be a player in the Eclipse Award discussion. In fact, he will be part of the conversation this time around after a two-race fall slate which drew attention his way.

“I really do feel like he’s only getting started. I said after the win at Aqueduct, he owes absolutely nothing and he doesn’t,” Beswick said of a horse whose sale to Keystone Thoroughbreds and its coming to McKenna’s barn is one which he helped facilitate and gave his personal stamp of approval.

“He loves what he does and he keeps improving. Touch wood, if we have a nice clear run with things throughout the winter and spring, I’m hoping for big things from him in the summer.”

A smiling Harry Beswick celebrates his winning ride aboard Noah and the Ark in the 2021 Carolina Cup.

Photo by Tom Didato

- The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Fall 2022

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The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Fall 2022

With a pair of Grade I wins in 2022, Snap Decision is a serious threat to win the Eclipse Award for Steeplechase Horse.

NYRA photo Chelsea Durand

With strong showings by Down Royal and others, the 2022 Eclipse Award voting will be anything but a …

Snap Decision

By TOM DIDATO

With the book closed on the 2022 National Steeplechase Association season, all that is left to be decided is which jumper will be voted on and presented with the Eclipse Award for Steeplechase Horse for the past campaign.

The honor for the top horses in America for this year will be voted on in the coming weeks with the winners announced at the Eclipse Awards banquet in January.

When this issue of The Camden Horse & Equestrian went to press in late October, Snap Decision had all but sewn up the NSA’s Lonesome Glory Champion Award. In five starts over fences this year, the 7-year-old Hard Spun gelding sat atop the circuit’s leader board in having earned $220,500.

Trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Jack Fisher, Snap Decision was the only horse in this country to have won a pair of Grade I jump races in 2022. After finishing second in the $75,000 Temple Gwathmey in Middleburg, Va., in April, Graham Watters guided his mount to victory in the $150,000 Calvin Houghland Iroquois in Nashville on May 14. In August, Snap Decision captured the $150,000 Jonathan Sheppard Handicap in Saratoga.

Things did not end so well for Snap Decision in the fall as, giving 28 pounds in weight to Noah and the Ark, Snap Decision came home second behind the 2021 Carolina Cup champion in the $150,000 Lonesome Glory Handicap in the Belmont at the Big A meet at Aqueduct in September. In his final start of the year, Snap Decision finished a distant sixth behind Irish invader Hewick in this country’s richest steeplechase race, the $250,000 Grand National contested in October in Far Hills, N.J.

A pair of horses with Camden connections could also elbow their way into the Eclipse Award conversation when the voters receive their ballots.

Bred by the Camden-based husband-wife team of Kate and Bernie Dalton, Down Royal will not only end up being the NSA’s Fillies and Mares champion, but the 7-year-old daughter of Alphabet Soup out of the Dalton-bred mare Miss Crown, scored her third stakes victory --- in four 2022 starts --- in October by running off with the $75,000 David L. “Zeke” Ferguson Stakes at Great Meadow Race Course in Virginia.

The win gave Down Royal, who is trained by Kate Dalton and ridden by Bernie, $165,000 in winnings for 2022.

Down Royal ended 2021 with a pair of wins before opening 2022 by winning the $50,000 Margaret Currey Henley Stakes for Fillies and Mares in Nashville in May. The mare then went up against and beat the boys at Saratoga in July by jumping past a field of six other geldings in the $150,000 A.P. Smithwick Stakes (Gr. I) in which the New York-bred earned a bonus for winning a graded stakes race in her home state.

After a sixth-place finish in the Jonathan

Sheppard, Down Royal was given a rest of more than two months. She came out fit and no worse for the layoff by romping to a 3 ½-length win in the Ferguson Stakes in a race in which she bested the males, again.

One of the most popular jumpers in the NSA, Down Royal has put more than $322,000 into the pockets of her owner, Joseph Fowler, Jr.

While not being from Camden, Noah and the Ark (see feature story on page 30) etched his name in Carolina Cup history by winning the 2021 Camden spring classic as a novice jumper. He did not see the track again until 18 months later when jockey Harry Beswick booted home the 8-year-old who is trained by Todd McKenna to victory in the Lonesome Glory Handicap before the connections finished second in the $250,000 Grand National to bring Noah and the Ark’s earnings total to $135,000; which is fourth on the circuit.

Trained by Ireland’s John Hanlon, Hewick will get some Eclipse Award votes after his impressive win at Far Hills in which the horse known as the “People’s Champion” on the Emerald Isle finished 4 ½-lengths ahead of Noah and the Ark in the day’s feature. For his one start in America, Hewick garnered $150,000 which placed him third behind Snap Decision and Down Royal in the earnings category.

As for the human side of the championship race, 18-year-old Parker Hendriks --- who rode Historic Heart to victory in the 2022 Carolina Cup --- entered the final five weeks of the season with 21 wins, which was eight more than his closest pursuers, Tom Garner and Freddie Procter, and nine ahead of Jamie Bargary, the latter of whom caught fire in the summer and kept rolling through the fall.

The chase for leading trainer is turning into a three-person race led by Leslie F. Young, who entered the final five meets with 30 wins, which was five more than Keri Brion with the always dangerous and traditionally strong-closing Fisher sitting in third place with 18 trips to the winners’ enclosure.

While not being from Camden, Noah and the Ark (see feature story on page 30) etched his name in Carolina Cup history by winning the 2021 Camden spring classic as a novice jumper.

for the South Carolina Thoroughbred for the South Carolina Thoroughbred National October 16, 2022

44 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Fall 2022

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