Camden Horse Winter 23

Closing kick

Down Royal saved her best races for last

Belinda

Hilda

Do you know which Camden streets were named after racehorses?

In most towns and cities, streets are named for prominent citizens such as local military heroes, politicians, sports stars or even entertainers.

But in “Horsey Camden”, we sometimes name our streets after our “4-legged heroes". Many of us have heard of these streets, but likely do not even realize that they were named after famous race horses that have graced our town.

Camden Media Co.

OK---so where are these streets that you are referring to, you might ask? Well, here are 4 of them:

• Of course, the one that most of us are familiar with is Battleship Road which snakes from DeKalb Street in Camden northward to Carter Street and was named for one of the most prominent horses in steeplechasing history. Battleship was sired by Man O’ War one of the most famous race horses of all time. In 1931, Battleship was purchased by Marion DuPont Scott owner of the Springdale Race Course who established the Colonial Cup. Battleship is the only horse to have won both the American Grand National and the Grand National steeplechase races.

• Battleship sired a 1957 steeplechase champion named Shipboard which was trained by Camden’s own Raymond Wolfe. Shipboard Road is a dead-end street off of Battleship Road behind Kirkover Hills.

• The success of a horse named Elkridge spanned the 1940’s. Kent Miller locally trained Elkridge, the first steeplechase horse anywhere to win $200,000. Elkridge Drive in Kirkover Hills subdivision was named for him.

• Temperance Hill was a champion race horse trained by Camdenite, Joe Cantey, which won the 1980 Belmont Stakes. Temperance Hill was named the Champion threeyear-old of 1980. Temperance Hill Court is located South of Camden in the Belmont Subdivision.

These are just 4 Camden streets named after our “4-legged heroes”.

Do you know of any others?

From the Publisher:

Mike Mischner

6 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Winter 2023

Countdown to the Cup

Before you know if, it will be April first and we’ll have an exciting day of racing.

For those who held spaces last year, they have until January 27 to renew their orders and secure their tailgate spots. After that, on February 1, we will go live and put all remaining tailgate spaces on sale to the general public. If last year was any indication, these spaces will sell quickly.

Once again, early bird general admission tickets will be sold for a $10 discount of $40 each, if purchased by Wednesday, Feb. 15. After that date, all tickets will be sold for $50 each.

By TOBY EDWARDS

Don’t get left out. That is the best bit of advice that we here at the Carolina Cup office can offer as we count down the days to the 88th running of the Carolina Cup presented by Mullikin Law on Saturday, April 1 at the Springdale Race Course. We started taking orders for renewals for those patrons who held tailgate and other reserved spaces for last spring’s Carolina Cup on January 2 and our phones have being steadily ringing while our website has been a hub of activity as past ticket and space holders want to make sure they secure their same spots this spring. If you recall, the 2022 races sold out all reserved spaces. We don’t want that to happen to you this year which is why we are getting the word out to get your tickets and spaces early and not be on the outside looking in.

There is no doubt that last year was a big year for the Carolina Cup and the momentum and the size of the event continues to grow. People are excited to get back out to Springdale and to come out to watch the races and all the other pieces which make up the day; whether it is the TruVista Kids Zone, the Paddock Shoppes, the hat contest and the best dressed contest, there is a lot of other things going on inside the facility than just the racing, the tailgating and meeting with all your friends and family.

Our office staff always look at this time of the year with a little bit of trepidation. We have some new people in the Carolina Cup office this year so we are doing some training with them as we go along. In mid-January, we had interns starting from the University of South Carolina to help with our chores while they all gained valuable experience in the field of event planning. We are excited about having brought them on board.

Things are definitely starting to ramp up here.

If you would like to purchase tailgate spaces and/or tickets to the Carolina Cup, we invited you to visit our website at www.carolinacup.org to purchase your tickets and spaces, call our office at 432-6513 or, come visit us at our location inside the National Steeplechase Museum on Knights Hill Rd. in Camden. We love seeing people come through the door and chat about our races with guests.

As we sit here in the first days of the new year, sales have been steady across the board for the Carolina Cup. We are selling every type of ticket; the tailgating areas are probably the most popular, but whether you are looking for an all-inclusive luncheon option like the Post and Paddock Club or, possibly, our top end Discover SC Skyline Club on top of the grandstand, we are seeing a lot of interest for all areas. The Meadow continues to be very popular and I can foresee us being sold out in a number of areas quite quickly.

So, once again, we urge you to get your tickets and parking spaces well in advance of the races so that you will be able to look forward to a stress-free race week and race day.

We look forward to seeing you on April 1st … no fooling.

(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.)

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

10 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Winter 2023

Biscuits and Breezing offers up-close look to see Thoroughbreds put through paces

By TOM DIDATO

Showing the community’s thirst for Thoroughbreds and passion for the Carolina Cup presented by Mullikin Law, last winter, record crowds attended both Biscuits and Breezing sessions staged by the Carolina Cup Racing Association at the Springdale Race Course.

Biscuits and Breezing offers up-close look to see Thoroughbreds put through paces

hustle and bustle in the Springdale grandstand on Carolina Cup race day, fans can get an up close look at horses and riders from a few yards away.

The fairly recent addition ---- this is the fourth year of the program --- to the lead-up to the Camden spring classic on Saturday, April 1, has proved to be a popular Saturday morning event for both horsemen and the public. This year, Biscuits and Breezing will be held on Saturday, Feb. 25 and then, again, on Saturday, March 11 from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. The first set of runners will take to the course at or near 8 a.m. with sets continuing to work out until 10 a.m. The two sessions have been spread out in order to avoid conflict with point-to-point races in Virginia which could take horses from Camden in order to travel over fences in those races.

Biscuits and Breezing is free and open to the public. Free coffee, water and biscuits will be provided to those on hand for each session.

The Saturday morning works --- all run on the flat --- will be held in front of the main grandstand at the Springdale Race Course. Riding mostly in sets of two --- and, sometimes three ---, horses and riders travel in front of those in attendance. As opposed to the

Guests are also treated to an announcer informing them of the horse, its rider for the day, the trainer and its past performances and plans for the 2023 campaign. In some instances, the trainer of the Thoroughbred on the course will take the microphone to talk about their horse(s) and answer questions from the public, if time and circumstances permit.

The public should enter the race course through the main gate on Knights Hill Rd. and should park in the area behind or, alongside the grandstand on front row paddock side parking. Guests are reminded to bring their own chairs should they wish. Children are invited to come to the workouts but organizers ask that all dogs be kept at home for the safety of the horses, riders and guests.

Carolina Cup executive director Toby Edwards said Biscuits and Breezing is a perfect stage-setter for the upcoming race day in Camden and hopes this year’s event will pick up where it left off a year ago and continue to grow in popularity.

“We hope people in the community will come out and see these horses go through their paces as we make their way toward the Carolina Cup presented by Mullikin Law on April 1,” he said.

Mell Boucher (left) and her father, Richard Boucher, take their mounts through a workout at last year’s Biscuits and Breezing session.

Photo by Tom Didato

Kershaw Medical Center

Winter 2023 - The Camden Horse &

14 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Winter 2023

Kate Dalton and her husband/jockey Bernie Dalton celebrate Down Royal’s win in the $150,000 A.P. Smithwick at Saratoga last summer.

Photo by Susie Raisher/NYRA

Having gone out with a bang, Down Royal is living …

Having gone out with a bang, Down Royal is living …

Life The Good Good Good Good L

By TOM DIDATO

By TOM DIDATO

Life The Good Good Good Good L

ife and work went as scheduled on this sunsplashed day before Thanksgiving morning at Fitzdalton Stables. On one side of the U-shaped barn, Kate Dalton was behind a wheelbarrow filled with straw and wheeling it to a station to be picked up by a Springdale Race Course front loader. On the other side, her husband, Bernie Dalton, was mucking out the stall of a young Thoroughbred which was just learning the ropes.

ife and work went as scheduled on this sunsplashed day before Thanksgiving morning at Fitzdalton Stables. On one side of the U-shaped barn, Kate Dalton was behind a wheelbarrow filled with straw and wheeling it to a station to be picked up by a Springdale Race Course front loader. On the other side, her husband, Bernie Dalton, was mucking out the stall of a young Thoroughbred which was just learning the ropes.

There was hardly anything unusual about the goings-on at the white brick facility other than the fact that one mare was not among the residents. Looking for Down Royal, the visitor asked Bernie where she was in possibly trying to get a photo of a jumper who is almost a lock to be among the three finalists for the 2022 Eclipse Award for Steeplechase Horse.

There was hardly anything unusual about the goings-on at the white brick facility other than the fact that one mare was not among the residents. Looking for Down Royal, the visitor asked Bernie where she was in possibly trying to get a photo of a jumper who is almost a lock to be among the three finalists for the 2022 Eclipse Award for Steeplechase Horse.

2023

Winter 2023 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian

Winter

- The Camden Horse

“She’s not here,” Bernie Dalton said with a smile creasing his face. “She’s at Jill Waterman’s place and enjoying the good life. She’s grazing her head off.”

Pressed for more information, Dalton explained that the 8-year-old Alphabet Soup mare --- which he and his wife/trainer Kate bred and are owners along with Joseph Fowler ---, had been retired from the race course and will begin what will be her third career as a broodmare. Few horses went out on a better note than did Down Royal whose extended stay at the track could be attributed to, of all things, the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Daltons were prepared to send Down Royal into an early retirement and the paperwork to put that in place was all but signed, sealed and delivered for her to become a show jumper. The virus halted those plans as the intended new owner of the jumper was stuck in Ireland and its rigid quarantine laws prevented anyone from leaving the Emerald Isle until the number of illnesses dropped.

Given this scenario, the Daltons were left with a bit of a dilemma. They could have Down Royal live a life of leisure at the barn and wait things out for her to become a jumper or, they could return her to training to resume racing over fences. They chose the latter. It was a prudent move.

“Originally,” Bernie said of that period of time in 2020 in which Down Royal’s career plans were in limbo, “we were going to retire her and sell her as a show horse. Sarah Katz, who does that kind of thing, ended up getting stuck in Ireland with COVID. The longer it went on, the less likelihood there was of me wanting to sell her. I said, ‘That’s it. She’s going back in training.’ It was like her last hurrah.”

With the National Steeplechase Association schedule being a shell of its usual self in order to protect all parties from COVID-19, jump meets were few and far between. One by one, races were

cancelled as the virus raged on. Some meets such as Middleburg and Great Meadow, both in Virginia, staged their races in June rather than in April or May. The meets were held sans patrons and were held, for the most part, to provide owners and trainers with a way to give their jumpers a venue to race while also providing a limited source of income for all parties concerned.

For the Daltons, they ran Down Royal in both early summer stops. She finished eighth in an allowance in Middleburg and came home sixth in a handicap chase in Great Meadow. The races were her 16th and 17th career starts from which she had one win and netted her connections a little more than $28,000. If there was ever a time to consider a change of scenery and vocation for Down Royal, this seemed as good a time as any.

When COVID-19 interrupted those plans, it allowed the Daltons to evaluate what may have been holding their jumper back. One thing they looked into was that in every one of her starts --- including three on the flat in New York ---, Down Royal raced after having been treated with Lasix, a legally, allowable ant-bleeding medication used by veterinarians in the horse racing industry to prevent respiratory bleeding in horses running at high speed. Lasix was used to prevent, sometimes fatal, pulmonary hemorraghing in horses due to blood entering their lungs.

While not a performance-enhancing agent, Kate and Bernie used the sudden free time in Down Royal’s schedule to debate the merits of Lasix on her and wondered what would happen should they take her off the medication.

“We’d been hemming and hawing about taking her off the Lasix,” Bernie said. “Kate said to me, “If you want to take her off Lasix, now’s the time to do it and see if it works.’ We haven’t looked back since.

The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Winter 2023

“She’s not here ... she’s at Jill Waterman’s place and enjoying the good life . She’s grazing her head off.”

“She’s always been very useful, but she just hadn’t quite been seeing out her races. I mentioned to Kate that we never worked her on Lasix at home and she always worked lights out here. Going to the races, she always ran well and was second or third, but she just wasn’t getting the job done and always seemed to weaken a little bit.”

Down Royal broke her maiden at three, winning an allowance chase at the NSA season finals in Charleston in November of 2017. That came after a near-miss a month earlier when she finished second in the $50,000 Gladstone Stakes for 3-year-olds at the Far Hills (N.J.) meet.

A strong jumper and a quick learner from the get-go when moved to jumping fences, Bernie Dalton smiled when thinking about the near-misses and issues in Down Royal’s first two starts over hurdles.

“First time out, she was going to win at Shawan Downs and she tipped over at the second last (fence); she over-jumped it And her speed kind of pushed her over … she didn’t make a mistake,” said Bernie, who has been aboard Down Royal in each steeplechase start. “Second time, she ran in the 3-year-old stakes race at Far Hills and she would have won, but she got badly interfered with on the bend and we ended up third and the winner got taken down and we got moved up to second.”

As a 4-year-old in 2018, Down Royal was chasing down jumpers such as Iranistan and more than holding her own in graded stakes company, but she could not get over the hump. In her 5-year-old campaign, Down Royal was racing almost exclusively in stakes company and had second-place finishes in the Margaret Henley Currey Stakes in Nashville in May and then in the Mrs. Ogden Phipps Stakes at Saratoga in August.

Winter 2023 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian

“She’s always been very useful , but she just hadn’t quite been seeing out her races.

Trainer Kate Dalton saddled Down Royal for her three wins in four starts in 2022.

Photo by Susie Raisher/NYRA

With the NSA returning to an almost full slate of stops in 2021 and with Lasix no longer part of her routine, Down royals became the horse the Dalton’s saw at home in Camden, but was now winning races.

A win in the spring at the Queens Cup in Charlotte touched off a season which ended with a two-race win streak which included the Randolph Rouse Stakes at Colonial Downs before ending her year with a victory in the $50,000 Peapack Hurdle Stakes at Far Hills as Down Royal accumulated $91,500 in purse money.

That figure paled in comparison to what would come in 2022; a year in which Down Royal won the Margate Currey Henley Stakes for fillies and mares before expanding her horizons and competing against and beating the guys by rallying to win the $150,000 A.P. Smithwick (Gr. I) at Saratoga on July 20.

18 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Winter 2023

“We didn’t think we’d win ... For her to go out and win, it was unbelievable .”

The husband-wife team of Camden’s Bernie and Kate Dalton sent out a 2022 Eclipse Award finalist in Down Royal.

Photo by Susie Raisher/NYRA

The leap of faith in racing against the boys was not as far-fetched as it might have seemed.

“She was full of confidence going in; she won her last four or five going into the race. She was full of herself,” Bernie said of that warm afternoon in upstate New York. “We didn’t think we’d win. We talked going up and looking at the entries that we could be third. We were perfectly happy to go and get a bit of black type (graded stakes mention) and be third for a mare that we were planning to breed, down the road. For her to go out and win, it was unbelievable.”

With the last fence having been removed from race meets in New York for safety reasons, jumpers had a longer run to the finish in Empire State tracks than at hunt meets. Dalton said one less fence was not something which favored Down Royal.

“It didn’t really suit her because she’s a great jumper. It worked out that she could quicken up there, but taking the jumps out doesn’t suit a horse like her. She gets you a couple lengths at every fence if you need them,” he said.

Having bested the males in the Smithwick, the Daltons brought Down Royal back to Camden and then, shipped her back to Saratoga for a run in the $150,000 Jonathan Sheppard Stakes. A Spa double was not to be as she came home sixth in a field of seven.

“It seemed like she was in good form, but you never know until you run them. And when we ran her, she came up a bit short,” Bernie Dalton said of his mount that afternoon. “You’ve only got three weeks between races so you’re not really working them. You do some strong gallops between races, but to ship a thousand miles up and a thousand miles back, you don’t have a lot of time to turn around before you have to go back up again.”

He added that he and Kate never hesitated in running Down Royal in the Sheppard Stakes for several reasons.

“What else were you going to do, wait two months to run back or that type of thing? You take your shots and support the game. The game’s been very good to us and we’d like to support it, especially at Saratoga where there is good purse money,” he said. “Plus, she’s a New Yorkbred and if she didn’t win and got second, we would have been delighted, but it didn’t work out … that happens.”

Unfazed by that performance, the Daltons had one last start in mind for Down Royal in what would be her swan song. They entered her in the $75,000 Zeke Ferguson stakes at Great Meadow on Oct. 22. In her final run before retirement, the 8-year-old won by 3 ½ lengths in front of an appreciative crowd. “We went into the Gold Cup fairly confident,” Bernie Dalton said with a smile. “She was the only Grade I winner in the race and was in off a nice weight. I thought she could fall over and still win the race.”

A jumper who took to the flat courses at the race tracks as easily as she handled the hilly courses at race meets, Down Royal amassed a career-high $165,000 in earnings in 2022 giving her more than $322,000 in 25 starts, with

the final 22 coming over hurdles. The Daltons credit her reversal in fortunes to being taken off Lasix and running free’ not to mention her having figured things out over the years.

“She matured. She definitely got better,” Bernie Dalton said. “I think between that and taking her off the Lasix, it really helped her.”

Bred at the barn of Joe McMahon in New York, Down Royal has the same stallion, Alphabet Soup, which produced Italian Wedding, a Graded stakes winner for retired Hall of Fame trainer Jonathan Sheppard. The Daltons figured if Down Royal could not cut it on the flat, her breeding suggested that she could make the transition to jumping. “That was the kind of logic behind it and it worked out,” Bernie Dalton said.

First sent to New York-based trainer Peter Pugh as a 2-year-old, Down Royal had an inauspicious start on the flat. Her first race came off the turf due to heavy rains in Saratoga. The 5 ½-furlong race was put on the dirt and little went right as Down Royal, nicknamed Princess by the Dalton, had a rough, 10th place finish.

“Peter liked her and she was working fine and decided to give her a run. Of course, it rained and came off the turf and 5 1/2 (furlongs) on the slop and Princess did nothing. She did not like the slop,” Bernie Dalton said with a laugh. “She trailed the field the whole was and was like, ‘Ewww, I’m not getting dirty.’

“We sent her back up the spring of her 3-year-old year and she ran a couple times on the turf and those races, basically, just weren’t far enough for her. She was only getting going when they were stopping. We decided to school her up that summer and run her over jumps that fall.”

Once taken from the flat to fences, Down Royal thrived, especially when taken off Lasix. With six wins in her final eight career starts, the nearly white mare has exceeded the expectations of her handlers and connections.

“By far … by far,” Bernie Dalton said. “When we bred her, all we were looking to do was to win a couple races. To do what she did was unbelievable.”

Her racing days behind her, Down Royal is retired and healthy. The next step is to bring her to the breeding shed. A Grade I winner, having black type beside her name will add to Down Royal’s stock and credibility when it comes to breeding and the financial end of her third career.

For a team which has gotten used to winning, Bernie and Kate Dalton want to keep things rolling with Down Royal in the coming years.

“It’s a fairly substantial amount of money to people like me and Kate. It’s life-changing,” he said as to the money which can be made by Princess as a broodmare with each healthy offspring she delivers. “You’re talking about $40,000, that kind of thing, with breeders’ awards and owners’ awards. To us, that’s like winning two races.”

Winter 2023 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian

24 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Winter 2023

Parker Hendriks celebrated his win aboard Historic Heart in the 2022 Carolina Cup in Camden.

Photo by Tom Didato

A tad superstitious, reigning NSA champion jockey Parker Hendriks not eager to be part of any ...

A tad superstitious, reigning NSA champion jockey Parker Hendriks not eager to be part of any ...

Sock

Sock

Exchange

By TOM DIDATO

By TOM DIDATO

t’s gotta be the sock. It just has to be that single trusted foot covering with the holes which could be credited for the magic carpet ride on which Parker Hendriks found himself during his run to the 2022 National Steeplechase Association leading rider title.

IIt’s gotta be the sock. It just has to be that single trusted foot covering with the holes which could be credited for the magic carpet ride on which Parker Hendriks found himself during his run to the 2022 National Steeplechase Association leading rider title.

In the days leading up to his 19th birthday as well as his coronation as the king of riders for jump jockeys for the season past, Hendriks took a seat under a shedrow in the barn on the grounds of the Springdale Race Course once inhabited by trainer Jonathan Sheppard. The retired Hall of Fame trainer gave both Hendriks’ parents, Ricky Hendriks and Sanna Neilson, a leg up aboard many a Thoroughbred including --- in both instances --- several Grade I winners.

In the days leading up to his 19th birthday as well as his coronation as the king of riders for jump jockeys for the season past, Hendriks took a seat under a shedrow in the barn on the grounds of the Springdale Race Course once inhabited by trainer Jonathan Sheppard. The retired Hall of Fame trainer gave both Hendriks’ parents, Ricky Hendriks and Sanna Neilson, a leg up aboard many a Thoroughbred including --- in both instances --- several Grade I winners.

Sporting a smiling face which may have yet to had a razor run over it, Hendriks was reluctant to talk about questions posed to him which dealt with his chances of winning the leading rider championship even though, on this November morning and with four race meets remaining,

Sporting a smiling face which may have yet to had a razor run over it, Hendriks was reluctant to talk about questions posed to him which dealt with his chances of winning the leading rider championship even though, on this November morning and with four race meets remaining,

Winter 2023 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian-

Winter 2023 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian-

hardly anyone would have bet against him winning it in his rookie campaign.

In a sport which usually spits riders out, leaving them bruised and battered from falls of every kind imaginable, Hendriks shows no outward signs of injury. His wide-eyed look and smile beneath it hardly seems that of someone who has been thrown off the back of a horse to the ground with a trip or two in the back of a first responder vehicle. Being aboard some of the country’s best jumpers while being trainer Keri Brion’s rider of first call on her standout string of horses has plenty to do with Hendriks’ health and well-being. If you ask him, though, there could be another reason unbeknownst to and unseen by the racing public.

Before donning his riding boots, Hendriks makes sure to slip into a comfortable and well-worn sock? Sound strange? Well, Linus Van Pelt of Peanuts fame had his trusted security blanket so why not one lucky stocking for Hendriks.

“I am superstitious. I have a lucky sock,” Hendriks of said of his one race day item of apparel. “It has a few big holes in it, but I’ve been riding every single race with that on. I’mi pretty OCD about my tack, too. I like it on a certain way and I like everything pretty clean and in good shape.”

Having started the 2022 campaign with a “bug” by his name, Hendrick said he worked hard to get the asterisk removed beside his name which lets people know that he is an apprentice jockey. His goal was to have ridden six winners in the spring which would take the bug designation out of the equation. Hendriks doubled that by winning a dozen races in the spring portion of the NSA schedule with the third of those coming with his victory aboard Historic Heart in the $50,000 Carolina Cup feature on April 2.

“I am superstitious . I have a lucky sock ... It has a few big holes in it, but I’ve been riding every single race with that on.

Parker Hendriks (middle) celebrated winning the National Steeplechase Association leading rider crown and his 19th birthday last November.

Photo by Tom Didato

“I said that if I could lose my bug, which was to ride six winners in the spring, I’d be delighted,” he said of his modest goals last spring. “I doubled that with 12 winners in the spring which was incredible.”

When the jumper made their way to the race tracks in the summer, Hendriks picked up five more wins including four at Colonial Downs with another score at Saratoga. Suddenly, his chances to win the leading rider title began picking up steam. By the time the calendar turned to November, it was Hendriks who was the young man to catch. Nobody did.

Hendriks finished 2022 with 25 wins which were the most in a single NSA season since Gus Brown won the title with 30 victories from 101 mounts in 2001. Hendriks needed 96 rides to get his wins which amounted to making a turn into the winners’ enclosure better than 26 percent of the time he hopped in the saddle. His mounts finished in the money nearly 50 percent of the time as he boarded 15 secondand seven third-place finishers last year.

Hendriks, who had the title sewed up before the NSA season finale in Charleston, said he never allowed himself to think that he had the championship in the bag. The last thing he wanted to do was to change anything about what was shaping up to be a magical season.

“I thought about it, but I don’t change anything that I do or how I ride in terms of race riding, but it is definitely there. I just try and ride them all the same,” he said in the days leading up to the Charleston stop.

Hendriks ascent to the top started meagerly as a 15-year-old when he started working for Sheppard who was grooming Brion for a career as one of training’s rising stars. Hendriks won his first race on the Sheppard-trained Anticipating in a $30,000 handicap at Great Meadow (Va.) on Oct. 24, 2020. Two races later, on the same card, he made it a two-win day, piloting He’ll Do, trained by his mother, to a

win in a $10,000 maiden claimer.

Hendriks has not looked back since that afternoon and when Sheppard retired, he cast his lot with Brion and her ever-growing barn. At the start, however, Brion had a just a handful of horses in her barn which has since grown and continues to get bigger with more owners coming on board from both sides of the Atlantic. “When Jonathan retired, Keri only had a handful of horses and I started working for her straightaway. It all worked together,” he said.

Brion, who some might call a maverick in jump racing as she has used social media as a means to promote her horses and the sport itself, showed no hesitancy to put an 18-yearold Hendriks on her best jumpers including Historic Heart who should make his way to racing in open company sooner rather than later.

Given Hendriks’ lineage, but more importantly his riding talent, Brion said she never hesitated in putting a teenager in the saddle for this race.

“To be honest, that was the least of my concerns,” she said after the Carolina Cup win last April. “Parker has worked very hard to get where he is and is wise beyond his years to be a jockey.

“He’s the best out there, in my opinion. I never thought anything different about it and (Historic Heart owner) Paul (Willis) has been great about giving Parker the opportunity, as well. He’s 18, but he’s earned this and he gave (Historic Heart) a peach of a ride.”

Given who his parents are and their respective riding careers, there was little question as to Parker Hendriks and his being placed on the back of a horse and learning to ride at an early age. When asked if he remembered the first time he was placed atop a horse, he smiled.

Winter 2023 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian

“I like to have good owners ... who you know are going to stand by you and back you. That lets you ride with a lot of confidence when you can just ride off of instinct ... “

“The earliest memory I have of riding a horse was a little chestnut pony named Willy,” he said fondly. “My grandmother had a (horse) walker; it was fenced in and we would take the pony around the walker. That’s where I started riding; taking lessons around a walker with Willy.”

It seemed as if Hendriks might be a chip off the old block at an early age. He said he had no idea as to what his parents did in the steeplechase world. His father, Ricky, won back-to-back NSA leading rider titles in 1986 and 1987 and won 130 jump races before embarking on a training career. His mother, Sanna, was the first female rider to win the Colonial Cup; a feat which she accomplished with Mistico in 1992. Switching to a career as a trainer, she was the NSA’s leading conditioner in 2005 as she saddled 32 winners.

Those numbers and accomplishments were unknown to Parker Hendriks in his developmental years.

“I really had no idea until I was probably 13 or 14 about what they had done and until I was interested (in the sport.) It was never forced on me,” he said of his parents’ careers. “Maybe, if it was forced on me, I wouldn’t have liked it. It was always my choosing which may be why it’s all worked out.”

From here, you might think the story would go that Hendriks climbed the junior ranks, won every horse show in sight and had a path to the stars lined up.

Not so fast. Instead of taking all things equine stepby-step and year-by-year, Hendriks bided his time. The riding bug took a while to get into his system. When it did, however, there was no turning back.

“I got into pony racing pretty late, but as soon as I did it, I said that I wanted to do this again,” he said. “I had two winners in my first season when I was 16 (in 2020) and that kind of got me hooked. Then, last year, I really struggled for the first half of last year. To be honest, I wasn’t really riding great horses, but I wasn’t riding very well. The, last fall, I had four or five winners and I was like, ‘Man, I just love this.’”

After having his bug removed last spring, Hendriks made the decision to turn professional as he started picking up wins at a steady rate. In 2022, he rode four stakes winners including Iranistan, which captured the $75,000 Temple Gwathmey Hurdle Handicap (Gr. 2) in April. “It’s incredible stuff. We’ve won four stakes this year. It’s definitely been a little surreal,” he said with a slight shake of the head.

Given all his accomplishments, Hendriks was still the youngest rider in the jockeys’ room. He made light and alluded to the fact that some riders had their licenses longer than he had been alive. In spite of his age, he was fully accepted by the jump jockey community. He did things the right way and was respectful of his fellow riders.

“If you can ride, you can ride and I’ve been delivering. People respect you if you can deliver and win,” he said of the easiest way to gain the acceptance of one’s peers.

The jocks’ community is not the only group in which Hendriks had to gain faith and trust. There was also proving himself to Brion, who watches and works with Hendriks daily, and her owners. She sells her rider to them as he shows them that he is worthy of their trust in riding their jumpers.

“Keri is wonderful to ride for. I know there are different people to ride for, luckily, I ride for Keri and, basically, she’s it,” he said. “She used to be a jockey and she has been around jumpers for a long time.

“I always try to do what’s in the best interest of the horse and how we can win. Keri gets that and if I make an error, it is what it is and there’s no point to get upset about it. We just see what we did wrong, regroup and go forward. That’s wonderful.”

The owners also have come to know what they get from Hendriks and Brion as that pair continues to give them a smart return on their financial and physical investment.

“I like to have good owners like Kier does who you know are going to stand by you and back you. That lets you ride with a lot of confidence when you can just ride

off of instinct with what the horse is doing rather than being tied down with instructions from an owner or trainer,” Hendriks said.

A recent high school graduate who said he would think about heading to study in college if a particular school and subject appealed to him, Parker Hendriks has put those plans on the back burner. At the same time, in a profession which your career can change in a split second, you have to cast an eye to the future. For Hendriks, he said he will not follow in his parents’ footsteps after his days and the saddle come to an end.

“I’d like to keep riding,” he said of his future plans. “For the long, long term … I honestly have no interest in training. I may have a horse or two, just for fun or whatever. To be honest, I would have no interest in training and having someone else riding them for me.

“I’m very OCD and kind of a control freak. I like to be in control of everything so, I probably wouldn’t want someone else ride a horse that I was training.”

So far, at this early stage of his career, that way of thinking and that philosophy has served Parker Hendriks well. If you don’t believe it, there is a championship trophy somewhere in his house which serves as proof.

Parker Hendriks’ 25 victories in 2022 were the most in a single National Steeplechase Association season in 21 years.

Photo by Tom Didato

Winter 2023 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian

Eclipse Award finalist Snap Decision won the 2022 National Steeplechase Association’s Lonesome Glory Champions Award.

Photo by Chelseas Durand/NYRA \

34 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Winter 2023

NSA Honorees

NSA Honorees

By TOD MARKS

By TOD MARKS

or the first time in three years, the National Steeplechase Association was able to run a full slate of races without having to worry about a global pandemic and social distancing.

FFor the first time in three years, the National Steeplechase Association was able to run a full slate of races without having to worry about a global pandemic and social distancing.

The 2022 campaign brought some ole and new faces to the front as the circuit honored its champions at a banquet in January.

The 2022 campaign brought some ole and new faces to the front as the circuit honored its champions at a banquet in January.

Here are the honorees:

Here are the honorees:

Lonesome Glory winner – Snap Decision

Lonesome Glory winner – Snap Decision

Bruton Street-US’ Snap Decision has been so good for so long, and this year finally got his due as the jumper with the highest earnings. The only two-time Grade 1 winner of the year (Iroquois, Jonathan Sheppard), the eight-year-old Hard Spun gelding, also finished second twice in G1 competition and ended the season with $220,500 in NSA purses.

Bruton Street-US’ Snap Decision has been so good for so long, and this year finally got his due as the jumper with the highest earnings. The only two-time Grade 1 winner of the year (Iroquois, Jonathan Sheppard), the eight-year-old Hard Spun gelding, also finished second twice in G1 competition and ended the season with $220,500 in NSA purses.

Winter 2023 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian

Winter 2023 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian

In 2022, Leslie Young became the first female to win the National

He’s the odds-on choice to be voted the Eclipse Award winner, too, when those ceremonies are held in Palm Beach, Fla., on Jan. 26. Trained by Hall of Famer Jack Fisher and ridden by Graham Watters, Snap Decision registered nine straight wins at one point in his remarkable career and toted 164 pounds --- the most weight in a generation --- to a smashing 13 ¼-length score at Saratoga last summer.

Leading owner – Bruton Street-US

A partnership of three friends --- Mike Hankin, Charlie Fenwick and Charlie Noell --- which had its genesis less than a decade ago, Bruton Street has experienced heady success over hurdles and timber in that short span.

The trio captured their first Eclipse Award with Scorpiancer, in 2017, and Moscato in 2020, and are likely to secure their third title with Snap Decision. Bruton Street was also the leading owner in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. With trainer Jack Fisher at the helm, the stable had 34 starters in 2022, with seven winners, six seconds, and five thirds, and total earnings of $450,750, $27,000 more than the Irv Naylor stable. Besides Snap Decision, Bruton Street campaigned novice champion Proven Innocent, and impressive maiden winners Neotropic and South Mountain.

Leading trainer – Leslie Young

After coming oh-so-close to dethroning 14-time champion Jack Fisher for honors in 2021, Leslie Young notched her first title with an incredible 37 winners, the most since Fisher hit that mark in 2019. Before that, you’d have to go back to 1994 when the immortal Jonathan Sheppard won that many. Sheppard is the only conditioner since 1974 to have had a season with even more winners.

Young’s $994,100 in purse earnings was second only to rival Keri Brion, who amassed $1,106,950 – becoming the only trainer other than Fisher to crack the million-dollar mark in NSA history. In all, Young saddled 153 starters, and also had 25 seconds and 19 thirds. Young, who is married to six-time champion rider Paddy Young, has been training on the circuit for 16 years. Her top runners include Ballybristol Farm’s multiple stakes winner Andi’amu, who took his second timber title in 2022, Silverton Hill’s Bodes Wsell, a stakes winner over

A partnership of three friends --Mike Hankin, Charlie Fenwick and Charlie Noell --- which had its genesis less than a decade ago, Bruton Street has experienced heady success over hurdles and timber in that short span.

Steeplechase Association leading trainer award since Sanna Neilson in 2005.

Photo by Tom Didato

hurdles who has become the star of steeplethon events over mixed obstacles; Sharon Sheppard’s hard-hitting graded stakes winner Redicean; and timber ace Tomgarrow, the 2021 timber champ, who runs in the colors of Leipers Fork Steeplechasers.

Leading jockey – Parker Hendriks Talk about a sensational career start.

In only his third year on the NSA circuit, teen sensation Parker Hendriks not only rode more winners – and secured more purse money – than anyone else, his total of 25 victories was the highest since Paddy Young’s 27 in 2011.

Hendriks, who turned 19 in November, has the pedigree to excel. He is the son of former champion rider and current trainer Ricky Hendriks and Sanna Neilson, the trainer of one of the sport’s greatest legends, McDynamo. He is also the grandson of the late-great horseman Paddy Neilson, and nephew of trainer Kathy Neilson. In addition to his victories, Hendriks also had 15 seconds, and seven thirds, while riding first-call for Keri Brion. His purses, from 96 starts, totaled $730,850, $93,000 more than runner-up Graham Watters. Hendriks piloted stakes winners Historic Heart (Carolina Cup), Iranistan (G2 Temple Gwathmey), French Light (Queen’s Cup), Ljay (Harry Harris), and Molly Fantasy (Montpelier Cup).

Leading apprentice jockey – Freddie Procter Demonstrating incredible consistency throughout his first season in the U.S., UK-based rider Freddie Procter made the most of his NSA opportunities, securing rides for champion trainer Leslie Young aboard stalwarts including timber champions Andi’amu and Tomgarrow, as well as accomplished veterans Court Ruler, Mercoeur, Perfect Tapatino, and maiden winners Uco Valley, Monbeg Stream, and Boutinniere.

For much of the 2022 season, Procter’s winning percentage topped 50 percent and he ended the year with a strike rate of 36 percent. Beyond that, he racked up 32 in-the-money finishes in just 50 rides, including 18 wins, 10 seconds, and four thirds. He partnered with Andi’amu for four stakes scores, in the Virginia and International Gold Cups, the Genesee Valley Hunt Cup and the Willowdale Steeplechase. Along the way, he picked up $358,400 in purses.

Novice champion – Proven Innocent

A four-year-old son of Blame, bred in Kentucky by Stuart Janney III, Bruton Street-US’ Proven Innocent began his jump racing career in April at the Queen’s Cup races following five starts on the flat for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. And he turned heads from the get-go.

Following a close fourth in his debut, the steely gray broke his maiden at the Iroquois Races for trainer Jack Fisher, then finished a troubled second to Freddy Flintshire in a Saratoga allowance. Bet down to favoritism in his next start in another Spa allowance, Proven Innocent prevailed in a spirited duel with Bandua, then faced what seemed like an insurmountable task against 2021 Eclipse Award winner The Mean Queen, making her first and only start of the year in the $75,000 William Entenmann novice stakes at Aqueduct. In the Entenmann, Proven Innocent and Jamie Bargary stalked the champ, gaining a bit of ground with every stride through the lane, and nipping her at the wire at 9-1. In his final start of the year, the Harry Harris stakes at Far Hills, Proven Innocent came up a bit flat to finish third at even money, but had already secured his place in NSA history.

Filly & Mare champion – Down Royal

At eight years old, Joseph Fowler’s Down Royal has been formidable since her NSA debut back in 2017. Stakes placed at age three, she signaled she was ready for bigger conquests with a blowout score in a handicap against males in the spring of 2021 at the Queen’s Cup races. But it was following her next start, a close second to eventual Eclipse Award winner

The Mean Queen in the Margaret Currey Henley Stakes at Nashville that Down Royal reached a new plateau for the trainer-rider team of Kate and Bernie Dalton, who bred the mare they affectionately call “Princess.”

After that impressive effort, the New York-bred daughter of Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Alphabet Soup and the Dalton’s mare Miss Crown reeled off four straight stakes victories, two of which came in 2022, including the Henley, which gave Bernie Dalton his 100th career victory. However, the best was still yet to come, as Down Royal earned her first Grade 1 in the A.P. Smithwick at Saratoga then put an exclamation point on the season with another open stakes score against males in the G2 Zeke Ferguson at the International Gold Cup Races in October. Her overall record for the year: Three wins in four starts and $165,000 in earnings.

Timber champion – Andi’amu

It’s rare for a horse to return from an injury layoff of nearly two years, and rarer still for that horse to come back in top form at the highest level of competition. It’s even more remarkable when that comeback involves a 12-year-old. Yet, Ballybristol Farm’s Andi’amu overcame all of those obstacles to put together his second championship season under the careful handling of Leslie Young.

He previously took the title in 2019. Ridden by Freddie Procter in five of his six starts (and all four victories), Andi’amu made his first start since June 27, 2020 in the Middleburg Hunt Cup in late April, finishing second to rival Storm Team. With a race under his belt, Andi’amu romped in the $100,000 Virginia Gold Cup in May by 23 lengths, then scored by 16 in the Willowdale Steeplechase a week later. Following another second to Storm Team at Shawan, Andi’amu won the Genesee Valley Hunt Cup by 12 lengths. He closed out the year with a dazzling 10-length victory in the $75,000 International Gold Cup, a race that put him over the half-million-dollar mark in his 45-race career that began in 2012. With the title, Andi’amu joins Doc Cebu, Bubble Economy, Saluter, Dosdi, Fort Devon, and Jacko to repeat (at least twice) as timber champion. Leading three-year-old – Topic Changer

There aren’t many opportunities for freshman jumpers, but three-year-old Topic Changer made the most of his two starts, which took place within a two-week span in late fall.

A New York-bred son of Flintshire, Jordan Wycoff and Frank Mullins’ Topic Changer made the transition to steeplechasing after five starts on the NYRA circuit. Making his debut at Aiken, the Keri Brion-trainee broke his maiden by 4 ½ lengths, then prepared for a showdown in the season finale at Charleston with Irish invader The Insider, who was coming off a 17-length triumph in his only U.S. start, the Gladstone Stakes at Far Hills. In the Alston Cup at Charleston, Topic Changer was miraculously able to avoid a mishap at the last fence that eliminated his two nearest foes, including The Insider, and sprint clear by 13 lengths as one of only two finishers. The victory wasn’t pretty, but it was enough to cement the title.

Winter 2023 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian-

By TOM DIDATO

CarolinaCup 88th

Ticket and tailgating renewals for the Carolina Cup Races presented by Mullikin Law are in full swing.

The 88th running of the Camden spring classic is set for the Springdale Race Course on Saturday, April 1. Guests who held reserved tailgating spaces for last year’s event have until Jan. 27 to renew their space with the remaining spaces being placed on sale to the general public on Feb. 1.

Early bird general admission tickets will go on sale Wednesday, Feb. 1 at a $10 discount.

The Carolina Cup Racing Association (CCRA) is reminding its guests that all communication will be paperless and that hard copy invitations to the race will no longer be mailed. The CCRA will use its website at carolinacup.org, email and social media platforms to notify guests of ticket sales and other pertinent information about the 2023 races.

Here are the prices and details regarding tickets, tailgating spaces and hospitality packages for the Carolina Cup Races presented by Mullikin Law:

General admission tickets: $40, if purchased by Wednesday, Feb. 15 and $50 thereafter. Tickets will be on sale at all gates on race day.

(Note: Children under the age of 12 will be admitted to the races free of charge, if accompanied by an adult ticket-holder.)

General admission parking: $10

Infield Tailgating: Row A: $250; Row B: $225; Row C: $200; Row D: $175; Rows E & F: $150; All tailgating spaces include two general admission tickets

West and East Rail Tailgating: $200 per tailgating space; All tailgating spaces include two

general admission tickets

Front Row Tailgating: Spaces 1-30 and 234-297: $250; Spaces 31-233: $350 (tents are not allowed in spaces 21 through 190); All tailgating spaces include two general admission tickets

Restricted Parking (for oversized vehicles): $300; All spaces includes two general admission tickets

Grandstand Box: $600 per box; $150 for an individual seat. The cost for a box includes seating and 2 VIP parking hang tags. Individual seats come with 1 VIP parking hang tag. Additional VIP parking hang tags are available for $100 each.

Turf Club Luncheon Tent: $200 per adult; $100 per child (12 and under) Grandstand ticket required.

Post and Paddock Luncheon Tent: $125 per adult; $75 per child (12 and under); Limited adjacent parking: $75. Grandstand or General Admission ticket required.

Skyline Club: $1,000 per couple; $3,000 per suite; luxury, all-inclusive suites located at the top of the Grandstand and designed to hold 6 to 8 people. Tickets include lunch and an open bar while you enjoy the best seat in the house.

The Meadow Packages

Pony Package: $1,000 (includes a 15 x 15 tent; 10 general admission tickets and 5 parking passes)

Colt Package: $1,700 (includes a 15 x 15 tent; 20 general admission tickets and 10 parking passes)

Thoroughbred Package: $2,200 (includes a 20 x 20 tent; 30 general admission tickets and 15 parking passes)

Champion Package: $3,400 (includes a 30 x 30 tent; 50 general admission tickets and 25 parking passes)

**Ticketing fees apply.

Winter 2023 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian-

Horses

Oyster Roast & Lowcountry

November 25, 2022 Sponsored by Wateree

44 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Winter 2023

Ned Tuggle, Ellen Gordan-Creed and Kip Elser

Mary Elizabeth and Anc Boykin

JoAnn Schwartz and the late Bill Denton Maci Scheuer

Mary Stuart Hardy

Heroes

& Lowcountry Boil

Benefiting Historic Camden

by Wateree Hounds

Winter 2023 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian-

John Langston

Photos by Janel Strieter

Dr. Meredith Somersett and child

Scott Somersett and Cricket

Kelly Norden and Mike McCarthy talking to Jack Towell

Ned Towell introducing Carey Briggs of Historic Camden

46 - The Camden Horse & Equestrian- Winter 2023

Billy Nettles

Tommy Cooper

Diana Burkott

Oyster Chefs, Henry and Jeff Davega