Hunt Cup, Foxfield make for super Saturday

©Tod Marks

Maryland and Virginia take center stage for this weekend’s National Steeplechase Association stops. In Glyndon, 10 horses are expected to face the starter for the 129th Maryland Hunt Cup, America’s oldest, longest, and most challenging timber race. Meanwhile hurdlers will be spotlighted at Foxfield in Charlottesville, where $240,000 in purses are on the line in a six-race card highlighted by a pair of stakes.

At four miles over 22 post-and-rail fences — some nearly five-feet tall — the Maryland Hunt Cup – the third and final leg of the Maryland Timber Triple series over a three-week span – is a unique test of jumping skill and stamina. In keeping with tradition, the $100,000 race is restricted to amateur riders. Armata Stables’ Mr. Fine Threads, winner of the second leg of the series, the Grand National, is in the field, and seeks his first victory in the Hunt Cup following two previous attempts where he was a DNF. He’ll be ridden by Charlie Marshall, who comes stateside to try to become a repeat winner. Marshall piloted Kinross Corp.’s Blackhall to victory in 2024, and thus became the first Englishman to do so.

Also in the field are two previous Hunt Cup champions, Daniel Baker’s defending titlist Road to Oz, and Irv Naylor’s Withoutmoreado (2023), who finished second last year in an epic renewal.

The rematch between Withoutmoreado and Road to Oz will be a thrilling side story to the great race, which is always filled with compelling storylines. In 2025, Road to Oz took aim at Withoutmoreado at the 22nd and final fence, gaining ground with every stride, and collaring his foe just jumps from the wire to score going away by three-quarters of a length. The victory was Mark Beecher’s first as a trainer after capturing the race twice as a jockey.  Teddy Davies, the son of trainer Joe Davies, rides Withoutmoreado. Joe Davies won the Hunt Cup three times as a jockey, and Teddy’s mom, Blythe Miller, also won the race. Teddy is seeking his second score, the first coming aboard Vintage Vinnie in 2022.

Speaking of family history, young jockey James Wyatt will make his first Hunt Cup appearance, and hopes to follow in the footsteps of his mom, Blair Waterman, who captured the 2004 renewal with Bug River. James has the mount aboard Charlie and Danielle Fenwick’s Royal Ruse, whose best finish in three previous tries was a second to Withoutmoreado in 2023, a year in which only two of the eight starters finished the event.

Jockeys Elizabeth Scully (Upland Partners’ Shootist), Chelsea Secor (Joe Davies’ Great Road), and Virginia Korrell (Greenlights’ The Butler Yates) will attempt to follow in the large footprints of previous female jockey winners including Waterman, Anne Moran, Sanna Neilson, and Joy Slater. Blythe Miller was the last female winner, guiding Private Attack to glory in 2011.

Meanwhile Eric Poretz (William Russell’s Animal Kingston), who was at the controls aboard the great Senior Senator for his three Hunt Cup triumphs, will seek to join legendary names such as Jervis Spencer Jr., D. Michael Smithwick, Crompton Smith Jr., Stuart Janney Jr., and Charlie Fenwick as a four time (or more) Hunt Cup winner.

Tuscany Racing’s Monbeg Stream is a study in perseverance. A talented up and comer, the Irish-bred won four of five starts early in his career, capped by stakes scores in the Grand National and Genesee Hunt Cup. But his career was derailed by injury, and he emerged last season following nearly a year and a half off to finish fourth in the Maryland Hunt Cup. In his first race since that outing, he was fourth in an allowance contest at the My Lady’s Manor races. He gets the services of Englishman Paddy Barlow, a point-to-point rider in Europe, who is about to become a veterinarian. Barlow has had three NSA mounts this spring for trainer Leslie Young, and won in his first effort.

Gates open at 11 a.m. Post Time is 4 p.m. For full entries, including owners, trainers, and riders, click on the link: https://nationalsteeplechase.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Maryland-Hunt-Cup-Final-OVernight.pdf

At Foxfield

Anchoring the meet is the $75,000 Daniel Van Clief Memorial Sport of Kings novice stakes at 2 ⅛ miles, the distance of all hurdle races over the course. One of the eight names among the entries might sound familiar from the past. Irv Naylor’s McTigue, who was last seen on the track at Saratoga in August 2023. He’s been out of action since, but made quite a splash upon coming stateside following a European campaign. In three 2023 starts, McTigue won the Speedy Smithwick stakes (by DQ) at Great Meadow,  then defeated the likes of (eventual) Eclipse Award winner Merry Maker and G1 winner Awakened in the Jonathan Kiser novice stakes at Saratoga. In his final appearance before heading to the sidelines, McTigue was third, beaten just over a length in the G1 Jonathan Sheppard.

Foxfield will also host the third running of the $50,000 Good Night Shirt handicap hurdle for horses rated at 130 or less. A field of 10 is expected.

The rest of the card features three hurdles races – a $40,000 maiden special weights contest; $35,000 handicap for horses rated at 115 or less; $20,000 maiden claimer; and $20,000 maiden timber race.

Gates open at 9 AM and post time is 12:30 PM. For full entries, click here: https://nationalsteeplechase.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Foxfield-Overnight-Final.pdf

If you can’t make it to the races, you can watch the live stream via the NSA web site, www.nationalsteeplechase.com.