My Lady’s Manor headlines weekend doubleheader
©Tod Marks
Eight races worth $185,000 are on tap for Saturday as steeplechasing returns to Maryland and Virginia.
The historic Maryland Timber Triple gets underway in Monkton, about 30 miles north of Baltimore with the $50,000 My Lady’s Manor stakes, the marquee event on the four-race, $105,000 card. The race, first contested in 1902, has drawn a competitive field of eight led by Irv Naylor’s 2023 Maryland Hunt Cup winner Withoutmoreado, who captured the Genesee Valley Hunt Cup last season, and Upland Partners’ Shootist, beaten a neck in the 2024 Maryland Hunt Cup.
Also in the field are Riverdee Stable’s stakes winner Include It, who suffered a narrow loss to Armata Stable’s Our Friend in last season’s My Lady’s Manor; maiden winner Daniel Doane’s Theda’s Boy, who finished a close second in an allowance race over the Monkton course in 2024; and Michael Smith’s Wrestlingwithrae, who defeated Include It and Shootist in his seasonal bow a week ago in an allowance contest at the Cheshire races.
Daniel Colhoun, Achsah O’Donovan, and Harvey Goolsby’s Bogey’s Image, an allowance winner, was third in last year’s Virginia Gold Cup and second in the Brown Advisory stakes. Potter Group USA, Gaskells Waste Services, and Ashwell Stable’s Uco Valley steps up in class after earning back-to-back victories in maiden and allowance company.
A multiple stakes winner over hurdles and timber of more than $300,000, Storm Team, now 11, makes his debut for new owner Oakdene Stables (the Batoff brothers) and trainer Willie Dowling, following a long career under the care of Sheila Williams, Northwoods Stable, and Hall of Fame conditioner Jack Fisher.
The My Lady’s Manor, at 3 miles, is the first of three timber races at increasing distances over three successive Saturdays. The second leg, the Grand National, will be contested on April 19, in Butler, at 3 ¼ miles. The crown jewel is the 128th running of the Maryland Hunt Cup on April 26 in Glyndon, at 4 miles.
In addition to the stakes feature at the Manor, there are a pair of $20,000 maiden events, the John Rush Streett Memorial and Thomas H. Voss Memorial; and the $15,000 John D. Schapiro Memorial allowance restricted to apprentice jockeys. All are 3 miles. Armata Stable’s local legend, Vintage Vinnie, a two-time Maryland Hunt Cup winner, will make his 16-year-old bow in the Schapiro, a race he used in 2022 as a springboard to his second Hunt Cup tally. Tuscany Racing’s Monbeg Stream, a stakes winner with a record of four wins in eight lifetime starts, also returns for his first start since the 2023 Pennsylvania Hunt Cup.
The My Lady’s Manor stakes will be race one on the program, with a post time of 1:30 p.m. Gates open at 10 a.m. Click here for the complete entries: https://nationalsteeplechase.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/My-Ladys-Manor-Overnight-2025.pdf
Also on Saturday, in Berryville, Va., the Blue Ridge Hunt Point to Point will for the second time feature NSA sanctioned races: a $15,000 maiden over timber at 3 miles; $30,000 maiden hurdle at 2 miles; $20,000 maiden starter hurdle at 2 miles for horses who have started for a claiming tag of $16,000; and a $15,000, 2-mile handicap hurdle for non-stakes winners in 2024 or 2025, restricted to apprentice riders.
The event takes place at historic Woodley Farm, a 383-acre site at 490 Woodley Lane, just south of Berryville. It was originally bought by Daniel Sowers in the 1830s from George Washington’s cousin and has been used for fox hunting since. One of the unique attributes of the property is that it allows spectators to see the entire course at one time. The sanctioned races will be run as races three through six, beginning at 2 p.m.
The point-to-point will have other entertainment, too, such as a parade of beagles and the Blue Ridge Hunt Foxhounds; a carriage parade; car show; stick horse races for children; and food trucks. Picnickers are welcome, too. Post time is 1 p.m.
Click here for entries: https://nationalsteeplechase.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Blue-Ridge-Overnight-2025-.pdf
You can watch the races via live stream from the NSA web site: www.nationalsteeplechase.com.