Post-Race Analysis:
April 28, 2001 - Glyndon, Maryland: Solo Lord shocked his competition
by opening up a huge lead right from the start of the $65,000 Maryland
Hunt Cup; owner/rider Michael Hoffman never looked back as he and
Solo Lord each notched the first victories of their careers when
they galloped home five-length victors over heavily-favored Welter
Weight. Augustin Stables' Floating Interest finished third under
jockey Joe Gillet.
Solo Lord's time of 8:38.3 over the 4-mile course that included
22 fences was the fifth fastest of the 107 runnings of the world's
oldest and richest timber race. Buck Jakes and jockey Anne Moran
set the course record of 8:30.3 in 1995.
"I had to make them come to me," said Hoffman, who had finished
fourth and sixth in his two previous two Maryland Hunt Cup rides
on Solo Lord. "I've been around this course twice. I knew I had
a good jumper underneath me and I knew our partnership, but I had
to put the pressure on if I was going to beat Welter Weight."
Armata Stable's Welter Weight finished second in the Maryland Hunt
Cup for the fourth time in the last five years. "I thought I was
going to catch him," said Welter Weight's jockey Paddy Smithwick,
after the race. "It was a big surprise when Solo Lord went out in
front like that because I thought I would be there. Welter Weight
was making up ground, but when we crossed the road he just didn't
have any gas left." Smithwick is the son of former Champion steeplechase
jockey A.P. (Paddy) Smithwick.
"I looked over my shoulder going to 19 and saw those red colors,"
said Hoffman, referring to Welter Weeight's racing silks. "We turned
the corner and I just let him roll down the hill. As soon as we
landed over the 20th fencre, we just flew across Tufton Avenue.
The horse has such amazing conformation that he just eats up the
ground; it doesn't feel like he's going fast." said Hoffman, who
was drenched with water after the race by his fellow riders, a traditional
ceremony that must be endured by all jockey's that win their first
career race.
Trained by F. Bruce Miller, Solo Lord entered the race as a maiden,
having failed to win in nine previous NSA timber races before this
year's Maryland Hunt Cup. His best race had come in 1998 when he
finished second over the Grand National timber course in the Benjamin
H. Murray Memorial; he had also notched two third-place finishes,
had fallen twice and finished off the board four times.
Last year Solo Lord ran on or near the lead for the first 3 miles
of the Maryland Hunt Cup before fading to finish fourth. This year
he kept on galloping and bankrolled $39,000 as a result of his efforts,
almost four-times more than the $11,550 that he had earned up until
that point in his career. At 9-years-old, the son of Assault Landing
(a grandson of Buckpasser) was the youngest of this year's Maryland
Hunt Cup entrants.
The ultra-consistent Welter Weight has now finished first or second
in each of the last five runnings of the Maryland Hunt Cup: he won
the race in 1999 and finished second last year (to Swayo), in 1998
(to Florida Law) and 1997 (to Buck Jakes). The 13-year-old son of
Fit to Fight (by Chiefton) is Trained by Tom Voss.
Augustin Stables Southwoods pulled-up after the eighteenth fence.
Click here for Daily Racing Form past
performance charts for the Maryland Hunt Cup (all horses except
Southwoods). Click here for Southwoods past
performance chart (Adobe Acrobat Reader required).
Past performance charts are provided by the Daily
Racing Form.
The complete results of the Maryland Hunt Cup are set forth below.
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|
Solo Lord (farthest from the camera) at the 13th fence
of last year's Maryland Hunt Cup. Solo Lord won the
2001 Maryland Hunt Cup as a maiden.
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Results:
|
FP
|
Horse
|
lbs
|
Jockey
|
Trainer
|
Owner
|
|
1
|
Solo Lord |
165 |
M. Hoffman |
F.B. Miller |
Michael E. Hoffman |
|
2
|
Welter Weight |
165 |
A. Smithwick, Jr. |
T. Voss |
Armata Stable |
|
3
|
Floating Interest |
165 |
J. Gillet |
S. Neilson |
Augustin Stables |
|
PU
|
Southwoods |
165 |
C. Fenwick III |
F.B. Miller |
Augustin Stables |
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Pedigree of Winner
SOLO LORD G, 1992 DP = 0-2-6-0-0
(8) DI = 1.67 CD = 0.25
|
Pedigrees compliments of Del
Mar Pedigree Query
Post-Race Analysis | Results
| Pedigree of Winner
