Steeplechase

It's April, which means spring has sprung and warm weather and sunny days (we hope!) are on the horizon. Savor the outdoors this weekend with one of Maryland's venerable traditions: the steeplechase. Originally run on a course oriented to church steeples (how it derived its name), the steeplechase now refers to a distance race for horses and riders, who have to navigate terrain that includes fences and ditches. Today's race is the 97th running of the My Lady's Manor, with jockeys and horses competing for a $30,000 purse.

Michael F. Wettach, a Maryland steeplechase rider who formerly owned the Admiral's Cup restaurant in Fells Point, died Sunday of heart failure at St. Joseph Medical Center. He was 66 and lived in Monkton.Mr. Wettach was the grandson of Solomon R. Guggenheim, founder of New York's Guggenheim Museum, and great-nephew of financier Benjamin Guggenheim, who perished on the Titanic. Mr. Wettach had served continuously as a Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation trustee since 1957.Mr. Wettach came from a family of equestrians.

If the weather is fine today, and even if it's not, convoys of Volvos, Land Rovers, Suburbans, Explorers, Mercedes Benz sedans and a few vintage motor cars will be hitting the road early this morning.They will be bearing Maryland Hunt Cup steeplechase fans dressed in tweeds, caps, Villager skirts and floppy-brimmed straw hats. Eventually this mass of motorized humanity will converge at the intersection of Tufton Avenue and Falls Road in the Worthington Valley and, for a while, turn it into a Baltimore version of Times Square.

Champions on IceCheer on Olympic and world champion skaters as they kick off a 45-city tour at 8 p.m. tomorrow at the Baltimore Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St. The star-studded international cast includes world champion and Olympic silver medalist Michelle Kwan (pictured, left), world champion Todd Eldredge (right), world professional champions Maya Usova and Evgeny Platov and Olympic champions Brian Boitano, Oksana Baiul, Victor Petrenko and Artur Dmitriev. Also appearing are Olympic silver medalists Elizabeth Manley and Elvis Stojko and U.S. champions Rudy Galindo and Nicole Bobek.

At 63, Irv Naylor was probably the oldest jockey on the steeplechase circuit -- eclipsing others who loved sailing over 4-foot fences on 1,000-pound horses. Previous spills didn't stop him. Neither did the distractions of his ski resorts and box company."He likes to have fun," said a friend."He's just as tough as can be," said another.But last Saturday, Naylor didn't get up after his horse hooked its legs on a fence and crashed to the ground at the Grand National Timber Stakes in Butler. A gloom settled over the crowd when paramedics applied a neck brace and a helicopter arrived to take him to the University of Maryland's Shock Trauma Center.

FAIR HILL -- Suspended a year ago for erratic jumping -- he bolted off course in his first start -- 7-year-old Melissa's Quickie improved to 2-for-2 in 1998 with a win yesterday in the $25,000 Miles Valentine Novice Stakes, the headliner on an eight-race steeplechase and flat card at the Fair Hill Races.Racing near the back of the 11-horse field for the first half of the 2 1/4 -mile, 15-jump race, Melissa's Quickie and jockey Peter Walsh burst out of a pack approaching the final turn. The son of El Raggaas challenged Ivory's Pleasure at the 12th jump, and powered to a clear lead by the stretch.

NEW KENT COUNTY, Va. -- The on-track numbers from the first week of racing at Colonial Downs are dismal."Certainly, it has been a disappointing week for attendance and handle," said John Mooney, Maryland Jockey Club's chief operations officer who is assisting Colonial management. "But the week after Labor Day is probably the most difficult for racing anywhere in the country."Through yesterday, Virginia's first thoroughbred track showed decreases of 30 percent in the handle and 50 percent in attendance from last year's inaugural meeting.

Like the first robin and fly balls at Camden Yards, steeplechasing signals the arrival of spring to the Baltimore. About 50 horses will be in Monkton today for the 63rd Elkridge-Harford Point-to-Point, the first of four April steeplechases in the area.The racing starts at 1: 30 p.m., with gates opening at noon. Admission to the race course, at the Voss family's Atlanta Hall Farm on Pocock Road west of Jarrettsville Pike, is $25 per car. The lineup features three races over timber (post-and-rail)

The 87th running of the My Lady's Manor Steeplechase Races will take place Saturday at 3: 30 p.m. Thursday's LIVE section listed the incorrect day for the event. For more information, call 410-557-9466.The Sun regrets the error.Pub Date: 4/11/97

The Maryland steeplechase season will begin in earnest tomorrow with the 87th running of the My Lady's Manor in Harford County.A two-race card featuring the $17,500 My Lady's Manor will start at 3: 30 p.m. off Pocock Road, which is off Jarrettsville Pike.With Saluter -- the sport's all-time leading money-winner with more than $236,000 -- likely to scratch, the race looks wide-open. Trainer Jack Fisher said he will only run Saluter in the event of a rash of late scratches."He has only lost over two courses, the Manor and the International Gold Cup," said Fisher.

Peter Winants Sr., a noted equine photographer, author, amateur jockey, steeplechase expert and former longtime editor of Chronicle of the Horse magazine, died Monday of cancer at Sunnyside Farm in Rectortown, Va. He was 82 and had lived in Monkton. Mr. Winants was born in Baltimore, the son of Garet Winants and Frances "Dolly" Bonsal Winants, who rode horses and fox-hunted with the Elkridge-Harford Hounds. After his father's death, his mother married S. Bryce Wing, who was well-known in Maryland thoroughbred and steeplechase circles, in 1939.

There are those who party hearty. Then, there are those who party hardy. A few thousand of the latter showed up at Shawan Downs for the Eighth Annual Legacy Chase. Never mind that they had to brave bombarding sheets of rain the entire afternoon. Or that the series of steeplechases was canceled halfway through the afternoon because of that rain. The party continued under various tents set up on a hill overlooking the steeplechase course, even as the ground in those tents went from mushy grass to wading pool.

The Maryland steeplechasing season begins in earnest today with the 98th running of the My Lady's Manor timber race in Monkton, an event that draws the largest single-day crowd of any sporting endeavor in Harford County. "On a good day, we estimate 10,000 people will attend," said race committee chairman Turney McKnight. "Of course, it's best for the horses if it's cool and cloudy but not for the gate." Seven are scheduled to jump in the feature, which carries an upgraded purse of $30,000 for the second straight year.

It's April, which means spring has sprung and warm weather and sunny days (we hope!) are on the horizon. Savor the outdoors this weekend with one of Maryland's venerable traditions: the steeplechase. Originally run on a course oriented to church steeples (how it derived its name), the steeplechase now refers to a distance race for horses and riders, who have to navigate terrain that includes fences and ditches. Today's race is the 97th running of the My Lady's Manor, with jockeys and horses competing for a $30,000 purse.

Walk with a purpose The lowdown -- About 5,000 Marylanders and 400,000 people nationwide suffer from multiple sclerosis, and 200 more Americans are diagnosed weekly, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The MS Walk raises money to help people living with multiple sclerosis and fund research. Twelve MS Walks will happen across Maryland beginning this Saturday and running through April 22. If you go -- Walks held Saturday will be in Columbia, Easton and Waldorf. Sunday walks will be in Cumberland, Towson and Westminster.

Maryland's spring steeplechasing season concludes today when Fair Hill conducts its 38th annual program with an eight-race card starting at 1 p.m. The only jump-racing event in the state with legal pari-mutuel wagering, it annually accentuates family fun, picnicking and a day in the country on Memorial Day weekend to benefit Union Hospital in Elkton. A compact field of five will race in the feature, the $30,000 Valentine Memorial, which is part of a relatively new National Steeplechase Association series that is restricted to fillies and mares.

The last jumping season was a discouraging one for Jack Fisher, who unsuccessfully strove to defend the National Steeplechase Association trainers' title he had captured in 2004. He never gathered any real momentum and labored home fifth in the standings. As the Monkton resident put it: "I didn't have a brilliant year." But spring brings a fresh outlook and Fisher will half-empty his stable today when he dispatches 11 horses to three meetings, including the My Lady's Manor, which will stage its 96th renewal in Fisher's homestanding area.

The Maryland Hunt Cup is always the centerpiece of the local steeplechase season, and the 2005 edition promises to be even more festive this weekend. A gala weekend is planned, starting at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow at Shawan Downs with a program called "Americans at Aintree" that will showcase, respectively, the 40th and 25th anniversaries of victories by American horses Jay Trump and Ben Nevis in the English Grand National, the world's most famous steeplechase. The event will benefit the land preservation trust of Shawan Downs, the picturesque 300-acre equestrian event center in Hunt Valley.

The Maryland and national timber racing seasons will be launched in earnest today when the 95th annual My Lady's Manor program is conducted in Monkton. A three-race card starting with the $25,000 feature will begin at 1:30 p.m., with eight contenders scheduled to go in the three-mile My Lady's Manor event over timber fences. Nearly 10,000 fans are expected for Harford County's most-attended sporting event in what promises to be ideal spring weather. Until last year -- when Irv Naylor's New Zealand-bred, Askim, prevailed -- trainer Tom Voss had dominated at My Lady's Manor in the 2000s, winning three straight with Ironfist and scoring again two years ago with Sam Sullivan.

FAR HILLS, N.J. - Defending champion McDynamo became just the second horse in history to win back-to-back runnings of the Breeders' Cup Steeplechase when he defeated six rivals in the $175,000 Grade I stakes yesterday. Ridden by Craig Thornton and trained by Sanna Hendriks, the winner took over the lead on the final run down the backstretch and repulsed challenges by Hirapour and Sur La Tete to win by 1 1/2 lengths. McDynamo covered the 2 5/8 miles and 14 fences in 5:06 4/5, earning $96,250 in the richest jump race in the United States.