ELEVEN TO TRY FOR 85th VIRGINIA GOLD CUP

An accomplished field of 11 timber specialists will line up Saturday for the $75,000 Virginia Gold Cup. Among the horses entered for the four-mile race over timber are defending timber champion Patriot’s Path, 2009 International Gold Cup victor Seeyouattheevent (above), last year’s Pennsylvania Hunt Cup winner, Erin Go Bragh and 2008 Gold Cup winner Bubble Economy.

Trained by Jack Fisher of Saluter fame, Arthur W. “Nick” Arundel’s Seeyouattheevent comes into the Virginia Gold Cup from a two-length victory over Rainbows for Luck in the $20,000 Middleburg Hunt Cup in Middleburg, Va., on April 17. Erin Go Bragh finished third in that race.

In his final start of 2009, Seeyouattheevent had won the International Gold Cup by 3 1/2 lengths over the Great Meadow course. Willie Dowling, who rode the nine-year-old Event of the Year gelding in the Middleburg Hunt Cup, again will be aboard for the Virginia Gold Cup.

Gregory S. Bentley’s Rainbows for Luck also returns in the Virginia Gold Cup, in which all starters carry 165 pounds.

Fisher (pictured), the reigning National Steeplechase Association champion trainer, also will send out Arcadia Stable’s Bubble Economy (below right), winner of the Virginia Gold Cup and International Gold Cup in 2008 and second in those races last year. Ridden by champion jockey Paddy Young, the 11-year-old Rakeen gelding rallied powerfully to finish second by a head in the $30,000 My Lady’s Manor on April 10.

Irvin Naylor’s Patriot’s Path (above left) comes into the Virginia Gold Cup from a fifth-place tune-up in the Grand National at Butler, Md., on April 17. Winner of last year’s Mason Houghland Memorial at the Iroquois Steeplechase, the ten-year-old Carnivalay gelding is trained by Desmond Fogarty, and Darren Nagle has the mount.

Also entering the Virginia Gold Cup is H. Bruce Fenwick’s Bon Caddo, Magalen O. Bryant’s Erin Go Bragh (NZ), EMO Stables’ He’s a Conniver, Conrad Somers’ J. Alfred Proofrock, Diane Gilliam’s Artist’s Stroke, Gregory Bentley’s Rainbows For Luck, Joseph Davies’ Fort Henry (IRE) and Keystone Thoroughbreds’ Meet at Eleven (IRE).

(NZ) = New Zealand – country of origination.
(IRE) = Ireland – country of origination.

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