Twelve Nominated To International Gold Cup

Twelve well-matched timber horses have been nominated to the 75th anniversary running of the $50,000 International Gold Cup, the feature.

AERO (left) (Douglas Lees Photo)

Middleburg-based trainer Doug Fout nominated Warrenton resident Alfred C. Griffin Jr.’s Aero, seeking to improve on a second-place finish in the 2011 International Gold Cup, a 3-1/2-mile race over timber fences.

Aero on Oct. 6 finished fourth in the $35,000 National Sporting Library Chronicle Cup at the Virginia Fall Races. In his previous start on the Great Meadow course, Aero finished fifth in the Virginia Gold Cup on May 5.

Coming off a second-place finish in the Chronicle Cup will be Michael T. Wharton’s Grinding Speed. He also finished second in the $15,000 Legacy Chase at Maryland’s Shawan Downs on Sept. 29. Alicia Murphy trains the 6-year-old Grindstone gelding.

The Chronicle Cup’s third-place finisher, Joseph W. Henderson’s Triple Dip, also was nominated. Trained in Virginia by Jimmy Day, Triple Dip pulled a major upset when he won the 2011 Mason Houghland Memorial in his first career start over timber fences. Owner-trainer Karen Gray nominated Hot Rize, who finished sixth in the Chronicle Cup.