Foyle Upsets $50,000 International Gold Cup

FOYLE (Douglas Lees Photo)

Merriefield Farm’s Foyle defied his betting odds paying his backers $25.20 for a $2 win waqer and won the $50,000 International Gold Cup by three-quarters of a length at Great Meadow Race Course in The Plains, Va., on Saturday, Oct. 19. Kieran Norris was in the saddle for trainer Bruce Fenwick.

Straight to It, owned by Sheila Williams and Andre Brewster, finished second, and Irv Naylor’s Tax Ruling took third. Foyle, who had been beaten more than 40 lengths by Tax Ruling in Shawan Downs’ Legacy Chase on Sept. 28, bounced back with a stellar performance in the fall season’s richest timber race.

Foyle made a strong outside move in the stretch to gain his first win since his maiden victory at the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup last year. He ran the International Gold Cup’s 3 1/2 miles in 7:21.60 on turf rated as good.

COMPLETE ORDER OF FINISH: 1) Foyle (rider Kieran Norris, owner  Merriefield Farm, trainer H. Bruce Fenwick) $30,000; 2) Straight To It (Mark Beecher, Sheila J. Williams and Andre W. Brewste, Jack Fisher) $9,000; 3) Tax Ruling (James Slater, Irvin S. Naylor, William S. Meister) $5,000; 4) Worried Man (Gustav Dahl, Harold A. Via, Jr., Jack Fisher) $2,500; 5) Aero (Martin Rohan, Alfred C. Griffin, Jr., Doug Fout) $2,000