(NationalSteeplechase.com)
Merriefield Farm’s Foyle, the reigning timber champion, will
make his 2014 debut against a crowded field of competitors in Maryland’s
historic Grand National, the second jewel of the Free State’s timber triple
crown, on Saturday, April 19. The $30,000 Grand National kicks off a three-race
program at 3:15 p.m. at the Butler course.
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| FOYLE (L) (Douglas Lees Photo) |
Trained by Bruce Fenwick, Foyle took the 2013 timber title
with a late-season surge that included victories in the International Gold Cup
and Pennsylvania Hunt Cup. In the spring, he was placed first in the Grand
National’s Benjamin H. Murray Memorial timber allowance after the first two
finishers went off-course. James Slater again will ride the nine-year-old
gelding.
The Grand National also attracted several of the timber
competitors who finished behind Foyle in the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup. Arcadia
Stable’s Delta Park battled Foyle through the stretch and finished second by a
half-length. Trainer Jack Fisher named Conner Hankin to ride.
Finishing third, another 1 1/4 length back, was Holston
Hall’s Hot Rize, who will be ridden by trainer Russell Haynes in the 3 1/4-mile
Grand National. Also in the Grand National field is Rosbrian Farm’s More
Fascination, who finished a distant fourth in the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup on Nov.
3. Mark Beecher has a return call on More Fascination for trainer Tara Elmore.
Lucy Goelet’s Twill Do, a two-time Maryland Hunt Cup winner,
will be looking for his first success in the Grand National. He finished fourth
in the 2012 Grand National before winning his second Hunt Cup. Last year, Twill
Do finished seventh in the Grand National before a fourth in the Hunt Cup.
He is trained by Billy Meister, who also trains And the
Eagle Flys, the 2012 Grand National winner who was entered for a shot at a second
victory. And the Eagle Flys was pulled up in last year’s Grand National.
Meister will ride And the Eagle Flys, and James Stierhoff will be aboard Twill
Do. Meister also entered Irv Naylor’s Gorgeous Charger, who will be ridden by
K. Fritz Boniface.
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