At the conclusion of 3 1/2 miles over timber fences, Jacqueline Ohrstrom’s Professor Maxwell stood at the head of the class in the $25,000 Genesee Valley Hunt Cup, featured race of the 83rd annual Genesee Valley Hunt Races in Geneseo, N.Y., on Saturday, Oct. 8.
Armata Stable’s Haddix finished second, 1 1/4 lengths behind the winner, and Arcadia Stable’s Delta Park, took third. Sportsmans Hall’s Private Attack, winner of the 2011 Maryland Hunt Cup, finished fourth.
Trained by Richard Valentine and ridden by Darren Nagle, Professor Maxwell ran the Genesee Valley Hunt Cup’s distance in 7:43 on turf rated as good. A 12-year-old Buckhar gelding, scored his first victory in 23 months, since winning an allowance race at the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup.
In his previous starts this year, Professor Maxwell had fallen in the Benjamin H. Murray Memorial at the Grand National in Maryland on April 23 and had been pulled up in the Mason Houghland Memorial at the Iroquois Races in Nashville on May 14.
Timber racing also was on the program at the 32nd annual Morven Park Steeplechase in Leesburg, Va., and Gregory S. Bentley’s Rainbows for Luck shone brightest with a three-quarter-length victory over Irvin S. Naylor’s Fieldview in a $10,000 optional allowance. Vicky Bower’s Wazee Moto took third, and Anthony Malatino’s Belarion took fourth. Trained by Edward Graham, Rainbows for Luck ran the 3 1/4-mile distance in 6:55.60 o turf rated as good. Jody Petty was aboard the winner.
Leading jockey Paddy Young guided Mimi Voss’ Farndale to a 6 1/4-length score in a $10,000 claiming hurdle over National Fences. Debra Kachel’s Dance Faster finished second, and owner-trainer Lilli M. Kurtinecz’s Call Me Sonny was third. Trained by Tom Voss, Farndale ran the 2 1/4 mile-distance in 4:16.60.