A well-balanced field of fillies and mares, including three newcomers to steeplechase racing, will go to the start for a $15,000 maiden hurdle, co-feature of the 35th annual Foxfield Fall Races in Charlottesville, Va., on Sunday, Sept. 30. The Foxfield program will also feature an equally well-matched field for a $15,000 maiden hurdle. First post time for the five-race program is 1:30 p.m.
Lonesome, owned by Virginia farm owner and breeder William M. Backer, enters the Foxfield race from a sixth-place finish in the $75,000 Mrs. Ogden Phipps Filly and Mare Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 16. Trained by Racing Hall of Fame member Jonathan Sheppard, the Marquetry mare previously had run fifth in a Saratoga Open House maiden race for fillies and mares on July 15. Darren Nagle has the mount.
Blythe Miller Davies will saddle husband Joe Davies’ Eat Cake, a cleverly named Louis Quatorze mare who finished fifth in the $40,000 Valentine Memorial Stakes for fillies and mares at the Fair Hill Races in Maryland on May 26. She subsequently finished fifth in a Colonial Downs maiden hurdle. Jacob Roberts will ride.
The second- and third-place finishers from a key maiden claiming race at the Radnor Hunt Races in May also will be seeking their first victories at Foxfield. Maya Charli won the race at Malvern, Pa., and went on to win the Valentine Memorial. Finishing second to her was owner-trainer Michael Leaf’s Fiesty Lady, who was subsequently pulled up in a Colonial Downs maiden race. Roddy Mackenzie has the mount.
Dance Raven Dance, owned and trained by Karen Gray, will seek to dance into the Foxfield winner’s enclosure after her third-place finish at Radnor. The four-year-old Dance With Ravens filly will be ridden by Gus Dahl.
Riverdee Stable’s Lillehammer will be seeking to improve from a fourth-place finish in the Saratoga Open House race for fillies and mares. The four-year-old North Light filly set the pace but faded on the final turn. Trainer Kate Dalton named husband Bernie Dalton to ride.
Another husband-and-wife combination in the Foxfield race is trainer Lilith Boucher and jockey Richard Boucher, who will team up with Mede Cahaba Stable’s Class Launch. Making her first 2012 start, the Mede Cahaba-bred Waquoit mare finished fifth in an Iroquois Steeplechase maiden hurdle at Nashville in May 2011.
Lilith Boucher also will saddle Teddy Alexander’s Kisser N Run, a first-time starter over fences who will be ridden by Paddy Young. Other newcomers to jump racing are Randleston Farm’s Nutty Wizard and Emma Prosser’s One Day Came.
