May 2022 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN May 2022 Page 11 By Tod Marks, National Steeplechase Foundation The National Steeplechase Association Spring season got underway the weekend of March 26-27 with a combined eight- race doubleheader at Aiken and Cheshire, with many familiar names from the 2021 leaderboard signaling their readiness for even bigger things ahead in 2022. At Cheshire, a trio of three- mile, $10,000 timber races show- casing amateur and apprentice riders highlighted a full day of action and family fun in Pennsyl- vania on Sunday, March 27. In the featured Louis A. Paddy Neilson III Memorial, an allowance event, Boudinot Farms’ Elusive Exclusive gave Leslie Young her third triumph of the weekend. With Virginia Korrell in the irons, the nine- year-old veteran won for the second time in three starts since coming over from Ireland last season, where he raced 26 times without a victory. For most of the race, Elusive Exclusive tracked pacesetter Renegade River. He took a narrow lead two fences from home, and got up in the final strides to edge Holwood Stable’s Road to Oz by a length. It was a solid performance by the runnerup, who closed out 2021 with an allowance win at the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup Races. Nancy Reed’s Awesome Adrian, who finished second in a division of the 2021 Neilson, was the winner of the Cheshire Bowl open timber contest for jockey Parker Hendriks and trainer Kathy Neilson. The nine-year- old Maryland-bred, a veteran of 36 trips to the post, settled at the rear of the field of four, then unleashed a strong rally to assume the lead just before the final fence. Hendriks persevered through the stretch to hold off Ballybristol Farm’s Mercoeur, who courageously continued to give chase despite setting the pace from the start. Star-timber-Jockey-turned- trainer Mark Beecher took the Buttonwood Farm maiden with South Branch Equine’s Master Seville. The lightly raced six- year-old Pennsylvania-bred, who prior to Sunday’s race had made only four career starts – three of which were DNFs – settled in mid-pack, rallied and led over the final two fences, and held gamely under jockey Brett Ow- ings, who was riding the horse for the first time. Black and Blue Stable’s Fletched, under Eliza- beth Scully, raced close to the lead throughout, and stayed on strongly to hold second, beaten by a length. Winless in Ireland, Elusive Exclusive Wins at Cheshire Remember...tell our advertisers you found them in East Coast Equestrian! www. EquineColicReliefUSA.com • Email: zebecash2@hotmail.com