Maryland Hunt Cup

The Maryland Hunt Cup is a Timber race, which is an American Steeplechase. It was first run on May 26 1894 and won by Johnny Miller. Eight horses have won the race three times but no horse has won it four times. It is considered one of the most difficult steeplechase races in the world.Fred Winter, a famous English horse trainer who attended Jay Trump's 1966 race, was asked about bringing a horse over for the Maryland Hunt Cup, he responded "Why I wouldn't dare!" Two undefeated winners, Jay Trump (1963, 1964 and 1966) and Ben Nevis II (1977, 1978), went on to win the Grand National in England. Both horses are in the Hall of Fame.

The Maryland Hunt Cup is four miles long with 22 timber fences. Its permanent home is in Worthington Valley, Maryland. The 2013 edition of the race was the 117th running of the Maryland Hunt Cup. The race has been run each year since 1894, except for three years during the Second World War, 1943 – 1945.

The 120th running of the race took place on Saturday, April 30, 2016. It's now always run on the last Saturday in April.

The Maryland Hunt Cup was established in 1894 as a contest between two hunts, The Elkridge Fox Hunting Club and the Green Spring Fox Hunting Club, to determine the relative merits of the local hunting horses. In the first running of the race, the riders and owners had to come from either of the two hunt clubs. A year later the race was opened up to horses owned and ridden by members of any recognized Hunt Club in Maryland. In 1903 this was further expanded to horses owned and ridden by members of any Hunt Club in North America. Nowadays, there are no restrictions on where the horse and rider come from. Throughout its history, the Maryland Hunt Cup has been limited to amateur jockeys.

In the late 1970s, women were allowed to ride in the race for the first time. The first female amateur jockey to win the race was Joy Slater on Cancottage in 1981. To prove this was no fluke, Slater and Cancottage repeated in 1982. Since then, other female riders to win this race included Blythe Miller and Anne Moran.

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Wikipedia