Just Wait And See and Mark Beecher won the Willowdale Steeplechase after leading most of the race. Credit Marcella Peyre-Ferry
Mother’s Day, May 12. was a big day for Mark Beecher, who piloted Just Wait And See to a win in the $35,000 Willowdale Steeplechase Stake. The amateur timber race over a 3 ½ mile course included two water jumps as well as a wet course in wind-driven rain.
Beecher took Just Wait And See out to the front from the start, setting the pace with occasional challenges by Hadden Frost on Lemony Bay. Lemony Bay closed tighter to Just Wait and See as they came to the final fence, but Beecher found speed in the long stretch to pull away to win by six lengths in a running time of 8:13:4/5.
Just Wait And See is owned by Kinross Farm and trained by Richard Valentine. “He’s a horse Richard’s asked me to ride before, but I never had a chance to ride him,” Beecher explained how he got the ride on Just Wait And See.
“He was third in the steeplethon at the Gold Cup and I was walking out after riding in the Gold Cup and I bumped into Richard. I just said, ‘if that horse comes out of the race in good form you should run him back at Willowdale’,” he said. “Me and Richard don’t hook up that often, when we do its normally for a good horse.
Beecher saw the Willowdale Stake as adding up well for Just Wait And See. “He’s a good jumper and he’ll gallop. I just liked the conditions for him. He was getting 10 lbs. from other horses. I didn’t forecast this much rain, I think that helped there today, the weight allowance and he’s a great jumper,” he said, noting that the track was soft but not heavy. “It takes a bit of getting around. He’s an Irish-bred. I expect he’s run in soft conditions, so that was also another thing. He made all the running today.”
Beecher also had a win as trainer of Artic North, the top finisher in The Folly, a $15,000 Maiden Claiming hurdle race. Artic North, ridden by Sean McDermott, is owned by David Belt, Jr., and is Belt’s first winner under rules.
“He’s a nice horse. I think he won nearly $300,000 on the flat. Davie Belt, the owner, picked him up there and I just had him probably about two months. He was third in a maiden hurdle point to point, then we decided to come here,” Beecher said. “Aaron Davis, he did a lot of the schooling and rode him in the point to point but he has enough rides under rules he couldn’t ride him over hurdles, so he deserves a lot of credit.”
The Chester County, PA Willowdale course, located near Kennett Square, PA is usually a crowded venue which families have made a Mother’s Day Holiday tradition, but the rain that began Saturday evening poured solidly through race day, keeping the spectators down to a fraction of their usual number. In spite of conditions, pony races and Jack Russell terrier races preceded the NSA card. The six sanctioned races for the day included two additional hurdle races at a two-mile distance over national fences.
The Liam Magee SOTA Apprentice Rider race drew a field of seven that was topped by Indigo Heart, owned by Morning Star Farm, trained by Ricky Hendriks and ridden by Paul O’Neil.
Rose Tree Cup
The Rose Tree Cup, a conditioned claiming hurdle race with a $20,000 purse went to Lead Investor, owned by Taking The Lead Racing, trained by Jonathan Sheppard and ridden by Thomas Garner.
Heather Gregorek, the owner behind Taking The Lead Racing, has had Lead Investor for about two years. The horse ran at Charleston last fall, and hunted over the winter, then won the Maiden Claiming Hurdle at Foxfield in April, ridden that day by Aaron Sinnott. Unfortunately, Sinnott suffered a fall at Iroquois the day before and was unavailable for Willowdale, so Garner got the ride.
“I always tell people that he (Lead Investor) doesn’t like me. We get along well enough, but for some reason he seems to get along better with Irish men,” Gregorek said in the winner’s circle. “You can’t knock this little horse.”
Willowdale’s timber course, at a three-mile distance with its two water jumps and brush fences as well as rails, was used for the $15,000 Landhope Cup Maiden Timber. Leading the race from the start to the finish line was Awesome Adrian, owned by Nancy Reed, trained by Katherine Neilson and ridden by Eddie Keating.
Awesome Adrian had the lead from start to finish, with a lead of several lengths at some points. Winner of the Amateur Apprentice Rider Timber race at Mr. Stewart’s Cheshire Foxhounds Point to Point Races this spring, he placed third in the Amateur Maiden Timber at My Lady’s Manor. Neilson speculated that he may race at Fair Hill, and possibly the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup.
The final race of the day was the Marshall W. Jenney Memorial Foxhunter’s Chase over the same three-mile timber course. The winner was Katnap, owned by Kiplin Hall, trained by William Dowling and ridden by Paul Cawley.