UNIONVILLE, Pa.--Mark Beecher saddled Master Seville to win the $35,000, 4 mile Pennsylvania Hunt Cup on Sunday, Nov. 2.

Master Seville, number 4 on the right. early in the Hunt Cup (Photo by Tod Marks)Master Seville, owned by South Branch Equine and ridden by Graham Watters, won the Hunt Cup by 4 3/4 lengths in 8:35 3/5 over Uco Valley (Ire), trained by Leslie Young, and Goodoldtimes (Ire), also trained by Beecher.

Also, at a previous race meet, Duncan Patterson, a steward at the Hunt Cup in an interview explained the rulings in a controversial timber race at the International Gold Cup.

"Master Seville has been with me a long time," said Beecher. "I got hm as a 4-year-old and he's 9 now. He's won five or six sanctioned races and a number of point-to-point races."

Beecher said he didn't give Watters any instructions.

"Graham is a very good rider," he said." I thought he gave him a very good ride, The horse jumped beautifully."   

"He's been a rock solid horse for us," said Beecher. "This is his first stakes win. He's a lovely horse. He foxhunts, and anyone can ride him,"

 

"HE'LL HAVE a break now and then probably hunt this winter," Beecher said. "The nice thing is that Mrs. Kinsley bred him. There aren't too many that breed steeplechasers in this country."

Master Seville is by Seville, (Ger) and the descendants of  German stallions seem to do very well in steeplechase races.

"We had a good weekend," said  Becher, who also had two winners Saturday at Montpelier, where he was leading trainer.

Riverdee Stable's Potus, trained by Jack Fisher and ridden by Watters, won the $20,000, 3 mile Allowance Timber by 1 length in 8:22 3/5 over Hard Game, trained by Kathy Neilson, and Eternal Story (Fr), trained by Beecher.

"Potus has gotten really good," said Sean Clancy, manager of the Riverdee syndicate. "He was ad ecent hurdle horse. He's one of those timber horses that we gave some time. We'll put him away for the winter."

Neilson saddled Irv Naylor's Recoup (GB), ridden by Freddie Procter, to win the $15,000 Maiden Timber by 3 1/4 lengths in 6:28 over Vadavvero (Ire), trained by Young, and The Red Fox, trained b y Todd McKenna.

Ricky Hendriks saddled Erdenheim Farm Thoroughbreds' Grahamzilla, ridden by Elizabeth Scully, to win the Training Flat by 1 1/4 lengths over Wondeful Lady (Fr), trained by Tom Garner, and Rhebus Road (Ire), also trained by Garner.

At the International Gold Cup, Keys Discount won the timber stakes, a race in which all the horses went in different directions about four or five fences into the race, circling right and left and around again before picking up the race again.

With so many circles, many wondered why the entire field hadn't been disqualified.

"It was a para-mutual race run under Virginia rules," said Patterson, who is one of the NSA stewards who later ruled on the race and fined all the jockeys for going off course.

"If it had been run under National Steeplechase rules, all of the horses would have been disqualified for circling and crossing their tracks,"said Patterson. "But under Virginia rules, if the horses pick up the race at the point they went of course and then jump the correct fence, they are okay."

"The course map was very clear, so the jockeys were fined," he said. "The jockeys have a responsibility  to the trainers and owners to jump the correct fence."

Patterson said that the turn where everyone had gone off course had been changed because horses had slipped there in the spring races and that the race committee might do something to make it clear which fence to jump.