Elkridge-Harford finished first & second in Foxhall Team Chase

Details: March 23, 2022; By SARA CAVANAGH

MONKTON, Md.-Teams from Elkridge-Harford Hunt placed both first and second in the Foxhall Farm Cup Team Chase on March 20, beating a field of 17 from four different hunts.

th 1 Ashton Williams on Pocket Talk (Ire), Therese Dimpfel on Blackhall (Ire), and Teddy Davies on Our Friend (Ire) finished the four mile flagged course in 8 minutes 49 seconds to win by 23 seconds.

"Ashton is my longtime assistant who gallops horses for me," said Joe Davies, Teddy's father and co-Master of Elkridge-Harford. "Aston was riding Pocket Talk who is a Maryland Hunt Cup hopeful."

"Theresa is an avid fox hunter who works for a neighbor," said Davies. "She used to work for Jonathan Sheppard. Blackhall is also nominated for the Maryland Hunt Cup. Teddy was on Our Friend, a young horse who is also a long time Hunt cup hopeful, as are all of mine. I take the field on Our Friend."

"They were just having a good gallop," Davies said. "They were told to walk through the water. All those horses hunt regularly."

IN PAST YEARS, the hunt that won the Cup was required to host the meet the following year, but that was changed a couple of years ago.

Davies said that it had gotten to the point that, if one hunt won it a few times, it might begin to hope it didn't win it again so it wouldn't have to host it the following year.

To make planning easier, it was decided the Cup would be held two years at Elkridge-Harford, two years at Green Spring Valley Hounds and then two years at Cheshire Foxhounds.

The Elkridge-Harford team of Erika Taylor on Mr. Fine Threads, Willie White on Night Sounds and Colin Smith on Dream Verse (Ire) finished second in 9 minutes 12 seconds, and the team from Green Spring Valley, consisting of Paige Reynolds on Sideling Hill, William Dowling on Renegade River and Justin Batoff on Lucky Soul finished third in 9 minutes, 31 seconds.

Both Sideling Hill and Renegade River also also nominated for the Maryland Hunt Cup.

There were eight teams from Green Spring Valley, five teams from Elkridge-Harford, three teams from Cheshire and one from Piedmont Fox Hounds competing.