Wow. What a day. Riverdee doubled at the Virginia Fall Races Saturday. Our local meet. On a calm, clear day, you can hear the announcer from our farm. Not that I’ve ever been on our farm on race day at Glenwood Park but you get the point.
There is nothing like winning at Middleburg Spring or Virginia Fall Races. The natural amphitheatre, watching from the rocks, In front of your friends, with your family, on a course which has provided some of my greatest thrills. Red Raven. Student Dancer. To Ridley. Gold Quoit. Avanico. And now, Ethics and Potus.
Ethics pulled hard, opened up and held on in the Will O’Keefe Memorial, improving his hurdle record to 2-for-2 for jockey Freddie Procter and trainer Jack Fisher. A promising horse with a big engine. Only thing missing was O’Keefe’s call of the 2 1/8-mile stakes. We are honored to win it.
“He was brilliant, jumped fantastically,” Procter said. “He was pretty free, could have done with some cover but considering that was just his second start, he was pretty straight, he wasn’t overly green at all. He quickened up when the other horse came to me. Nice horse.”
A race later, Potus powered through 3 miles of the James P. McCormick Memorial. Graham Watters placed the son of Lemon Drop Kid in a forward position, jumped like a John Elway spiral and scored by 4 1/4 lengths.
“Potus was great,” Watters said. “I jumped out and rode him forward like an old 3-mile chaser from the U.K. Jumped like a buck, hit maybe the third-to-last, winged two out and he was just game. Such a cool horse.”
Riverdee added $42,000 to climb to $417,950 for the year, $66,350 ahead of Bruton Street at the top of the owner’s standings. Plenty of big hands still to play and it’s far from over. Deep breath. Move on. Go again.
Ethics chills after winning the Will O’Keefe Memorial at the Virginia Fall Races.
