There is nothing like a local win.
King Tsunami won the second division of the Daniel C. Sands Cup at Virginia Fall Saturday. I count 28, including King Tsunami, in the winner’s circle. There’s a baseball coach, a 90-year-old lifelong horsewoman from Maryland, a mother and a daughter, a mother-in-law, a sister-in-law, an Italian exchange student, two Italian schoolteachers, local friends, local partners, a trainer’s son and the gamut of Riverdee revelers.
What a moment. What a day.
Todd and Blair Wyatt have been patient with King Tsunami going all the way back to a maiden at Queen’s Cup in 2023. We thought about that, changed our minds and stuck to a flat plan. He won once on the turf last year. We tried hurdles this spring without a lot of things clicking. We thought about jumping at Colonial and decided to wait. He won again on the flat this summer and we pointed for this race at Virginia Fall. When the race split Monday afternoon, we secured Stephen Mulqueen. He did the rest, placing the son of Into Mischief in a sweet spot in third, using his jumping and rolling to a 4 3/4-length score.
“He winged two out, landed and picked up. Picked up very quick,” Mulqueen said. “I didn’t really want to be in front but he was running around and having a look. There is probably a lot of improvement there. Lovely horse. I just let him wing, wing, wing but he’s good as well, if he has to pop, he’ll pop. He’s pretty clever.”
Riverdee went 4-for-4 in the check-earning category Saturday. Queens Empire finished third in the Genesee Valley Hunt Cup, Potus finished third in the James P. McCormick at Virginia Fall and Mission Brief finished fourth in the Magelen Ohrstrom Bryant at Virginia Fall.
