Making ‘Magic’ at Oatlands

Gelding favors four miles in Loudoun’s Eustis feature

By Betsy Burke Parker
LEESBURG – Cooking up the recipe for a successful steeplechase trainer takes a long list of ingredients – equal parts horse whisperer and quarterback (from the saddle or sidelines) mixed well with a healthy measure of physiotherapist and liberal sprinkle of equipment expert. Add a dusting of veterinary science. Van driving to taste. 
But Maryland-based Cyril Murphy knows the most important ingredient of all has no measure. It’s a “feel thing,” he said.
Patience.
Sunday, he customized the recipe with a dusting of Magic and came up a winner.
At the 44th annual Loudoun Hunt Point-to-Point, Murphy saddled Inca Magic to win the featured Eustis Cup. According to his trainer equal parts talented and frustrating, Inca Magic finally put his jumping and speed together to win his first race over four seasons and 13 tries.
“He’s a really talented horse,” Murphy said of the handsome bay gelding. “But he’s just got that quirk – his dam had it, too. He can jump the moon, and no distance is too long for him.” Murphy said the big horse has been slow to mature, and he’s had to “wait and wait” for just the right race, just the right time to run him.
It paid off.
Murphy, based at owner Redmond Finney’s Landslide Farm in Maryland’s hunt valley, thought the four-mile Eustis Cup would suit Inca Magic. He knew already the rolling, winding Oatlands course favored his fluid galloping stride – Inca Magic was fourth here last spring in a competitive novice timber.
“The bigger fences make him jump even better,” Murphy said Inca Magic’s winning performance. “I think he might be, ‘might be,’ mind you, a big-fence horse.” Murphy referred to Maryland’s storied “Big Timber” – My Lady’s Manor, Grand National and Maryland Hunt Cup, run over consecutive weekends each April. The jumps range from big – four feet at the first two, to bigger – five feet at the Hunt Cup. “It takes a certain sort of horse,” Murphy said. “I think this horse’ll gallop all day.” That’s the reason he figured, at four miles, the Eustis might suit Inca Magic. The Hunt Cup is one of just three timber races sanctioned by the National Steeplechase Association each year; the Eustis is the only point-to-point practice over the distance. Murphy said he doubts that Inca Magic has quite the speed to be competitive in the Virginia Gold Cup, one of other four-mile ‘chases (the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup is the other.) “We’ll see, though. Mr. Finney loves this horse, and he’ll be well pleased when I tell him about this. He’ll be sorry he wasn’t here.”
Redmond Finney, 80, hails from a long line of steeplechase standouts. Maternal grandfather Redmond C. Stewart was a founder of the Green Spring Hounds and a pillar of the steeplechase circuit during the 1890s and early 1900s. Finney lettered in three sports at toney Gilman School – class of ‘47 wrestling, lacrosse and football, and was captain of the Princeton wrestling team. He long served as Gilman’s headmaster. He’s won most of America’s big timber prizes, including the 1993 Hunt Cup with standout Ivory Poacher.
Not this year, trainer Murphy said, but Inca Magic could still be a future Hunt Cup horse. “I have to stay patient,” he said.
Jockey Jeff Murphy (like the trainer a native of Ireland, but no relation) agreed. The horse “got under a couple (fences) the first time ‘round,” said Virginia’s current leading rider. “But he jumped better and better as he got into a rhythm.” Jeff Murphy kept Inca Magic in touch as Justpourit (George Hundt up) led into the final circuit, easing to the lead after the unique stone wall in-and-out that crosses the Oatlands driveway. Inca Magic began to draw away heading downhill to the second last and he was alone at the wire.
Inca Magic, 8, might be running a little behind schedule hitting the winner’s circle, few horses were as custom-designed for the job. Dam Magical was bred from the program of Hall of Fame trainer Sidney Watters, six-time champion ‘chase trainer better remembered for champions Hoist The Flag and Slew O’Gold on the flat. The mare, who trainer Murphy recalls as “difficult,” won over Great Meadow’s stiff timber course in 1991.
Retired to Finney, her last owner’s farm, Magical has produced several foals for Landslide, Cyril Murphy said, all of which display her “mental, and physical, toughness. They can be difficult, but they can also be brilliant.”
Inca Magic’s feature score capped Jeff Murphy’s Loudoun hat-track; he also won over hurdles with Maggie Bryant’s Dealer Beware and on the turf with Betsy Mead’s Royal Bentham.
There was a crowd at the finish of the three-mile novice timber, with five across the track at the wire. Virginia-bred News Flash, foaled near Front Royal at Morgan’s Ford Farm, closed sharply after the last to win by a head for Billy Santoro. Mr. Pike was second by a nose over Ordered to Listen.
In the popular Virginia turf series, Don Yovanovich’s Over The Lea took her third straight at the condition, winning for jockey Liam McVicar. Over The Lea was foaled at the Middleburg Agriculture Research and Extension Center, a produce of the Virginia Tech Thoroughbred breeding program. The school keeps a herd of Thoroughbred mares to use for forage research, along with a couple breeding stallions to produce foals for nutrition studies.

Results
Laura Lee Shreve Newman junior field masters chase. Large ponies. 1. Minuet, o/r Madeleine Lohr; 2. Black Pearl, o/r Meriwether Morris.
Horses. 1. Orlik, o/Alex Bazdar; 2. Idlehour Stormi Night, o/r Zoe Valvo.
Maiden hurdle. 2 1/4 miles. Time: 4:31. 1. Old Timer, o/Kinross Farm, r/Matt McCarron; 2. With Bells On, o/Kinross Farm, r/Ben Garner; 3. Objective, o/James McIngvale, r/Rod MacKenzie. 7 started.
Open hurdle. 2 ¼ miles. Time: 4:24 3/5. 1. Dealer Beware, o/Maggie Bryant, r/Jeff Murphy; 2. Zulla Road, o/Celtic Venture, r/Carl Rafter. 4 started, 1 lost rider, 1 pulled up.
Silas D. Phillips memorial novice timber. 3 miles. Time: 6:57 1/5. 1. News Flash, o/Robert Kinsley, r/Billy Santoro; 2. Mr. Pike, o/Cary Jackson, r/Jody Petty; 3. Ordered To Listen, o/Kinross Farm, r/Matt McCarron. 7 started.
Owner-rider timber. 3 miles. Time: 7:21 2/5. 1. Cool Fellow, o/r Ken Shreve; 2. Crimson Lode, o/DMC Stable, r/Michael Cooney.  3 started, 1 lost rider.
Foxhunters timber. 3 miles. Time: 7:25. 1. Services Rendered, o/Rosbrian Farm, r/Mark Beecher; 2. Sheisacraftydame, o/r Bryan McDonald. 3 started, 1 refused.
Open turf, first division. 1 ¾ miles. Time: 3:06 4/5. 1. Royal Bentham, o/Betsy Mead, r/Jeff Murphy; 2. Your Sum Man, o/The Fields, r/Billy Santoro; 3. You The Man, o/William Fossett, r/Jody Petty. 7 started.
Second division. Time: 3:09. 1. Poplar Grove, o/Kinross Farm, r/Matt McCarron; 2. I’m Telling, o/Bay Cockburn, r/Sam Cockburn; 3. Shortcourt, o/Barbara Graham, r/Ben Garner. 7 started.
Eustis Cup open timber. 4 miles. Time: 9:29. 1. Inca Magic, o/Landslide Farm, r/Jeff Murphy. 3 started, 2 pulled up. 
Leonard Weyl memorial ladies timber. 3 miles. Time: 6:55. 1. Pizarro, o/r Natalie Wales; 2. Sing And Hoist, o/Wheatland Farm, r/Sarah Green; 3. Untamed Hero, o/Foxx View Farm, r/Scarlett Lovett.
Virginia turf. Purse: $2,000. 1 ¾ miles. Time: 2:42 1/5. 1. Over The Lea, o/Don Yovanovich, r/Liam McVicar; 2. Daylight Fire, o/Falcon Racing, r/Matt McCarron; 3. Rosemont Runner, o/Mary Fleming Finlay, r/Bruce Daley. 8 started.