Dorset-based point-to-point rider becomes first Briton to win $100,000 Maryland Hunt Cup

Charlie Marshall, who on Saturday won one of jump racing’s greatest tests, America’s Maryland Hunt Cup, said the post-race winner’s speech was more terrifying.

Marshall, 26, who was told by winning trainer Joe Davies that he is the first Briton to win the four-mile timber race, flew home on Monday having landed the $100,000 race on Blackhall. A ten-year-old, who won an Irish point-to-point in 2020 but was a maiden after seven starts in timber races, Blackhall was the outsider of three Davies-trained runners.

Taking up the story of how a Dorset-based point-to-point rider took part in the race – which was first run in 1894 – Marshall said: “Several years ago the Amateur Jockeys’ Association put out a message inviting riders to go over there, but then Covid came in. Then last year we sold a young point-to-pointer to Joe Davies, who has now won the Maryland Hunt Cup seven times, and I told him I would love to ride in the race.

“In January he contacted me and said he had a horse, so I went over there the week before last which was ten days before the race. Because it’s such a jumping test the runners will race every weekend for three or four weeks beforehand, with the fences getting slightly higher each week, so on the Saturday I was booked to ride Blackhall in a race at their Grand National meeting.

“I had never schooled over timber, but the day before I went out for exercise with a group of others, we jumped some timber fences and I couldn’t believe the speed. I thought this is hairy, I’m not sure timber racing is for me, but the more we schooled the more I enjoyed it. You have to sit and let the horses sort the jumping out for themselves. You can’t ask them to come up, and with Blackhall I learnt not to touch his mouth because he was so sensitive.

“In our first race we finished second, and then I picked up a spare for a trainer called Emily Hannum and was second on that too.”

Charlie Marshall celebrates after steering Blackhall to victory in the Maryland Hunt CupCredit: Jim Graham

With new-found confidence Marshall headed towards the big race hoping for a clear round and perhaps a placing, but knowing Blackhall had little chance against the likes of Wagner, a useful handicap chaser who won four point-to-points for Gloucestershire trainer Max Comley earlier this season. Blackhall’s stablemates Mr Fine Threads and the veteran course record holder Vintage Vinnie, the mount of Davies’s son Teddy, were other more likely winners, as was last year’s winner Withoutmoreado under Ireland’s Conor Tierney. Shootist was the mount of another British amateur, Freddie Procter.

Recognising that Marshall was riding an outsider with just one win in 17 races on either side of the Atlantic, Davies told the rider, ‘You need a chaotic race’, but the new partnership was about to bloom.

On race day a ‘chaotic’ contest became more likely when it drizzled and the firm ground became slippery. Marshall had to pace himself through the unusual pre-race procedure of weighing out in the paddock, then being driven in a golf buggy to the stables more than two miles away to saddle up the runners. A huge crowd was in attendance – there is a seven-year waiting list for car parking – yet the Maryland Hunt Cup is the sole race of the day.

Recapping the race, Marshall said: “Vintage Vinnie went off in front and set a lovely even gallop, and I was happy to sit among the chasing group. Mr Fine Threads fell early, but was fine afterwards, and Wagner came past me between the 15th and 16th fences. He had the engine, but had made a few mistakes, and my horse was jumping brilliantly, saving lengths at the fences. There is a long run between each fence, and if you’re on one that’s made a mistake it’s a long wait before you jump again, but I couldn’t wait for the next fence to come.

“Wagner fell and a mile from home with four to jump Vintage Vinnie was still well clear, but I didn’t think he could see it out. There were four of us in with a shout and they started to crowd me, but when I gave my horse a squeeze I knew there was still something under me. We winged the second-last – a water jump with a bank that catches people out – and I knew I had to get the last right. All four horses winged it, and we had a great battle up the run-in, many people saying it was the closest for years. We won by a neck.” Shootist and Freddie Procter were second, while another former Irish pointer, Goodoldtimes, was third under Dan Nevin.

Charlie Marshall lifts the Maryland Hunt Cup winner's trophyCredit: Jim Graham

With partner Hannah Clarke and his father Fraser alongside Marshall attended the post-race dinner at a country club, where, as the winning jockey he had to make a speech. He said: “It was a white-tie affair with 150 people, and I had to admit to them it was more terrifying than riding in the race.”

Blackhall has been retired for the season, having carried Marshall over seven miles and 40 timber fences in two races. “I cannot think of a fence at which he made a mistake,” said Marshall, whose timber racing exploits are not over.

He said: “I’ve been asked to go back in two weeks’ time to ride at the final meeting of the spring season, so I’ll fly over on the Thursday, ride on the Saturday, get a 9pm flight that night and be back in time to ride at Kingston Blount on Sunday.”

Another challenge could also await, for Blackhall’s owner, Zohar Ben-Dov, told Marshall: “I’ve finally won the Maryland Hunt Cup, and now I want to win the Pardubice – and you are my jockey.”

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