Timber-Toppers

At Snow Hill, the patrician estate of socialite J. W. Y. Martin outside Baltimore, last week hawkers peddled rubber horses, balloons, trinkets. Three-card monte games flourished on the lawn in front of the pink colonial mansion. Bookmakers Saratoga Joe, Honest Dan and three-score of their colleagues, forbidden to ply their trade this year, milled around in the crowd, furtively held up their odds on inconspicuous little pasteboard cards. It was the day of the Maryland Hunt Cup race and 15,000 of the Eastern Seaboard's horsy folk, arriving by train, plane, auto and old-fashioned buggy, gathered to witness the 46th running of the most famed steeplechase in the U. S.

An outgrowth of the old pounding races (follow-the-leader on horseback), a Maryland institution started by daring young fox hunters in the 18th Century, the Maryland Hunt--four miles over 22 timber fences, some almost five feet high--is considered by most horsemen who have ridden both courses more difficult than the world-famed Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree, England. Aintree's thorn hedges, through which a horse can brush without falling, are a pleasure, they say, compared to Maryland's rail fences, which are as stout and rigid as telegraph poles.

Because of its hazards, few horses under seven years old are entered in the Maryland Hunt. Last week the favorites were Mrs. Read Beard's ten-year-old Blockade and John Strawbridge's ten-year-old Coq Bruyere, the two top timber-toppers in the U. S. Blockade, chestnut son of famed Man 0' War, had clipped seven seconds off the course record last year when he won the race in 8 min., 44 sec. Coq Bruyere, a grey, had been beaten only once in six timber races last year.

From Mr. Martin's front lawn, which forms a natural grandstand for the race in the valley below, the crowd watched the seven starters charge over the first jump, held its breath as they reached the third, known as the Union Memorial Fence.* After that dreaded obstacle was surmounted without mishap, a roar thundered through the lush valley. Blockade was in the lead, Coq Bruyere far behind. Fencing perfectly and lightning fast on the flat, Blockade clung to his lead. Not until the 18th jump did Coq Bruyere challenge. They took the last fence neck & neck. Then, in as exciting a stretch finish as is seen in many a six-furlong sprint on the flat, Blockade, with Farm Boy John Colwill up, just nosed out his rival to win his second Maryland Hunt Cup in a row.

Unlike the Grand National, which offers a prize of -L-7,000 to the winner, the Maryland Hunt rewards its victors with a silver tankard decorated with the coat of arms of Maryland.

* For Union Memorial Hospital, Baltimore, whither many racers are taken.

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