Charlie Marshall will be joined by Will Biddick when he attempts to land back-to-back runnings of Saturday’s $100,000 Maryland Hunt Cup in America.
The two men (pictured above, Biddick on right) are set to fly to Baltimore on Thursday, although Marshall, who is based in Dorset and who became the first Briton to win the race when successful on Blackhall last year, has to pass an Injured Jockeys’ Fund [IJF] medical fitness test on Wednesday. He broke a collarbone at Parham late last month, but after surgery and intense physiotherapy at the IJF’s South West hub in Taunton he is confident of getting the green light.
He said: “I’m very positive. I rode out this morning and it feels good. The IJF team at Taunton have been amazing and had me out of a sling within three days of surgery.”
The pair will be riding for trainer Joe Davies who expects to saddle three runners in the four-mile race. Yesterday (Saturday) Marshall said: “Joe is running two horses today, including Blackhall who I won on last year. His son Teddy will then pick which one of those two and I’m hoping I get to keep the ride on Blackhall. Will rides Mr Fine Threads who fell at the third fence last year, but who won his prep race last week.
“Initially Joe was prepping six horses for the Hunt Cup and he asked me to organise four amateurs from Britain. Will had said the race was on his bucket list, so I spoke to him about it at Wadebridge in December and he said yes he’d be up for it. I thought, ‘yeah okay, that probably won’t happen’, but as he’s not in with a chance of this season’s men’s championship he’s free to go.”
Charlie Marshall and Blackhall demonstrate the art of jumping the Maryland Hunt Cup course
For Somerset-based Biddick this will be a new experience and one he is relishing, albeit he recognises that while he is Britain’s most successful point-to-point rider with more than 600 winners and eight national men’s championships under his belt, for once he will be in a fellow British amateur’s shadow. Biddick said of Marshall: “He’s McIlroy, I’m the caddy, the bag carrier.
“I’ve had the opportunity to go over and ride in the race before, but it wasn’t suitable because I was chasing the championship. I’m not in that position this year, I’ve got a good team of staff to look after the yard, so I thought why not? I’m going over with Harriet [his wife] and my parents [Mike and Elaine].
“It’s another novelty, a chance to meet new people and try something different – and I’ve just updated my insurance.
“It wasn’t a race that was on my radar as a kid, but I wasn’t interested in horses or riding at that time. It wasn’t until the second half of my riding career that I became aware of it and I now realise it’s a very historic race. I’ve spoken to them [the Davies family] on the telephone and I’ve heard stories about the course from people who have been over there.
“Taking part is one thing, but completing the course is another. It’s no good over-thinking it – it’s just another race and I’ll be taking it as it comes. This is all down to Charlie, but if I can beat him in a finish, whether it is to finish first and second or fourth and fifth, I’ll be happy.”
The joy of winning: Marshall celebrates after a narrow victory in the 2024 running
A timber race over upright planks and first run in 1894, the Maryland Hunt Cup has been won by some famous riders and horses down the years, a handful of which went on to try their luck in British steeplechases. Jay Trump won the Maryland race in 1963 and ’64, then moved to Fred Winter’s yard in Lambourn from where he won the 1965 Grand National before returning home to land the Hunt Cup for a third time. Ben Nevis, a dual winner of the Maryland race, won the Grand National for trainer Tim Forster in 1979 under merchant banker Charlie Fenwick.