Maryland-bred Tuscalee was voted into the National Racing Hall of Fame.
Tuscalee won more American jump races than any horse in history (37). He started at least once a year from 1962 to 1972 for owner-breeder Alfred Smith and trainer Leiter Aitcheson, making 89 starts, and was the Thoroughbred Racing Associations’ top steeplechaser of 1966. Among other inductees were Pennsylvanian Michael Moran’s three-time Eclipse Award-winning steeplechaser McDynamo, and New Jersey resident Bob Levy’s champion sprinter Housebuster.
- Virginia-bred Colonial Affair, 23, winner of the 1993 Belmont Stakes-G1, died in Argentina where he had stood at stud since 2003. Bred by Hermen Greenberg’s Rutledge Farm and a son of Virginia-bred Kentucky Derby-G1 and Preakness-G1 winner Pleasant Colony, Colonial Affair’s other Grade 1 wins came the Jockey Club Gold Cup and Whitney Handicap. His classic victory was historic, as jockey Julie Krone became the first woman to win a Triple Crown race.
Colonial Affair remains the last of 23 Mid-Atlantic-bred Belmont Stakes winners.
- Sent off as the overwhelming 3-10 favorite in the $1.5-million Charles Town Classic-G2, Game On Dude fought for a half-length victory over nemesis Clubhouse Ride. Time of 1:49.93 was just .17 seconds off the track record for 11⁄8 miles. He was owned in part by four-time World Series-winning manager Joe Torre, who was in attendance and explained his involvement with racing. “Actually, Don Zimmer, who was my bench coach for eight years with the Yankees, got me really hooked on horse racing. In fact, I kid him all the time, ‘I
would have retired a long time ago except you got me interested in this sport’ . . .”
- Jacqueline Ohrstrom’s Professor Maxwell won the Maryland Hunt Cup at age 14, even after jockey Mark Beecher lost his stirrups at the ninth fence. Beecher credited his recovery to his childhood in Ireland, including riding without a saddle.
- Joe Clancy told the unlikely story of Virginia-bred In too Deep, purchased as a weanling for a dollar by Susan Cooney in 1999 and retired as a stakes-placed winner of six races and $122,141. In too Deep’s first foal was the Cooney bred/owned/trained multiple stakes winner Embarr.
