FEGENTRI Race Part of Saturday Card at Laurel
FEGENTRI Race Part of Saturday Card at Laurel
Maryland’s Leatherman Among Amateur Riders Competing
LAUREL, MD – Maryland’s own Taylor Leatherman is one of eight amateur riders set to compete in the FEGENTRI International Federation of Gentlemen and Lady Riders race Saturday at Laurel Park.
Leatherman, 17, is the oldest daughter of Faith Leatherman, owner and operator of Winding Creek Farm in Union Bridge, Md. The nearly 200-acre spread in Frederick County is a full-service thoroughbred facility that offers breaking and training, performance and rehabilitation and broodmare care and foaling.
Saturday will be just the second ride for Leatherman in FEGENTRI, founded in 1955 with the main purpose of promoting international races for amateur riders. Laura Le Geay of France won the last FEGENTRI race in Maryland, June 9 at historic Pimlico Race Course.
Trainer Anthony Aguirre named Leatherman to ride Ultra Championship Racing LLC’s 3-year-old filly Skiing in Russia in the 5 ½-furlong sprint on the Fort Marcy Turf Course. It is carded as the second of nine races on Saturday’s program with a first race post time of 1:25 p.m.
A daughter of 2008 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1) winner Big Brown, Skiing in Russia will be making just her second career start Saturday after finishing fourth in her debut May 30 at Pimlico. She drew post 6 in the eight-horse field and is one of four horses in at low weight of 132 pounds.
“I’m very excited. It’s definitely something that I’ve always wanted to do. I’m just really happy to get the opportunity to ride her,” Leatherman said. “I am definitely a little bit nervous but I have a lot of confidence in this filly and I think that she’ll do well. It’s pretty exciting.”
In addition to her regular duties at Winding Creek, which include exercising, training and breaking horses, Leatherman also has gotten on horses at the Boniface family’s Bonita Farm in Darlington, Md. as well as in the mornings at Laurel. Recently she has been working on the Maryland Jockey Club pony team at Pimlico and Laurel.
“I’ve been doing that for about two months now. I love it. I get to be on horses and be around racing and learn,” Leatherman said. “I’ve always wanted to be a flat jockey. I started doing steeplechase and have really enjoyed that but I want to try to make both work because I really like both. I definitely want to be a jockey.”
Hand-picked by Virginia-based Amateur Riders Club of America executive director Don Yovanovich, who serves on the FERGENTRI board, Leatherman is following a trail blazed by Maryland-based jockeys Trevor McCarthy and Forest Boyce in using the program to help launch successful riding careers. She made her debut last month at Delaware Park.
“She’s a pretty confident kid,” Yovanovich said. “She doesn’t have the experience compared to the other kids but if I don’t get them started somewhere they never will. Anthony was very willing to let her ride this horse. She’s been working the horse in the morning. He had the option to go with someone else but he and the owners talked about it and said, ‘She’s a hard worker, so let’s give her a shot.’”
As amateurs, riders do not receive any fees in FEGENTRI races. Saturday’s event is a World Cup of Nations team race, where riders earn points for their home country rather than as individuals. France currently tops the standings with 30 points, followed by Norway with 12, Italy and the United States with eight and Germany with six. Points are awarded on a 10-6-3-2-1 basis.
FEGENTRI also has separate divisions for individual ladies, individual gentlemen and gentlemen jump riders. World Cup of Nations team races will continue this weekend at Delaware Park and Penn National.
“Other than France, it’s a very close contest. Anybody that has a good weekend here could win this thing. If France doesn’t get lucky and somebody else does, that could change,” Yovanovich said. “If one country wins two races they’re right up to the top. This weekend will pretty much be the decider. When they leave here on Monday there’s one race in Germany left and if you get a 10-point cushion on top you won’t be beat.”
Jennifer Miller of New Jersey is the other American rider in Saturday’s race, named aboard Miss Modela from post 4 at 133 pounds. The 5-year-old mare is one of two horses in the $27,000 maiden claiming event for females 3 and up trained by David Nunn. The other, Village Reward, will be ridden by Germany’s Susanne Rose.
Miller joined FEGENTRI last year and is still seeking her first win. Yovanovich said she has worked for trainer Doug Nunn and, like Leatherman, has aspirations of becoming a professional jockey.
“Right now she’s in Saratoga to get some more experience and work better horses,” he said. “She’s small enough to be [a jockey]. She doesn’t have a win but she’s been on the board a lot. She’s pretty consistent; she just hasn’t gotten that lucky day yet. She’s going to. I think she’s going to be an effective rider. She has a very strong devotion and dedication to her job.”
The most experienced riders in Saturday’s race are both from Italy. Elisa Fogar, aboard Sassy Sara from post 1 for trainer Donald Barr, has finished in the top three in 182 of 667 starts including 78 wins, while Evelyn Poehl has 62 wins from 363 starts. She will ride Rudy Rodriguez-trained Peppermint Stick from post 2.
Also riding are Norway’s Dina Heggum (20 wins, 114 starts), aboard No More Excuses for trainer Phil Schoenthal, and Nora Holm (seven wins, 45 starts), on Jose Samaniego-trained Graceful Light; and France’s Damien Artu, who has seven wins from 95 rides on the flat and has the call on Waves on the Sea for trainer Craig Nicholson.
At its inception, FEGENTRI was comprised of amateur riders from France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland but has seen its membership grow to include riders from 25 different countries around the world.
Yovanovich said FEGENTRI’s concept was brought to the United States by artist Pierre ‘Peb’ Bellocq, a former cartoonist for Daily Racing Form and one-time amateur rider in his native France who founded the Amateur Riders Club of America. ARCA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that operates on grants and tax-deductible donations to help fund trips to develop its riders and allow them to compete at home and abroad.
“It had a concept of a passion to ride, the camaraderie of friends, developing lifelong relationships and an experience where you traveled and visited your competitors’ homes and races and developed a better idea of how everybody else does things,” he said. “It was a postwar thing. I think it was an effort to unify cultures again and it stuck.”
Photo: Taylor (riding) and sister Brooke. Courtesy of Harry Aycock
