Maryland-bred runners can compete, and win, anywhere

Maryland's Thoroughbred racing and breeding industry has serious problems‹most obviously, a static purse structure and a breeding fund that no longer competes effectively with surrounding states. But Marylanders still turn out real race horses.

That fact was made abundantly clear at the inaugural NTRA Great State Challenge on December 7 at Sam Houston Race Park, where Maryland finished a strong third to Kentucky and Florida. (See article on page 22.)

Talk about a feel-good story, or stories. It wasn¹t just a show of strength; Maryland also displayed its trademark diversity.

Aging baby-boomers could find no better inspiration than La Reine's Terms, 7 years old (he's since turned 8) and relishing the opportunity to blow away the opposition in the NTRA Great State Challenge Turf, which he won by a half-length.

Three Maryland-bred 2-year-olds also rose to the challenge, with one of them, the widely traveled Cherokee's Boy (by Maryland sire Citidancer) finishing a credible third.

Few people have invested more (of their finances and emotions) in the horse business than Sondra and Howard Bender, who bred and own La Reine's Terms. The Benders maintain the largest and most active stable of homebreds in Maryland. They were the state's leading breeders in 2001 and 2002, and they won an amazing total of 13 stakes (all with homebreds) last year.

The Benders and their trainer Larry Murray supported Maryland's participation in the GSC to the hilt sending two horses, and coming away with a win and a third (with Pickupspeed in the NTRA Great State Challenge Classic).

But the Great State Challenge was just as monumental for Kathy Dibben, a dyed-in-the-wool horsewoman who traveled 27 hours by truck and trailer with the family horse Purple Sand (owned by Kathy's mother Alice Dibben) for the privilege of competing in the national event.
Among people who live outside of Maryland, but choose to send their mares to this state for breeding and foaling, there is no more successful, or loyal, example than William R. Harris.
A Richmond, Va., businessman, Harris is a client of Murmur Farm in Darlington, Md. It was there that his 6-year-old horse Deer Run (third in the NTRA Great State Challenge Sprint) was conceived (on a cover by former Murmur stallion Deerhound) and foaled.

The GSC also felt the presence of one of Maryland¹s all-time legends, Broad Brush. Well-established as a leading sire in Kentucky, Broad Brush was represented by a son, Pickupspeed, and grandson, Bridge Out Again (by Maryland sire Concern).

Was the Great State Challenge an ideal event, from Marylanders' perspective? Nothing is ever ideal. The selection process, which called for state breed associations to supply a list of candidates, with the NTRA then establishing the lineup, could use some fine-tuning.

And some handicapping would seem to be in order for races such as the Turf, in which Maryland-bred Purple Sand, whose personal best consisted of stakes placings at Colonial Downs and Laurel Park, competed at equal weights (126) with Breeders' Cup Mile-G1 fourth-place finisher Forbidden Apple.

It's also disappointing that other Mid-Atlantic states did not end up being represented.
Maryland was the only Mid-Atlantic state to participate in the event, which was restricted to states whose horsemen's associations are dues-paying members of the National Thoroughbred Association (NTRA). That restriction made Pennsylvania ineligible; other states in the region missed out for various reasons.

Whether to bring the Great State Challenge back for another year, or years, is still under consideration by the NTRA, which struggled with the costs of staging the inaugural running.
But here's hoping for a 2003 renewal, at one of the Mid-Atlantic tracks. Now THAT would be the greatest.
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