Page 48 - The Hunt - Summer 2023

TEDDY DAVIES
continued from page 37
An injured Teddy Davies congratulates Conor Tierney, the winning rider in this year’s Maryland Hunt Cup.
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his own. If he wants to run off and jump
a fence, you just have to let him do that, even if you’re just walking him back home. He requires more of a passive feel— understanding what he wants to do and letting him do it. My job is to help him do what he wants to do, not to question him.”
In 2021, Vintage Vinnie won the Hunt Cup and set a course record with Irish jockey Dan Nevin. It’s unusual for a horse to rise to that level twice, let alone surpass it again and again. “Most of it is Vintage Vinnie,” Davies says. “He runs faster than any horse out there.”
For this year’s Hunt Cup, the Davies family again turned to Nevin. Only two horses finished on this year’s rain-softened
turf. Vintage Vinnie was among those “pulled up” by its jockey. The Hunt Cup went to Withoutmoreado, trained by Chester County’s Katherine S. Neilson and ridden by Conor Tierney.
Moving forward, Davies expects to be back on Vintage Vinnie soon. “A front runner, he doesn’t settle—but he settled with Teddy,” says Liz McKnight, the Hunt Cup’s cochair, who won the race as a jockey in 1986. “He seems happier and more content. There was no struggle of pace, which is why he jumps so well for Teddy.”
One thing’s for sure: Davies still gets the initial nod to ride Vintage Vinnie. “I have first call on him now,” he says. TH
46 THE HUNT MAGAZINE
summer 2023