Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 13 · column 1 of 5 · from the scan, no model involved
By Betsy Parker
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
BEN VENUE, Va. — When champion trainer Jack Fisher speaks, people listen. He’s used to it. A timber specialist with a penchant for finding and making youngsters, Fisher knows that his judgment of a horse’s potential carries weight.
So when the Maryland horseman had a promising maiden timber prospect in Plenty of Sweets, he couldn’t believe it when potential ' investors turned him down. Seven times.
“Nobody liked his name,” said a typically languid Fisher.
But longtime horse owner and lifelong timber racing enthusiast Nick Arundel knew better than to doubt Fisher. Plus, he’d had a “sweetly” named horse produce in the past; his Sugar Bee was 1985 timber champ and won the 1986 Virginia Gold Cup and 1987 Maryland Hunt Cup. Arundel gladly took ownership of the tall bay last year with high hopes and grand expectations.
He was thrilled, he said, when the gelding, then 5, finished a wellplaced fourth in the maiden timber at the Virginia Gold Cup meet, Arundel’s home event.
The horse came up empty in two other 2004 starts, but this season would be different, Fisher promised. Sharp from a team chase prep, Plenty of Sweets was training well at his Monkton, Md. farm and conditions at Saturday’s Old Dominion Hounds Point-to-Point course cai&e up perfect for his 2005 debut, Fisher told Arundel.
A field of nine fined up across the Ben Venue Farm course for the featured Leeds Don open timber. Favored Chinese Whisper, winner of
See BEN VENUE, Page B2
89.8%