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By Betsy Parker
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
BEN VENUE - Trainer Neil Morris has been in the horse business long enough to know better. Know better than to go on record with a statement that hell have to retract, with a chuckle, later.
Remember, Mr. Morris? Remember what you told the “Steeplechase Times” just four months ago after Kinross Farm’s Lord Kenneth finished a well-placed second in the International Gold Cup, impressive off an 18-month layoff? Remember what you said regarding the “problem” of having three top timber horses in the bam?
Morris trains Lord Kenneth (winner of the 2003 Virginia and International Gold Cups), and stablemates Miles Ahead (won the ‘05 Virginia cup) and Chinese Whisper (runner-up in the Virginia cup and winner of the ‘04 International.)
Like any proud “parent,” Morris is loath to play favorites: He won’t say which of those three is “best.” But last fall he was certain of one thing. He went on record with the Times:
“Lord Kenneth is really, really good but I wouldn’t want him to run against Miles Ahead,” Morris said. “I have three nice horses ... and they need to be separated. Those are highclass problems to have, talk to me next April.”
Errr, Mr. Morris? It’s next April.
Morris couldn’t afford to wait any longer for good ground; at Saturdays Old Dominion Hounds Point-to-Point, he saddled the timber team - the whole team — for its collective 2006 debut in the three-mile open timber feature, the Leeds Don. Morris had patiently waited all spring for forgiving turf to give his stakes stars a prep, entering each week but scratching when footing remained brick hard.
After months of drought, the rains finally came last Friday and Saturday. An inch of rain softened the Ben Venue course to “nearly perfect footing conditions,” according to Middleburg veterinarian and course inspector Dr.
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