away (to the lead) on the final turn.” Woodmont

away (to the lead) on the final turn.”

Woodmont led into the second last, but Walsh was able to tug Seeyouattheevent to his inside of the sharp final bend, saving precious lengths and drawing even at the last. Fields of Omagh mounted a brief challenge between fences.

“I saw Carl (Rafter, on Fields of Omagh) slapping his horse down the shoulder” with his whip, Walsh said. “I knew he was done. It was Woodmont that I had to beat.”

Woodmont gave in to the hot pace after the last, with Seeyouattheevent drawing off by eight and a half at the wire.

Seeyouattheevent won the May 19 Radnor Hunt Cup under regular rider Willie Dowling, and was third in his final Gold Cup prep at Shawan last month. Dowling rode at the Far Hill Races in New Jersey Saturday, so Wialsh picked up the mount.

“The Gold Cup is the biggest timber race in America,” Walsh said. “It means a lot to win it.”

Jack Fisher, something of a Great Meadow specialist with nine Virginia cup wins and now five Internationals, trains Seeyouattheevent in Maryland.

Walsh also rode the Fishertrained Orpington to win the maiden claiming hurdle.

The International Gold Cup was first run in 1930 over a brush course at Tennessee’s Grasslands Downs. Later held at Rolling Rock in Pennsylvania, the race moved to Virginia in 1984, when it was contested over timber for the first time.

In the day’s other racing, Irv Naylor's Bon Fleur wired the field to win the $25,000 Steeplethon over a testing crosscountry style course.

Middleburg-based Jeff Murphy was aboard. Bon Fleur finished first in the Steeplethon at May’s Virginia Gold Cup meet, but was taken down in a controversial disqualification for missing a beacon.

Middleburg’s Kinross Farm won three races on the day, including the rich Sport of Kings maiden with When The Saints (Chris Read.) Read also handled Old Dominion turf championship winner Run The Light. English amateur Lucy Homer partnered Kinross’ Capital Peak to win the international invitational turf