THE PLAINS, Va.--Ricky Hendriks saddled Little Trilby (GB) to win the G1, 2 1/8 mile Commonwealth Cup at the Virginia Gold Cup on Saturday, May 2.

Little Trilby, left, duels with Jimmy P early in the Commonwealth Cup (Photo by Tod Marks)"He ran a big race," said Hendriks,who has had Little Trilby for almost two years.

Owned by Del Rio Racing and ridden by Conor Tierney, Little Trilby won by 6 3/4 lengths over Welshman, trained by Jack Fisher, and Merry Maker (Ire), trained by Arch Kingsley.

"Little Trilby had just won two races in Ireland, and a friend of mine called me and said we should get him," said Hendriks, who got the horse in August, 2024.

Little Trilby won the Holiday Cup Stakes at Aiken that fall for Hendriks and now has four wins, all in Stakes, and a second in 10 races in this country.

He was just unlucky last year," said Hendriks. "He won the Stakes at the Gold Cup here in the fall, but they had just dropped it from a grade 1 to a grade 2, and then he fell at the Colonial Cup. We still can't understand why he fell in that race."

"He's a very straight forward hose to train," said Hendriks. "We had this race targeted from early spring. My team did a great job getting him ready."

"It all paid off Saturday," he said. "That was by far his best race. He's just 6, so hopefully he's just coming into himself."

 

LITTLE TRILBY sat mid pack, began to move up late in the race to second and opened up in the stretch for the win.

"This was a dream come true," said Tierney. "We had said before the race we wanted to just sit about fourth. He jumped beautifully."

"I had told Conor that he has about a quarter mile run in him," said Hendriks.

"Hopefully, he'll go to Saratoga next," said Hendriks.

"We;ve had a very good spring, a steady spring," said Hendriks, who has about 20 horses in his barn and now sits second to Fisher on the Trainer Money Won list.

Fisher saddled his mother's Keys Discount, ridden by Jamie Bargary, to win the $75,000, 4 mile Virginia Gold Cup Timber Stakes by 16 3/4 lengths over Track and Trace, trained by Mark Beecher, and Marcel Magic  (Ire), trained by Kathy Neilson.

Keys Discount moved into the lead fairy early in the race, and when Bargary let him go before the last fence he just shot away from the trailing field.

That was Keys Discount's seventh consecutive win in the last two years, and not only has he dominated timber stakes he has dominated every race, every time winning easily by many lengths.

"This was my first time riding him," said Bargary. "He's proved himself to be a bit of a freak in how he wins. He was looking for every fence. All I had to do was point him."

"The best thing was the way Jamie rode him" said Fisher. "He just sat there, and  the horse never made a mistake. We'll give him some time off and bring him back in the fall." 

Arch Kingsley had both the winner and the second placed horse in the $50,000, 2 1/2 mile Allowance Hurdle.

He saddled Hudson River Farm's I'm a Rocket Man (Ire), ridden by Freddie Procter, to win by a head over Feeling Festive (Ire).

"I give credit to Tom Foley," said Kingsley. "He said that we needed this horse in the barn. and thanks to Ed Swyer, who took a leap of faith to buy this horse. He's a very nice horse, and I think the sky's the limit with him."

Kingsley's two horses roared to the lead after the last fence and dueled through the stretch.

"We though there would be a good bit  of pace in the race," said Procter. "He won nicely."

Kate Dalton saddled Riverdee Stable's Pudding Lane, ridden by Procter, to win the $50,000 Four Year Old Hurdle Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths over Bourbonator, trained by Barry Foley, and Scorpius, trained by Fisher.

"Pudding Lane is an awkward type of horse," said Sean Clancy, manager of Riverdee. "He a tall, leggy col. He has a lot to learn, he's very green, but he's getting the hang of it."

"He jumped okay, but he has the long, gangly legs, and he doesn't know quite what to do with them," said Procter.

Neil Morris saddled Ballybristol Farm's Missionaire, ridden by Graham Watters,, to win the $40,000 Maiden Hurdle by 1/2 length over Anyoneforsnacks (Ire), trained by Todd McKenna, and Fleetfoot (Ire), trained by Barry Foley.

"He has a great turn of foot," said Watters.

"Kate Dalton saddled NBS Stable's Ten Bucks a Glass, ridden by Bernie Dalton, to win the $25,000 Miaden Starter/Maiden Claiming Hurdle by 8 lengths over Lucky Prince, trained by Joe Davies, and Boffo Kid, trained by Danielle Hodsdon,

"He's been in the money in the past, but he's a true maiden," said Bernie. "He never won on the flat either."

Sandra Webb saddled Mrs. S.K. Johnston's Anzio, ridden by Stephen Mulqueen, to win the $20,000 Steeplethon by 3/4 length over Imperial Assassin (Ire0, trained by Neilson, and The Kid Rocks, trained by Meriweather Morris.

"Ideally, you don't want to be in front on him," said Mulqueen. "He takes  a look at everything, but once he gets into a race he's a brilliant jumper."