Hendriks Works His Way Back to Top

Slowly, Pennsylvania-based steeplechase trainer Ricky Hendriks has worked his way back to the top of the sport. He has always batted for a high average, but for much of the past decade his opportunities were limited.

He had 25 starts in 2014 and 24 the following year. That began to change in 2016, when Baltimore-area owner George Mahoney Jr. began to build his Rosbrian Farm stable. That year, Hendriks had 34 starts and stable earnings of $134,350.

Last year, the former champion jump jockey started fast with horses owned by Rosbrian and his mother, Wendy, and had one of his best seasons ever in a training career that began in 1991—57 starts and purses of $458,300. He ranked second by wins with 14 and was fourth on the earnings list. 

Last year's hefty purse total moved him into 10th on the all-time list by trainer earnings with just over $4 million.

Hendriks looks to keep the momentum going March 31 when he saddles two contenders for the $150,000 Marion duPont Scott Colonial Cup Hurdle Stakes (NSA-1), the featured contest of Saturday's 86th annual Carolina Cup Races in Camden, S.C., and the first grade 1 hurdle stakes of 2018.

A crowd exceeding 60,000 is expected for the Carolina Cup meet, which offers a South Carolina record of $325,000 in purses.

Hendriks has two contenders for the 2 3/8-mile Colonial Cup, Rosbrian's Swansea Mile and Zanjabeel, owned by Rosbrian and Wendy and Ben Griswold. Swansea Mile earned his first career grade 1 last summer when he surprised at 28-1 in the A. P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase Handicap (NSA-1) at Saratoga Race Course.

After a third in the Sept. 21 Lonesome Glory Hurdle Handicap (NSA-1) at Belmont Park, he was put away for the year. Making his first appearance on U.S. shores a month later was Zanjabeel, who waltzed away with the $125,000 Foxbrook Champion Hurdle Stakes at the Far Hills Races in New Jersey for trainer Gordon Elliott and his rousing overseas owners.

Mahoney and the Griswolds purchased the Aussie Rules gelding, then a 4-year-old, and he won the $75,000 AFLAC Supreme Hurdle Stakes two weeks later.

The Colonial Cup will test whether Zanjabeel, who is still eligible for novice races, is ready to take his high cruising speed to the top level.

Jack Fisher, the champion trainer who set an earnings record of $1.3 million last year, will send out Harold A. "Sonny" Via Jr.'s Hinterland and Edith Dixon's homebred Schoodic in a field of six. Hinterland has raced lightly and is looking for his first win since 2013. Schoodic, by Tiznow , has shown the ability to be any kind of horse—when he wants. He won the David Semmes Memorial Stakes (NSA-2) in May and was unplaced in his next three starts.

The Colonial Cup pace will be set by Stonelea Stable's Balance the Budget, who carried his speed to a nine-length win in the David L. "Zeke" Ferguson Memorial Hurdle Handicap (NSA-2) in Virginia in October for trainer Julie Gomena.

Completing the field is a horse for the course, Mark W. Buyck Jr.'s Show Court, who won last spring's Carolina Cup Hurdle Stakes by seven lengths over the same Springdale Course. Trained by Arch Kingsley Jr. in Camden, he also won Saratoga's Jonathan Kiser Novice Stakes.