17, 1986
champion jock Jerry Fishback
would be riding in Tryon, we
knew things had swung in our
favor.” Fishback, who had been
riding the hottest win streak in
steeplechasing, had been sche
duled all along to go to Atlanta.
When entries were submitted to
the National office the Monday
before the races, it became
apparent that the top names in
raching were heading for the hills
of Tryon.
“I’ve been coming to Tryon
ever seen it started”, said trainer
M. G. Walsh. “Either I’ve
come myself with the horses, or
someone else in the family has
come. I wouldn’t miss Tryon for
anything. And I don’t think it was
a nice thing for Atlanta to run on
the same day.”
Walsh, one of steeplechasing’s
most famous names, has a shock
of gray hair that frames a ruddy
complexion, and the kind of
twinkly gray eyes it’s hard to
dislike. He talks about his horses
with affection. “That Red Brick
House”, he says, pointing to the
horse that won Tryon’s feature
event in both 1978 and 1979, “now
he’s a horse that always tries.
He’ll give you his best whenever
he can.”
THE RACE
Red Brick House’s best was a
thriller last year. Although he’d
won the Block House Race the
year before, he was the
second - favorite. Augustin
Stable’s Tall Award went off a 2-1
favorite.
The start read like a script.
Closely bunchyed were Red Brick
'House, Tall Award, and Prime
Motive, another past Block House
winner. Up Heartbreak Hill they
stuck together like glue. Red
Brick House was running easily
with his big, loose stride. He ate
the hills like candy. Rider
Michael Walsh III was riding
with a near-loose rein. Both horse
and rider looked like they were
having a good time. Red Brick
House nosed ahead. Each time
Tall Award would close in to bid
for the lead, Red Brick House
would draw away, just enough. In
the final stretch drive, Tall
Award made one last gallant
effort to slide by on the inside, but
Harry M. Rhett’s big chestnut
Red Brick House fought off the
challenge to finish a popular first
to a widly cheering crowd.
Again, Atlanta is running on
Tryon’s date this year, Saturday,
April 5. They’ve offered even
larger purses. Asked if he thinks
Atlanta’s challenge will effect
Tryon Daily Bulletin, Mon.,
The Block House
Has Heart
By Sally Walker
It was a day for success to raise
its pretty head.
A $700 horse won its first outing
for a nice-guy veterinarian
owner-rider, a 19-year-old gang
ly, smiley kid named Michael
Walsh hurried three different
mounts down the back
stretch to the big wins of the day,
and our comparatively small,
old-fashioned country race meet
called the Block House Steeple
chase beat the pants off big-
brother Atlanta’s Steeplechase,
which had tried to trouce on
Tryon’s traditional racing date.
April 7 was Steeplechase Day
last year. Most other hurdle
races have gone to trendier tags
like “race meet”, “hunt meet”,
or simply “races.” But for 33
years it’d been called a
steeplechase in Tryon, and
Steeplechase it would stay.
ALL NATURAL COURSE
With the only all-natural
course remaining on the
Dixie Circuit, the Block
House has, ironically, become
avant-guarde. It’s run over real
.brush hurdles and a length of
spring grass to provide better
cushioning and footing for the
horses.
The course is hilly, with tricky
turns to some of the jumps.
There’s even one killer called
“Heartbreak Hill”, perhaps
unparalleled in modern steeple-
chasing. “By the time a horse
gets to the top of Heartbreak
Hill”, says rider Dave Lambert,
“he’s had a lot of the steam taken
out of him. It’s good for a young
horse — it slows him down a bit.”,
Last year Tryon Race Officials
were walking dll around the big,
beautiful course, trying to stifle
big, ‘go to hell Atlanta’ grins.
Because, as National Steeple
chase & Hunt Official Bill Gallo
put it, “everyone came to
Tryon.” Almost everyone, any
way. Trainer Dale Thiel was kind
enough to switch his entry at the
last minute so that Atlanta
would’t have to cancel its big
race.
“We’d worried all along last
year that both Atlanta and Tryon
would suffer,” says Tryon’s
Steeplechase Co-Chairman Tim
Brannon. “And that would have
meant that steeplechasing would
suffer.
BIG NAMES
“But when we heard the
Monday before the races that
Tryon’s Block House Races,
Brannon smiles and says, “Just
think of us as Red Brick House.
We always give our best, and
somehow seem to come out a
nose ahead.”
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