Man Torsilieri, the chairman of the Far Hills race meet in New Jersey, remembers the primary time he noticed McDynamo in particular person. The then-4-year-old gelding had simply picked up his first steeplechase victory, taking a maiden particular weight race by 4 ½ lengths at Far Hills on Oct. 20, 2001. Torsilieri was impressed.
“I used to be standing subsequent to the winner’s circle after they got here again, and Mimi Voss was standing subsequent to me,” recalled Torsilieri. “She was married to Tom Voss, a superb coach and a superb man. Mimi regarded over at me because the horse was coming over to the winner’s circle, and stated, ‘Now THAT’s gonna be a horse.’”
That victory proved to be just the start. McDynamo went on to win a race at Far Hills yearly from 2001 to 2007, together with the Grand Nationwide Hurdle Stakes (generally known as the Breeders’ Cup Steeplechase till 2006) 5 instances in a row, from 2003 to 2007. The Racing Corridor of Famer might be honored at this yr’s Far Hills meet, which might be held this Saturday, Oct. 19, with the inaugural McDynamo Maiden Hurdle Stakes.
The McDynamo Maiden Hurdle Stakes is a 2 ⅛-mile contest that includes a base purse of $50,000, and its worth has been juiced by $20,000 due to a sweepstakes ante. Per the circumstances of the race, a sweepstakes ante of $1,000 was added for every entrant. The Moran household, which campaigned McDynamo all through his 34-race profession, matched the ante, making for a complete purse of $70,000.
“Invoice Gallo, the Nationwide Steeplechase Affiliation race secretary, got here up with this concept,” stated Torsilieri. “I handed it by Michael and Anne [Moran], and so they liked it, and so they have been completely happy to take part. It’s all come alongside fairly properly. It’s nice.”
Moran spent $82,000 on McDynamo on the 1998 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. “On the time, I had a barn at Honest Hill [in Elkton, Md.] with John Kimmel, who had a horse named Previous Chapel, a really engaging horse,” Michael Moran stated. “I appreciated him, and after I went to the sale, Invoice Wofford was consigning his full brother. He was very engaging, an enormous, rangy horse. He regarded like a grass horse.” His identify got here from a mix of unique associate Steve McDonald’s identify (“Mc”), the identify of his sire, Dynaformer (“Dyna”), and Moran’s identify (“Mo”).
McDynamo began his profession on the flat, accumulating two wins in 9 begins with Moran serving as co-owner and coach. Moran realized he was ill-suited as a flat horse, and started to consider giving him a strive as a jumper. “He had lots of claustrophobia points,” Moran remembers. “He was fairly horrific within the beginning gate once we first began to coach him.”
Throughout his restoration interval from an ankle chip removing, Moran put McDynamo by means of some cross-country workouts, and realized he might need a future as a steeplechase horse. He quickly appointed prime steeplechase conditioner Sanna Hendriks (now generally known as Sanna Neilson) as coach, and purchased out McDonald’s share within the horse. After profitable his debut over jumps at Far Hills, McDynamo returned there in 2002 for the Foxboro Supreme Hurdle Stakes. He improved to 2-for-2 at Far Hills with a 19-length victory, kicking off a six-race win streak that stretched to the tip of 2004.
Whereas McDynamo loved success at quite a few steeplechase tracks, he did his finest work at Far Hills. His victories in every season have been cornerstones of his Eclipse Awards as champion steeplechaser, earned in 2003, 2005, and 2006. He was normally pointed particularly for Far Hills, along with his seasons normally consisting of some races within the spring, a summer season break, adopted by one or two begins within the fall. “I don’t suppose he had a choice for what sort of floor he ran on,” stated Moran. “I do know he appreciated softer floor, and so they tended to get some rain at Far Hills. Some days it was exhausting, some days it was smooth, and it didn’t trouble him. He was well-conditioned by Sanna; she did a fantastic job managing him. He was not a simple horse.”
Following his victory within the 2007 Grand Nationwide as a 7-year-old, McDynamo made yet another begin, a sixth-place end within the Colonial Cup, and was retired with a 17-for-34 lifetime report and profession earnings of $1,354,994. “He was getting previous and having some bodily points; he had some hind-end stuff he was all the time coping with,” remembers Moran. “We have been fairly affected person with him; we’d all the time select a pair races within the fall and a pair races within the spring. There’d be occasional strain to take him over to England for his or her large races, however he had some bleeding points that we needed to contemplate, so we figured he didn’t must show himself.”
McDynamo was inducted into the Nationwide Museum of Racing’s Corridor of Fame in 2013. The gelding handed away in December 2019 at age 22 after spending his retirement at Neilson’s property in Cochranville, Pa. Torsilieri and the Morans had mentioned a tribute race to McDynamo over the previous few years, however it was solely this yr that the occasion lastly got here collectively.
“We had been speaking for some time about tips on how to honor him,” stated Torsilieri. “We introduced him to Far Hills after he retired and gave him an enormous ceremony, we gave him carrots and every little thing. Then our lives obtained busy, and COVID hit, and one factor led to a different. We thought now was a great time to do it.”
The trophy for the race carries lots of that means for the Morans. Michael’s mom, Betty, owned Papillon, the winner of the 2000 British Grand Nationwide. The winner of the McDynamo Trophy will obtain a reproduction model of Papillon’s British Grand Nationwide trophy, designed by Philip Blacker.
“My mom appreciated the trophy a lot, she obtained Blacker to create a reproduction of it for her,” stated Moran. “The trophy we’re giving on mortgage for the race is the reproduction trophy.”
When Moran confirmed Torsilieri the trophy, Torsilieri fell in love. “It’s a superb trophy. We’re including a piece beneath that honors McDynamo and the trophy, it talks about the place it comes from and its significance. It weighs a ton; I’m unsure if we’ll have the ability to carry it into the winner’s circle, however it’s a good looking piece. I feel it matches the entire idea of what we’re doing. It’s an effective way to honor him, the Morans, and the historical past of steeplechasing. It brings all of it collectively.”
The McDynamo Maiden Hurdle Stakes is scheduled because the second of six races on the Far Hills card, with a listed put up time of 1:32 p.m. ET on Saturday.
