It's time for Middleburg
to get jumping
By Vicky Moon
The splendid swath of Middleburg
countryside will soon be green... tulips
are popping up and the daffodils are
dazzling. Those who traveled south
for the horse shows and polo matches in Palm
Beach and Wellington are returning. Alison
Firestone was busy on the grand prix jumping
circuit with her horse Secret Love. But alas,
her love is no longer a secret. The daughter
of Bert and Diana (Johnson & Johnson
heiress) Firestone is set to wed horse show
photographer Andrew Robitaille in a small
private ceremony in Costa Rica in May.
Jumping into the Spring of things
The steeplechase season is upon us… horses
are in training, riders are getting fit and the ladies
are pounding the pavement for new frocks for
the races and gowns for the Hunt Ball. Where
else could you find a swimming pool for horses?
"Swimming is an alternative to galloping on
hard ground," says 15-time Virginia point-topoint
Trainer of the Year Don Yovanovich. "It
freshens them up and gives the horses a mental
diversion." Don has 25 in training, including
hurdle horse Molino Rosso for Merle Russell,
daughter of the late Country Music Hall of
Fame signer Chet Atkins, and also serves as
the director of racing for the Gold Cup races,
a major stop on the circuit taking place the first
Saturday in May.
Twenty-five-year old Brad Johnson works as a
freelance steeplechase rider for noted horsewoman
Dot Smithwick at Sunny Bank Farm and
sportsman Randy Rouse. In his spare time, Brad
teaches yoga at Middleburg Fitness Center. "The
added flexibility helps as an injury prophylactic in
case of a fall or just through the wear and tear of
excessive riding," says the five-foot-five Brad, who
stays racing fit at 132 pounds.
It's likely spectators will see him ride at the
85th annual Middleburg Spring Races on
Saturday, April 22. This year's card includes: the
$25,000 Paul R. Fout Sport of Kings Maiden
Hurdle Race, in honor of the late horseman who
served the races as a director, chairman, president
and general manager for the past 45 years. His
son, Doug Fout, also a trainer, now steps in as
president. The feature is the $75,000 Bank of
America Temple Gwathmey Cup.
Robin Keys keeps in shape at the fitness
center and is constantly pursuing the perfect
racing ensemble. Her husband, Gordie, raises
cows and horses at Beaver Dam Farm. Robin says
there are three elements to dressing for the races:
"Hat, jacket and shoes. Once these are established,
everything else falls into place." She buys many
of her elegant chapeaux at Tully Rector's shop
in Middleburg. "People love to see a lady in a
beautiful hat. My mother Mary Kay Garwood
and Rose Marie Bogley taught me this. Both
wear a hat well."
Cooking up a Vineyard
It seems like only yesterday…It was Super Bowl
XXII week in San Diego, January 1988, and
the Washington Redskins defeated the Denver
Broncos, 42-10. Back in Washington, Suzanne
Martin Cooke, briefly the third wife of late
team owner Jack Kent Cooke, was holding
her newborn baby girl all dressed up in Redskins
regalia and posing for photos. Flash forward
eighteen years…Jacqueline Kent Cooke, now
blonde and beautiful, has come
of age and is set to graduate
from high school and head off to
college this fall. Meanwhile, Jack
Kent Cooke's son, John Cooke,
former team president of the
Redskins, and his wife, Rita,
have returned to the countryside.
They're now living at Boxwood
Farm, the 129-acre estate they
purchased in November, 2001
from Washington-based auto
mogul Bob Rosenthal and his wife Marion.
The Cookes are fulfilling a lifelong dream of
owning a vineyard, which Washington architect
Hugh Newell Jacobsen has helped design using
native fieldstone, seam metal roofs, and cupolas.
The Cookes have planted 14-acres with eight
varieties of French grapes. Boxwood Winery only
will produce red wine, blended in the French
Bordeaux tradition. A limited quantity of the
2005 vintage will be available in 2007.
And the climate is ripe for buying
For anyone who'd like to be the Cookes' new
neighbors, Hickory Tree Farm, the 372-acre
estate of the late Alice du Pont Mills right
next door is on the market for $17.9 million. It
includes the main house, Confederate Hall, seven
barns, eight staff houses and a racehorse training
track. Speaking of lovely estates, St. Bride's Farm,
designed in 1917 by Nathan C. Wyeth, who also
worked on the "West Wing" and in the Oval
Office at The White House, will be among the
homes and gardens open for Historic Garden
Week. This year's chairman, Valerie Dove, who
describes herself as "Little Miss Type A," has every
detail down to traffic patterns and the luncheon
menu under control. All of this following recent
major back surgery, she's handled numerous
minutiae long distance from the winter home
at Candle Reef in St. Croix she shares with
husband, Guy Dove.
Ah, but wait….all "bets" might be off if it
rains for the races or the garden tour? "Have
an awesome raincoat-mine is a bright orange
Michael Kors-then you can wear whatever you
want underneath," says Robyn Yovanovich, who
does the color commentary for the television
broadcast at The Gold Cup.
"The weather can always
create a situation where you
need a back-up plan," Robin
Keys adds. "I remember
one year at the spring races,
it rained off and on and this
gal had on a beautiful pair of
Chanel bi-color flats that were
just trashed at the end of the
day. So leave the best ones at
home."
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