Miller turned around to accept the trophy,
he found a familiar face. “Mr. Duvall,” he said to the actor. Miller rode Salmo to a wire to wire win for trainer Jack Fisher and owner Irv Naylor. Naylor had a rough start on race day when one of his horses fell and another was disqualified.
But Naylor has never let a setback get in his way. An avid skier, he started Ski Roundtop
and his company, Snow Time, Inc., also includes Ski Liberty and Whitetail. He was also a keen rider. In April 1999, while leading the field in the Grand National Steeplechase in Maryland, his horse, Emerald Action, fell only two fences from home. He broke his C- 5 vertebrae and is now partially paralyzed.
Naylor, of York, Pa., has said you can’t prepare for life’s vicissitudes. He continues to be a major supporter of steeplechasing racing, a strong advocate for stem cell research and an inspiration for forging ahead.
GRACIOUS STYLE
Beth and Doug Fout along with Nina Fout (Equestrian bronze medal winner at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney) were among the guests at the garden party at the British Embassy with Queen Elizabeth II. They gathered with other equestrians of note: Sherry andCharlie Fenwick (1980 winner of the English Grand National) and DD and Michael Matz (former Olympic equestrian and trainer of2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro). “She was just so gracious and gentle,” Sherry Fenwick reports. “She looked at each of us and spoke to us. Of course, she had a conversation with Charlie and Michael.”
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FORGING AHEAD
While in Lexington,
Ky., for a benefit
auction of the Bluegrass
Conservancy held at
Gainsborough Farm, we bumped into Lucy
Winchester, once social secretary to Pat
Nixon at the White House. Lucy, a long
time horse lover, looked dapper with her
trademark bumble bee necklace and matching
needlepoint purse.
And speaking of the White House … the
Community Leadership Network gathered
at the Fauquier Springs Country Club in
Warrenton for a brunch and conversation
with Helen Thomas. She was introduced by
Susan Rubin. (Rubin’s husband Alan Rubin ran
the Biograph Theatre in Georgetown and his
artwork is now at the Long View Gallery in
the city.)
The first lady of the press gave her
outspoken thoughts from her latest tome
Watchdogs of Democracy? to many kudos.
She and her late husband, AP reporter
Douglas Cornell, used to have a place near
Rappahannock. She recalled how people |
would often ask if she used to go hiking in
the country on long weekends.
No way this woman was going hiking – she
is much more comfortable with her computer …
yet another inspiration for forging ahead.
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