Dorset partnership heading to the US in bid for historic Maryland Hunt Cup double

Dorset-based jockey Charlie Marshall will be attempting to repeat a historic success on Saturday when he rides in the Maryland Hunt Cup in the US – and at his side will be the woman with whom he forms one of the most dynamic partnerships in point-to-point.

Marshall became the first British jockey to win the Maryland Hunt Cup, a four-mile steeplechase dating back to the 19th century, when he won on Blackhall last year. He is now set to ride the same horse, albeit after a late scare.

“It has been nip and tuck to be passed fit,” he says. “I broke my collarbone on March 29 and [BHA chief medical adviser] Jerry Hill has been instrumental in my return to race-riding. I can’t thank him enough. I've been having physio through the Injured Jockeys Fund every second or third day.

“Will Biddick is also riding in the race this year, so it’s all good fun.”

Marshall’s opportunities have come about thanks to the proactive attitude he shares with his wife Hannah Clarke. The couple, who married in July 2024, have backgrounds steeped in all equestrian activities – Marshall is an accomplished amateur rider while Clarke, from a racing family, has experience in eventing – and now together train a string of 15 point-to-pointers, break in and educate young horses, and act as a satellite yard to American trainer Joe Davies.

Charlie Marshall and Hannah Clarke have been building up their point-to-point stable in Dorset

The association with Davies came about in 2023 when the pair sold him The Ballybrean Fox after a maiden point-to-point win at Milborne St Andrew. Marshall mentioned that riding over fences in the US was on his bucket list, leading to him getting the leg up on Blackhall and then to Clarke taking responsibility for the running of Davies’s Jeremy Pass in last year’s Velka Pardubicka.

Clarke explains: “After Charlie won the Maryland Hunt Cup, Joe expressed interest in buying something suitable for the Pardubicka and gave me the task of sourcing a horse. Jeremy Pass was bought and we've acted as the satellite yard. To be involved in that race was incredible.

“Meeting Joe was pure luck through selling him a horse, and for things to have developed as they have is brilliant for our small team.”

Marshall proudly adds: “Hannah is employed by Joe to train and look after the horses. They are not allowed to be in a big yard, they have to be with a little person like us. It is a real feather in her cap.”

Interestingly, Clarke has no desire to train under a jumps licence; building the business at home and focusing on the things that can assist jumps trainers is the next goal.

“We do breaking and pre-training and I want to also focus on the rest and rehabilitation. We have good facilities here to do that,” she says, as Marshall references the school, lunge pit, walker, round and hill gallops and “wonderful” hacking, plus use of a local water treadmill.

Clarke’s love of point-to-pointing cuts deep and she is full of positive ideas in which to help and promote the sport.

“I love pointing, producing and winning with a nice horse is so rewarding,” she says. “Prize-money is never going to be the main attraction, I strongly believe owners experience is the main thing. We should be offering free tickets for all. A 20-strong syndicate all deserve free admission; what they save on the gate they will spend on the raffle, food and drink and trade stands. What goes around comes around.

“Owners must be made to feel special and we, like many, always try to give our owners a wonderful day. Some fixtures are very proactive with owners’ hospitality, but others need to catch up. It’s commonly recognised that the feelgood factor is priceless; if one owner can be made to feel special and share that with others, the hope is that it encourages others into our sport.”

Marshall, meanwhile, is the brains behind Flexichase, a company he set up in 2022 to design and manufacture schooling hurdles and fences, driven by trying to find an affordable way for people to improve their facilities by incorporating a stand-alone addition to make them adjustable.

Charlie Marshall (left) on Blackhall at an early stage in last year's Maryland Hunt Cup (photo: Jim Graham)Credit: Jim Graham

He explains: “Making and building fences has always been an interest. I've been involved with fence-building at point-to-points and I had built some hurdles and fences for us at home. People started to say I should make a business of it. With their encouragement, I was passionate about initially making it affordable for us ‘pointing people’ so that is where the adjustable birch part came in. By making one structure with the option for it to be a hurdle or a fence makes it a little bit different to other products on the market.”

Many point-to-point trainers invested and the venture has taken off. Marshall adds: “As the venture grew in popularity, naturally I put more money in so that is when I started to market to National Hunt trainers. Nicky Henderson, Paul Nicholls, Syd Hosie, Kim Bailey, Seamus Mullins, Donald McCain and The Jockey Club in Lambourn have invested.”

Lambourn-based trainer Jamie Snowden says: “Charlie's fences are great; they have been a welcome addition on the schooling ring in Lambourn. We love them, the horses jump them well and above all make a great shape over them. When we get out on to the grass they are more prepared and make a better shape.”

Marshall is now looking to the future and says: “During this summer I want to design and manufacture a Flexichase fence which meets racecourse specifications. Point-to-pointing is ever changing and I would love to see a time when courses could rent my fences for the day and employ me to set up the course, so therefore no work would be required from several volunteers.”

It’s a lot of work for the couple to squeeze in, as Marshall explains: “It's a seven-day week and we work tirelessly – racing at the weekends provides a day off! I ride out in the mornings and then go fence-building while Hannah works all day in the yard.”

A quick hop to the US should make a nice change, then. Fingers crossed for them it goes as well as last year.

Weekend fixtures

Saturday
Leuchars Fife, Scotland, KY16 0AD. First race 2pm, 7 races.
Woodford Gloucestershire, GL13 9JP. 2pm, 7 races.
Parham Sussex, RH20 2ER. 2pm, 6 races.
Garthorpe Leicestershire, LE14 2RT. 2pm, 7 races.

Sunday
Stafford Cross Devon, EX24 6HY. 1.30pm, 7 races.

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