Hunt Cup 2013

All week I was watching the weather forecast with dread and steeling myself to smile through a bitingly cold afternoon in gale-force winds at the Pennsylvania Hunt Cup Races here in West Marlborough. Instead, it turned out to be a glorious day: sunny and 50 degrees, with only a light breeze. I didn't even need to don my gloves, much less the assortment of wooly shawls and knitted hats I brought with me.
My two friends and I packed the Jeep full of food, drink, chairs, and two dogs and had an absolute ball watching the races and cheering for the horses that were owned, trained or ridden by friends of ours. (I was torn in the Arthur O. Choate Memorial Race: my friend and neighbor Paddy Young was riding "Worried Man" -- but how could I not root for a horse named "The Editor"? "Worried Man" won; yay, Paddy!)
No horses got hurt this year, though quite a few of the jockeys took tumbles that looked extremely painful.
At one point -- I forget which race it was -- the horses were galloping around the north side of the course, and off in the distance, in a picturesque echo of the race, we saw a group of deer chasing each other and vaulting over their own fences.
Between races we wandered around and chatted (it's a VERY social occasion). The day before the Hunt Cup had been the beginning of the formal fox-hunting season, so the fox-hunting enthusiasts we saw shared stories about the exciting opening days they'd had. Equestrian events are always a great venue for both people-watching and dog-watching; probably the most unusual breed we saw this year was a Great Pyrenees.
On the menu at our tailgate picnic were macaroni-and-cheese and pulled pork sandwiches from Hood's in Unionville (delicious as always) and Robin Mastrippolito's fabulous cupcakes, the ones I purchased at the Unionville Community Fair auction back in October. I stored a dozen of the cupcakes in my freezer but of course ended up eating some in the meantime; fortunately I had the sense to stash the other dozen in a friend's freezer for safekeeping.
Several times during the afternoon, my friends and I just looked at each other with a sense of gratitude and said, "We are so lucky." There we were, with dear pals, the sun shining on our faces and looking over the picture-perfect Chester County landscape: awesome.
Thank you to all the organizers of this tremendous event, which benefits the Chester County Food Bank. My friends and I look forward to it every year, and it is always a memorable day!