Manor Races 2023 - April 15 2023
Spring returned to Harford County for the annual Manor Races. Despite a weather forecast for rain, the crowd was all smiles and filled the fields under the clouds. It was my first outing of the season having been unable to make it down for the Greenspring Point-to-Point and Elkridge Harford meets.
In my quest to create images from new vantage points, there were wins, and some definite misses. But one of the highlights of the day was successfully getting a video on Fence four of the My Lady’s Manor, the first race of the day. The sound of birds, and then hooves, and then birds…
You can hear my camera shutter in the background. The video off my phone - great - the images off the camera - not so much. One of the challenges is that you basically get one shot a year!
The Second Race - The John Rush Streett Memorial - was a better outcome for photographs. Starting down in the valley at Fence 3, take a few shots as they race towards Pocock Road, run up to Fence 7 on their way back, and then a long, exhausting push up the hill to Fence 15. By the 15th, I was pretty beat, and while it was hard to capture the scale of the darkening skies to the west, it was terrific just to be there. After that, it poured and I hid in the car. Most everyone did after discovering the race tower decks did little to protect from such a heavy rain.
And the rain…