OVER THE MOON
Winner’s Circle Maryland Hunt Cup winner feted at ‘Berrywick,’ land conservation supporters gather at ‘Ayrshire Farm’ BY VICKY MOON
At the retirement party for the 2013 Maryland Hunt Cup winner Professor Maxwell: jockey Mark Beecher, Janet Elliot, owner Jacqueline Ohrstrom, trainer Richard Valentine and Tate Shaw. (Photo by Lauren Giannini)
GOLDEN GELDING: Here’s what’s so different about Middleburg. Your dogs (yes, plural) are welcome at the coffee shop, for lunch almost everywhere and dinner at the home of friends. So, a garden party for your horse is not uncommon. Such was the case recently when Jacqueline Ohrstrom invited guests to her home, “Berrywick,” for the retirement party of her great steeplechase horse, Professor Maxwell. The big bay gelding capped off his career last spring by winning the coveted $75,000 Maryland Hunt Cup, where the jumps are a horrific 5-feet-plus. A victory in this race had eluded her late husband, George Ohrstrom, and so it was particularly sweet for rider Mark Beecher and trainer Richard Valentine, who brought the horse to the front lawn. “It was a happy retirement party,” Ohrstrom noted. “We led him near the ha-ha wall.” Lisa and Zohar Ben-Dov, whose horse, Sand Box Rules, placed second to Professor Maxwell, joined in the celebration along with Rose Marie Bogley, Cathy and Tad Zimmerman and Cricket Bedford and Neil Morris.
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ONE PROUD MOTHER: Jacqueline Mars
ventured in to the big city with a group of friends to offer kudos to her son, Stephen Badger, producer of the film “Muscle Shoals,” recently screened at the National Museum of American History. It was part of the American Film Institute’s Doc Festival to honor “excellence in filmmaking, diverse voices and free expression of independent storytellers and celebrates the power of documentary film to improve our understanding of the world.” The 111-minute production, also shown earlier this year at Sundance, chronicles the musical heart of the Alabama locale along the Tennessee River, which has offered inspiration for generations of talent. HALLOWED GROUND: Guests gathered at
majestic “Ayrshire Farm” in Upperville for a summer gala to benefit the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership. Founder and president Cate Magennis Wyatt and husband Steve Wyatt greeted all as the evening progressed from cocktails, silent and live auctions, and dinner to dancing with the 11-
piece Fabulous Bel-Airs. The ever-attractive Lynn Wyatt flew in from Houston. Others spotted at the party included David Williams, chairman of the board, and his wife Cary, Susan and Cab Grayson, George Grayson and Maria Tousimis, Rep. Frank Wolf and Caroline Wolf and Scott Kasprowicz. Mimi Abel-Smith and Hope Porter, recently honored as Conservationists of the Year by the Land Trust of Virginia at the Arundel family’s “Merry Oaks,” was spotted at the Ayrshire celebration. Jean Perin, who hosted the Virginia League of Conservation Voters at her stunning home, “Edgewood,” the prior weekend, also attended. Ayrshire’s current owner, Sandy Lerner, was not present. A strong supporter of all conservation causes, she frequently makes the 42-room, circa 1917 field stone manor house available. (It is currently on the market for $30 million.) Lerner is a co-founder of the successful computer network Cisco Systems and later started the punk type cosmetics venture, Urban Decay.
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