2 weeks Ago
As in years past, the Aiken Trials on March 15 was a rite of spring, bringing friends and families together for food and fellowship, and to watch thoroughbreds gallop by on the historic Aiken Training Track. There was a decidedly Irish flavor to the 82nd running of the Aiken Trials, held two days before St. Patrick’s Day.
Many in the crowd dressed in green or accessorized with green beads and shamrock headgear. Dave Cummings wore a kilt. “It’s St.
Patrick’s week and this is my Irish kilt. This is Fitzgerald clan,” he said. Cummings, originally from upstate New York but with a residence in Charleston, has a lifelong association with Aiken and its tradition of training thoroughbred horses.
“I tell people I had my first bowl of grits here at the Track Kitchen when I was four years old,” Cummings said. “I feel like this is really home.” “Our family’s been in horses for, well, about 150 years.
So, I kind of foolishly said I’ll pick up the tradition. I’m still in the business. I still raise thoroughbreds.
That’s why I can’t afford pants, because I’ve got horses,” he said. “I’ve raced here,” Cummings said. “I’ve had a baby horse race here.
I was an owner. I’m always paying.” The day was warm and balmy with occasional gusty winds as attendees set up canopies and chairs and arranged food on tables and tailgates.
Lindsey and Gwen Williams have been coming to the Aiken Trials for 44 years. “Even in the rain. And the year it snowed, we came back on that Wednesday.
We were out here in it,” Gwen Williams said. This year they trailered in a large grill to prepare a feast for 40 family members and friends from Aiken, Augusta, Summerville and Charleston. “We’re going to have a big crowd,” Lindsey Williams said, and described their menu.
“We’ve got red snapper. We’ve got shrimp kabobs, seafood salad, baked beans, ribs, chicken, cupcakes, red velvet cakes, and peanut butter pie,” he said. Eric and Leigh Staggs have lived in Aiken six years.
This was their first time at the Aiken Trials. They brought their daughters Madden and Martha Michael. “I grew up around horse racing in Kentucky,” Eric Staggs said.
“It’s a lot fun to see.” “We’re having a great day. Living the dream,” Leigh Staggs said.
As classic soft rock hits of the 1970s played through loudspeakers along the rail of the track, Michael Walker began tending a charcoal grill, accompanied by his son Xavier and Michael Ryans, who retired as Edgefield’s police chief in 2001. It was Walker’s 16th year at the Aiken Trials. “What I like about it is everybody gets together,” he said.
“You have a nice time. You’re all on the same accord. You watch the horses, you talk, chat a little bit, have a good time and relax.
The dwindling population of thoroughbred horses in Aiken has forced the inclusion of other types of racing events at the Aiken Trials. Cathi Grove drove a golf cart toward the Cot Campbell Clockers’ Stand while passenger Katie Hawks held a colorful array of ribbons to be awarded after the Ladies Side Saddle Race. Grove, who rides side saddle with Aiken Hounds, is the race coordinator.
“I’m so thankful they asked us to do the sidesaddle race, but I’m most excited about the pony races with my sons,” she said. As Aiken County Council member Andrew Siders finished singing the Star Spangled Banner, Lida Sooth and her son Atticus waited for the beginning of the pony race. Atticus was dressed in purple racing silks and his mother wore a shirt printed with “lucky” in sparkly green script.
“We’ve not done the pony race before,” she said. “My parents have a spot on the infield, so they’ve been wanting me to do the pony race and we finally got it together this year to come out and do it.” Sam and Sue King have been coming to the Aiken Trials for more than 25 years.
“We don’t have horse, but we love the horses,” she said. “It’s great. Aiken is wonderful for that.
” “We do the Trials, and the Steeplechase in the fall and in the spring,” she said, adding that she twice won the Steeplechase table decorating contest. “But this is an easy set up,” Sam King said, indicating their tent and table in rail space #18. “I did horses and St.
Paddy’s Day,” Sue King said. “It’s easy.”.
