Attending the Aiken Trials has been a family tradition for Susie McMurtrie Rutherfurd for more than four decades, so a little cold, wet weather Saturday wasn't going to keep about 40 members of her extended family from the annual event.
"It's as much about eating and picnicking and family as it is the races," said Ms. Rutherfurd, whose family has a reserved spot on the Aiken Training Track infield only feet from the final resting place of Blue Peter, the 1948 champion.
There are seven siblings in the McMurtrie clan, and all but one was in attendance for the 67th running of the Trials.
She lives in Pennsylvania and got a call from the track as each of her siblings took turns ribbing her about the gorgeous, sunny weather they joked she was missing.
Ann McMurtrie Stauffer, whose husband, Brad, is a trainer, has many good family memories over the year, including ones she now shares with younger family members.
It has its bittersweet moments, too. Her mother passed away four years ago, and she always made sure there was much food on the McMurtrie table.
In keeping with their mother's hospitality, visitors to the McMurtrie area were offered a share of the homemade cookies, chips, sandwiches and potato soup.
When the horn sounds signaling race time, Ms. Rutherfurd said the adrenaline begins to flow.
"It's a thrill when the horses go thundering by," she said.
Saturday's trials featured six races. The first three were quarter-mile races for 2-year-olds who'd never won. There were two races for 3-year-olds who'd never won a race. They ran four and a half furlongs.
New to this year's event was a 300-yard polo pony race.
The Aiken Trials is the first leg of Aiken's Triple Crown. The second leg, the 43rd running of the Aiken Steeplechase, will be held Saturday.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012. All Rights Reserved.
