Evening star., 1942-01-21
Presidents S Birthday
Show Test Is SOUGHT
By The Stars Team
Miss Cotter Heads Four
Including Mrs. Hughes,
Miss BosIey, Mrs. Perry
Bv LARRY LAWRENCE.

BY LARRY LAWhENCE.
That woman rs the equal of man
in one major sport, that she asks
no odds and has a flfty-flfty chance
of beating him at one Of his own
games will be demonstrated at the
Presidents Birthday Horse Show at
Fort Myer January 20 and 29-n
there are four man riders who dare
take up the challenge issued by The
Star in behalf OF its great team OF
expert horsewomen.
Instead o. the customary silver
trophy, The Star puts up a Defense
bond as a prize for the low-score
winner of its team. which Is COM
posed of the greatest horsewomen in
America, mounted on their own
steeds, strong hearted thoroughbreds
of national reputation that have
taken blue ribbons and champion
ships In the most celebrated arenas
Of the country.
Each of the four challengers has
competed with men on equal footing
in dozens of horse shows and other
equestrian events and taken her
share of trophies and honors with
out receiving any odds, favors,
handicaps or other advantages from
her masculine rivals.
Margaret Cotter Heads Team.
Heading the team Is Margaret
Cotter, famed as a superlative horse
woman. cool. daring, capable. Pilot
Ing her renowned fencer Rocksie to
brilliant performances at the Ma
tional Horse Show in New York last
November, she was the first woman
in the 58-year history Of that annual
classic to win National Open cham
pionship in Madison Square Garden.
Rocksie, the sensation of the
National, today is the greatest high
jumping horse in America. The
dynamic son Of Half Rock-Rosie
OGrady is as we'll known to Capital
horse fans as his owner. and the
grand combination Is worthy of the
place OF honor at the head Of the
team
Another member Of the team with
q national reputation as top rider
is Mrs. Fred J. Hughes, jr., the
former Lisbeth "Skippy" Steig,
owner and rider of gallant little Hi
Ho, 15-hands h-inch, half-blind
mare that has taken some Of the
highest honors in the horse show
world
At the National Horse Show, Mrs.
Hughes and her celebrated fencer
captured the hearts of the metro
politan audience by winning the
extremely difficult touch-and- out
with a perfect performance when
the greatest man riders In the East
couldn't get farther than the fourth
Jump.
Mrs w. Haggin Perry Of Bon
View, Gotham. Va. one of the Old
Dcminions expert horsewomen, also
Is a member Of The Stars, team.
Wife Of the noted Virginia sports
man, w. Haggin Perry, she has ex-
hibited the celebrated Perry string
at all prominent shows with marked
success. Their famous champion,
Cornish FILLS, generally regarded as
the top hunter Of 1941, was ridden
to his many tricolors by Mrs. Perry.
For this particular team contest,
Mrs. Perry has just acquired Thun-
der Boy, a great l8-hands chestnut
gelding that has been one of the
seasons most highly favored open
champions Of the East. They should
be winning combination.
Sara Bosley Is Noted Rider.
Sara Bosley of the Maryland Bos-
leys, celebrated family OF crack
horsewomen and horsemen, also is
one OF the prominent riders in
cluded in The Stars team. Sara
comes by her superb riding ability
rightly. Her father, John Bosley,
is a noted trainer of race horses:
her mother, the late Elizabeth C..
Bosley, was the owner and trainer
OF the famous thoroughbred Chase
Me, one Of the greatest race horses
OF all time, and her brother, John
bosley Sd. Is an outstanding gen.
tleman steeplechase rider. Miss
Bosley will ride her imposing open
jumper champion, Prince Tex, that
won the Harrisburg open cham
pionship so impressively.
Probably at no other time In the
long history of horse shows in
America has such team of
great horsewomen and horses been
brought together. And it is this
writer's opinion that it will take
supermen and superhorses to beat
The Stars team.