Some of you may remember Port Conway Lane. He retired at the mandatory at the time (not sure if it still is) 14. He had over 100 starts and his second career was in the hunt field. He lived a very very long time. Big gorgeous grey horse. Wish more horses stuck around longer these days.
Those little rises instead of brush hurdles are a hoot. I only wish we had them here in the States.
Page Two, a 13 yr old, just won his 20th race in his 117th lifetime start at Fairmount Park today. It was on TVG. Old boy looked good doing it too.
Last year’s Arlington Million (G1-T) winner at the age of 9 is still cooking and getting ready to serve up a yummy 2007 season 
CBS Sports/DRF May 15, 2007 "The Tin Man still eager at 9 "
A 9-year-old gelding, The Tin Man worked a mile Tuesday at Hollywood Park, after which trainer Richard Mandella said the multimillionaire is on target for a May 28 comeback in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile.
Mandella expects The Tin Man to run well in the Shoemaker, but warned, “I haven’t trained him to death; he might need the first race back.”
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;2442167]
Last year’s Arlington Million (G1-T) winner at the age of 9 is still cooking and getting ready to serve up a yummy 2007 season
CBS Sports/DRF May 15, 2007 "The Tin Man still eager at 9 "[/QUOTE]
Ouch - The Tin Man will be facing one of my favorites and a comparable youngster: Kip Duville, a mere 4-yr old. A tough pick between the two.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Mandella-trained 9-year-old The Tin Man worked a mile Monday in 1:38.20 and will be among the favorites in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile. A field of nine is taking shape for the $300,000 race on Monday [May 28th], including likely favorite Kip Deville.
The Shoemaker probable field, listed in order of likely odds, with jockeys, is: Kip Deville, Richard Migliore; The Tin Man, Victor Espinoza; Chinese Dragon, Mike Smith; Right Special, Brice Blanc; Willow O Wisp, Joe Talamo; Charmo, Martin Pedroza; Becrux, David Flores; Vega’s Lord, Michael Baze; and Get Funky, Jose Valdivia.
Kip is comming off a Grade 2 and Grade 1 win in just the last two months (Apr 13 and Mar 3 respectively); where as The Tin Man won his last two races both Grade 1 races but they were back in 9/2006 and 8/2006.
This guy:
Pedigree: 5 - Dream Counter, Chestnut Gelding, 12, by Geiger Counter - Dream Regally by Vice Regent
Belonged to some friends when he was a 2 year old. He got claimed/sold and went to California where he was quite good on the Santa Anita downhill turf course at 5 furlongs. He just won one at Penn National on Wednesday.
He’s a chestnut with lots of chrome.
Nine and fine, baby!
The Tin Man, while youthful in his lifetime starts (a mere 28 of them) he is 9 years old and damn it after today (5/28) he is now 3-0 in his last three starts and all in Grade 1 races.
That is fantastic!
People b*tch about old horses not running well he’s been knocking the stuffing out of the young guns so there! I love seeing the “old timers” showing how its done.
No stinking oil needed as the rust hasn’t appeared on this California runner, bred in Kentucky!
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;2464401]
The Tin Man, while youthful in his lifetime starts (a mere 28 of them) he is 9 years old and damn it after today (5/28) he is now 3-0 in his last three starts and all in Grade 1 races.
That is fantastic!
People b*tch about old horses not running well he’s been knocking the stuffing out of the young guns so there! I love seeing the “old timers” showing how its done.
No stinking oil needed as the rust hasn’t appeared on this California runner, bred in Kentucky![/QUOTE]
He will return, but to not quite to Oz this Saturday - June 30th - to Hollywood Park. The Grade 2 $250,000 American Invitational Handicap will have The Tin Man back in action and tote weight of 123 lbs.
Richard Mandella tried to talk himself out of starting The Tin Man in Saturday’s $250,000 American Handicap at Hollywood Park. But after noting the attitude the 9-year-old gelding has displayed in recent training, Mandella gave in.
“It would be a waste of time not to run him,” Mandella said on Sunday.
Already a popular horse because of his longevity and success, The Tin Man further endeared himself to knowledgeable racing fans around the world with his victory in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Breeders’ Cup Mile on May 29. It was a remarkable way to launch a season, coming against a strong field, and it pushed The Tin Man’s career record to 13 wins in 28 starts and earnings of $3,365,780.
The Tin Man won the Grade 2 American Handicap last year as an even-money favorite and will be favored to do so again on Saturday. The race is run over 1 1/8 miles on turf, a better distance for The Tin Man than the mile of the Shoemaker. The other probable starters include Becrux, Get Funky, Right Special and Willow O Wisp.
The Tin Man will carry top weight of 123 pounds.
“He’s feeling too good,” Mandella said. “He’s happy and he’s in good shape.”
Mandella has planned a two-race summer campaign for The Tin Man - the American and the Arlington Million at Arlington Park on Aug. 11. The plan worked to perfection last year as The Tin Man swept the two races.
“I thought of training him up to the Arlington Million, because he’s so good off a layoff,” Mandella said. “But after this race, I have six weeks to the Million.”
The American Handicap is one of four stakes on Saturday’s program, which is highlighted by Lava Man’s attempt at a record-equaling third consecutive win in the Hollywood Gold Cup.
Two great “old men” running at Hollywood Park! I wish I could be there as it will be a great time.
So man of the oldies can really show you how it’s done. Most of our guys enjoyed their jobs into their later years too and retired sound and sane. Hubby just got an 8 year old gelding named Expected Hour. Won the Victoria Stakes on his track debut and Second in the Colin Stakes. His form is at home, but I’ve been walking him, and he’s just class. They ran the vet up and down him at the farm, and he’s sound and bored, so back he goes to do what he likes to do, and hopefully smile for the camera some more.
12 year old Dream Counter runs tonight at Penn National in the 3rd. He’s 2nd choice on the morning line & it’s a distance and surface he likes.
I have a 9 yr old that is still going, he has had (I think) 52 Starts, 16 Wins, 8 Places, 10 Shows. He’s run 6 times this year, and won 3.
Proven Cure “kicked” out of Texas
Oh come on that’s just garbage! Racing commentator, Gary West, rightfully slams a Texas law that bars one of our battle tested warriors from racing. 13-yr old Proven Cure has been mentioned before on this board as a horse that gets plenty of love, attention, and rest … but comes back competitively because he wants to!
On July 4th, he would have attempted to become the first horse in the last 30 years to have won a stakes race at age 13. He returned from a 21-week layoff to race April 20 at Lone Star, finishing second, a head behind the winner in a $34,000 allowance race at five furlongs on turf. Not good enough for the officials of the State 
Dallas FW Star-Telegram July 2, 2007 “Silly rule keeps great horse off our track”
The article by Gary West in its entirety
If he were a litigious sort, more interested in lawsuits than racing, he could slam the state with an age-discrimination claim. Well, if he weren’t a racehorse, he could.
Texas won’t allow Proven Cure to race at Lone Star Park, but not because of a lack of talent or accomplishment or even because of inactivity and safety. No, Proven Cure can’t race Wednesday because, according to the bureaucrats who regulate the sport in Texas, he’s too old.
Never mind that he won a Lone Star stakes last year, or that 2 1/2 months ago he finished second here, losing in a photo finish, or that just five weeks ago he ran fourth in a stakes race at Canterbury Park in Minnesota.
Waving their rule book as if it had come down from Mt. Sinai, the regulators say that at 13, Proven Cure is too old to race, and so that’s it. Once again the confederacy of ignorance and authority defeats an alliance of reason and common sense.
In the end, the fans lose an opportunity to see one of the sport’s most admirable performers in the $50,000 Lone Star Park Turf Stakes.
And there’s the problem: The governing bureaucracy, the regulators and the rules themselves that supervise racing in Texas neither protect nor serve the fans. The fans are generally ignored.
Texas rules state that a horse older than 12 can race here only if he has won in the preceding 12 months. Proven Cure last won 14 months ago, taking the Littlebitlively Stakes at Lone Star. So he’s ineligible.
John Locke, who trains Proven Cure, characterized the Texas rule as “extremely silly.” Locke, who, by the way, is also a veterinarian, had been led to believe that the rule was changed.
And as he prepared to enter Proven Cure for Wednesday’s race, he found out otherwise.
But why is there such a “silly” rule? Why isn’t it left to the state veterinarian and the stewards to determine if a horse, regardless of age, is physically and safely able to compete?
The rule, I presume, represents some bureaucrat’s misguided effort to become the champion and protector of geriatric horses, as if the state’s stable areas overflow with scurrilous rogues eager to bring their tired and debilitated 13-year-olds out of retirement. And so there’s another problem: The state’s regulators and rules generally begin with the assumption that everyone in racing, or nearly everyone, is a villain.
[b]The irony is that Proven Cure is owned by William A Reed, a Kansas City physician whose care for his horses is renown. At his 115-acre farm, Reed gives his horses an annual three-month vacation whether they need it or not. And so many of his horses continue to race at ripe ages.
His Perfect Drift, for example, has raced in every Breeders’ Cup Classic since 2002 and at 8 is still performing in major stakes. And since his 11th birthday, Proven Cure has won eight of 16 starts, including three stakes sprinting on the turf.[/b]
“It’s amazing,” said Bryan Reed, Dr. Reed’s son, about Proven Cure’s ineligibility. “He’s probably accomplished more over the last three years than any turf sprinter in the region… He deserves his shot.”
Proven Cure, Reed explained, is one of those rare horses who seem most happy at the racetrack. That’s the only reason he’s still racing, but the rules say he can’t race in Texas.
And that’s worse than silly.
And yet it’s perfectly fine to race a “2” yo, even if that “2” yo hasn’t even had its actual second birthday yet. :rolleyes:
If you want to be a “champion and protector” of horses, Texas, change that rule.
Golden Hare, once owned by singer Toby Keith
A positive article on an 8-yr old winner in the bottom ranks.
Courier-Journal July 2, 2007 “Claiming a reward”
The whole article is good stuff, but here is an excerpt:
This from a horse who had lost 20 straight races when Blasi claimed him.
“I’ve got breeding rights, they told me,” Asmussen said of the castrated horse. “It’s all good will. He’s so much fun to have. Believe me, I owe them more than that.”
“He’s like a stakes horse,” said Buckley, who surprised Blasi this week with a batch of Golden Hare ballcaps. “He’s all class. He doesn’t think he’s 8 years old. When I rode him (at Indiana Downs), I felt the pressure of the whole barn. He is the barn pet.”
Blasi calls Golden Hare “my Curlin.”
“He’s the second-best horse Steve has in his barn,” quipped Robby Albarado, who is Curlin’s jockey and is 2 for 2 on Golden Hare. “Scott might say he’s the best one. He is such a confident horse. When he warms up, he thinks he’s the man. And he shows it, just keeps pounding them at that level. And they claimed him for $3,500. You look at him physically, he’s good-looking, bows his head. He warms up like a really good horse in the post parade, like a Curlin-type horse.”
Golden Hare is now, in his last 12 starts, 11-1-0
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;2538606]
A positive article on an 8-yr old winner in the bottom ranks.
Courier-Journal July 2, 2007 “Claiming a reward”
The whole article is good stuff, but here is an excerpt:
Golden Hare is now, in his last 12 starts, 11-1-0[/QUOTE]
Neat article!
Totally hijacking the thread… but I haven’t heard anything about Toby Keith’s Dream Walkin’ Stables in a few years. Is he still running any horses?
[QUOTE=Texarkana;2538807]
Totally hijacking the thread… but I haven’t heard anything about Toby Keith’s Dream Walkin’ Stables in a few years. Is he still running any horses?[/QUOTE]
It appears so - example, June 2006: scroll down to Harriett Lane
Oldest active thoroughbred racing in North America, starts Sunday
Retirement home? Who needs a retirement home - happy to be on the track at least one more time!
DRF 8-3-07 “Hermosilla, a fan favorite at age 15”
… the $2,500 claiming sprint will probably be one of the final career starts for Hermosilla, who is believed to be the oldest Thoroughbred racing in North America. The horse launched his career in 1994, when he won a maiden race at Hollywood Park under Chris McCarron. The following season, Hermosilla ran fourth in the $100,000 Pomona Derby. His class has been evident ever since.
Hermosilla won four races last year at the age of 14, and has finished second, third, and fourth in his three starts in 2007. The son of Afleet has won 14 races, 7 since the age of 13.
“He’s has been running here for at least three years that I can think of,” said Trina Fackrell, racing secretary at Wyoming Downs, which is located about 80 miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah.
“The crowd, the fanbase here in Evanston, just absolutely loves this horse. When they see him come out in the post parade, they generally cheer for him. When he comes back, whether he wins the race or not, they cheer.”
Hermosilla will run in the seventh race on Sunday (Augu 5) at Wyoming Downs in Evanston, Wyo.
Story said when the meet ends Aug. 19, Hermosilla could race one more time, during the Elko fair meet in Nevada. He will then retire to Story’s farm, where he has befriended the trainer’s 1-year-old son, Parker.
“He’ll probably be a good mountain horse,” said Story. “I’ll probably go hunting on him and stuff.”
But the first order of business, he said, is for Hermosilla to win what will be his 73rd career start Sunday.
Good luck Hermosilla!
My 9 yo won twice at Colonial this summer, so he is 4 for 8 this year…
Flash44 - that’s great! A happy and successful runner at 9 is all good
Regarding the oldest active running TB in North America: Hermosilla took 2nd behind Hedge Fund Harry in the 7th race today in Wyoming. Not bad for the 15 yr old!
Worth noting - Golden Hare (see below) won the $50,000 Claiming Crown Express at Ellis Park. Happy as a lark since moving to the new barn, he is now in his last 13 tries 12-1-0!
