Age: Another Number in Racing
By Mark van Deventer
The Last Duke s/s 98 earned a neat figure in a sprint at the Vaal on Saturday. He raced handy in a short field and sustained a good gallop throughout. But he was somewhat fortunate that
Zalatoris s/s 97 + managed to get caught in a pocket on the rail and came up narrowly shy.
Vanakkam s/s 97 is a promising sprinter. He too showed good speed down the inside tracking
Rafa Bay s/s 93 before asserting his authority inside the final 200m.
Elegantrix s/s 97 produced the day’s other notable performance. Interestingly,
Rifle Queen s/s 95 stuck to her station on the outside running rail and after going well clear was only just caught by
Elegantrix who benefitted from an inside passage.
Adam Marcus’’
Al About Al s/s 90 won as an eight-year-old at Durbanville. Marcus commented on how unusual it is for horses of that age to still be racing in SA and used the example of Dubai where quality older horses are kept in training.
Marcus said that All About Al is one of the freshest horses in his yard, still loves to race and will continue to do so as long as he enjoys competing. The handicap system (properly applied) enables horses to remain competitive at a given level for many moons.
The convention in SA is to call it a day when horses are five or six years old - maybe more horses in the “veteran” category should be kept in training - assuming they still relish racing and are paying their way for loyal owners.
Here are some notable achievements by thoroughbred “elders” putting youngsters in the shade:
- Sonny Somers: Won two handicap chases in Britain at age 18 in 1980 when trained by Fred Winter.
- Wild Aster: Won three races in one week in 1919 at the age of 18.
- Peter Simple: Won the Grand National steeplechase in 1853 at the age of 15.
- Creggmore Boy – The oldest horse to take part in a race, clocked in 4th in a handicap at Cartmel in 1962, aged 22. His last victory came a few years prior, aged a sprightly, 17.
- Kasbah Bliss & John Henry – Kasbah Bliss and legendary American horse, John Henry won Group-1 races when 9 years old. Between them, they won the Prix Du Cadran and Arlington Million, in France and the US. ·
- Yavana’s Pace & Alcazar – Yavana’s Pace and Alcazar are the joint oldest Group-1 winners to date, aged 10. Yavana’s Pace won the Credit Suisse Private Banking Pokal (now Grosser Preis von Bayern) in Germany, whilst Alcazar, a specialist stayer trained by Hughie Morrison won the French St. Leger (Prix Royal Oak) in 2005.
Bio: Mark van Deventer has been refining his speed figures for thoroughbred racehorses over three decades. A full-time racing journalist since 2013, he’s known for his integrity and imaginative handicapping, adapting the principles of Andrew Beyer’s figures to South African racecourses.
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