Monticello Raceway would like to remind all horsepeople not to hang up the harnesses of those 14-year-olds just

yet.

According to Eric Warner, Monticello Raceway’s director of racing, the 'Mighty M' will again offer a final race for aged veterans in late December, an event which has gone by the name of the Au Revoir Pace.

“We will be racing on New Years Eve Day, December 31, but if a date earlier in the final week of December works out better for all concerned, we’ll offer the Au Revoir on a day when it might be more convenient for everybody,” Warner said.

In what was believed to have been an industry first, Monticello Raceway presented the initial 'Au Revoir Pace' for 14-year-olds on December 31, 1991 which turned out to be a great attraction.

“That event was originally slated as a pace, but had one trotter competing in it,” Warner explained. “The New York State Racing and Wagering Board gave us permission to have a mixed field in order to fill the race and we’re hoping that they’ll do the same again this year if we can’t get seven or eight horses of the same gait.”

Every year after the inaugural Au Revoir, the Mighty M offered a race for 14-year-olds in late December, but only on three other occasions was Warner able to get enough old-timers together to present a betting race.

“I know of a few trotters that are currently racing in the Billings Series that are 14 years old and maybe they will stay around to compete in our Au Revoir,” Warner added.

According to the rules and regulations set forth by the United States Trotting Association, the governing body of the standardbred sport south of the border, less than two per cent of all horses racing are 14-year-olds, and when they become 15—on New Years Day—the can no longer compete regularly in pari-mutuel races.

People that own a 14-year old trotter or pacer that would like have their horse compete in an Au Revoir Pace at Monticello during the last week of December are urged to contact Warner in the racing office by calling 845-794-4100 (Ext. 557) or they can call the raceway’s publicity department at Ext. 455.

(Monticello)