On a frigid winter’s day, 80-year-old harness trainer and driver James R. Porter won Thursday's third race at Freehold Raceway with a horse owned and bred by 80-year-old Eugene Landy.
The victory was the first for five-year-old Buenos Aires Lady, who paid $17 to win. The trotting mare covered the mile in 2:03.3 with Porter at the lines, prevailing by a head in a three-way photo.
Porter, who turned 80 on November 12, opted to drive the mare himself because he never had problems with her breaking stride during training sessions. In their first start together on December 12, they finished second. Thursday’s victory was their second outing together.
Porter, who hails from Smyrna, Delaware, has 2,134 career driving victories, but this was his first since 2011 and only the fourth time he has taken the lines in the past two years.
"I just have to keep talking to her the whole mile," said Porter. "If she doesn't know I'm back there, she gets nervous and runs."
Back in the winner’s circle at Freehold to celebrate the victory was local owner Eugene Landy, who turned 80 on November 6.
Buenos Aires Lady, who is by Revenue and out of Fandango Hall, was born at the Landy family’s Congress Hill Farm in Monroe Township, New Jersey.
(With files from SBOANJ)