Standardbred racehorses that were approaching their 15th birthdays garnered much press late in 2017, be it on the Standardbred Canada website or within the pages of SC’s award-winning TROT Magazine. Although, there is one harness horse that will again buck the mandatory retirement age and will compete in his 16-year-old season in 2018.
To read some of the coverage for the 14-year-old horses, please click these links.
Terry Burstyk, trainer of the Blissfull Hall horse Primetime Bliss, has informed Trot Insider that his battle-tested bay will again be competing in pari-mutuel events during this calendar year.
I'm pleased to say they (the racing commission in British Columbia) are going to allow ‘Prime Time’ to race until the end of the meet (Fraser Downs’ meet) as a 16-year-old,” said Terry, who conditions the starter of 338 career races for owner Debbie Burstyk of Surrey, BC.
Fraser Downs’ current meet is scheduled to feature live Standardbred racing every Friday and Sunday until April 13.
From 338 career starts, Prime Time Bliss has recorded 60 wins, 46 second-place finishes and 33 thirds. His career purse earnings currently sit at $334,484. In addition to one qualifier, Prime Time Bliss made 20 trips behind the starting gate in 2017 and notched two wins and a pair of third-place efforts.
Although it is definitely not a regular occurrence, no less than 15 other Standardbreds have raced into their 16-year-old seasons in North America since 1992.
A list of the 15 aforementioned Standardbreds appear below.
Horse
• Year of 16-year-old season
• Number of pari-mutuel starts made in 16-year-old season
Reach For The Sky
• 1992
• 4
Commodity
• 1992
• 4
Frosty Affair
• 2003
• 17
Fine Kettle
• 2001
• 12
Another Blizzard
• 2005
• 2
Incredible K
• 1999
• 9
Jims Little Red
• 2014
• 6
Lemon Pepper
• 2015
• 0 (Qualified)
Famous Oscar
• 2017
• 5
Towners April
• 2010
• 0 (Qualified)
Yankee Minstrel
• 2010
• 2
Rapunzels Star
• 1999
• 3
Copper Stopper
• 2009
• 6
Seahawk Lynch
• 2008
• 1
Yankee Joanne
• 2008
• 2