Horse Of A Lifetime For 80-Year-Old Trainer-Owner

It would be a massive understatement to say that Putnam Force’s 1:55.2 winning mile over Truro Raceway in late December simply turned some heads

. The son of Force Of Life-Tooles Gold went an unheard of mile - the fastest ever in Atlantic Canada for the month of December.

He laid down fractions of 28.1 and 57.1 before driver Darren Crowe stepped on the accelerator to open up some ground before the three-quarter marker flashed up in 1:26.2, with href="http://trackit.standardbredcanada.ca/?op=QRAP&id=555984&display=D"
target="_blank">Putnams Force still only two lengths in front. He kicked home with a 29-second final panel, widening his lead to win by 14 lengths in the $1,225 class. It was his seventh lifetime win, and put his bankroll at $33,650 lifetime.

Owner Ross Toole was surprised with the free-legged victory from his three-year-old charge.

"He was fabulous," Toole said from his Truro, N.S., home. "I didn’t think he would go that fast. Darren (driver Darren Crowe) says after the race he could’ve went even more, he just did it easy."

Toole has owned the last three generations of this family. He bought Diamond Almahurst, Putnams Force’s grand-dam, in 1993, and then gave her to someone to be bred with the condition he got the first foal. She was Hawaiian Lightning mare Tooles Gold, who was an Atlantic Breeder’s Crown champion as a three-year-old. Then he sold the mare to breeder Shawn Putnam, and bought the first foal, Putnams Force, for $2,700 at the Truro yearling sale.

Both Tooles Gold and Diamond Almahurst showed talent pacing free-legged but Putnams Force was equipped with the hopples for his stakes campaign, as Toole feared he may make a break when racing for a decent purse. With the stakes season done for the horse, he qualified over Truro in 1:56.2, lowering his previous hoppled mark of 1:57, but made a break in his next start. He re-qualified soon after, and then won a conditioned race in 1:58.4 with Joey Green in the bike.

The Dec. 19 card was the last date of the year for Truro Raceway, which won’t open again until the Spring. Toole says he has been offered $20,000 for the horse on two separate occasions since the race, but Putnams Force is not for sale. He is going to keep the pacer with plans on racing him on the Maritime free-for-all circuit next summer.

"I’m 80 years old and I may never have another one that is this good," Toole says. "This is the best horse I’ve ever had. He’ll go even more next summer I hope."

The horse is currently still jogging but with no tracks operating in Nova Scotia, the closest place to race us across the Northumberland strait in Prince Edward Island but Toole is undecided whether he will make the journey. As for the horse racing outside the Maritimes, Toole and Putnams Force are inseparable.

"If I sent him away I would have to go with him."

(A Trot Insider exclusive by Nicholas Oakes)