Pinkman Retired

It is somewhat ironic that while ‘Breaking Bad’ character Jesse Pinkman was making his much-anticipated return to the screen after a six-year hiatus, his Standardbred namesake, the 2015 Hambletonian winner Pinkman, was in the process of being retired.

One of Pinkman’s co-owners, Herb Liverman, broke the news via harnessracing.com’s ‘Harness Racing Weekend Preview.’

“He needs a rest and we decided it was time,” Liverman was quoted as saying. “He will be living out his days in Zanesville, Ohio, with the McClellands.”

Liverman co-owns the son of Explosive Matter along with Christina Takter, Joyce McClelland, and John and Jim Fielding. The connections had a tremendous run with the gelded bay, who climbed to the top of harness racing’s mountain and trotted to a 1:51, front-end win in the 2015 Hambletonian at the Meadowlands Racetrack.

Pinkman was a Dan Patch Award winner at ages two and three and counts the Canadian Trotting Classic, Kentucky Futurity, and Beal and Zweig memorials among his major victories in addition to the Hambletonian. O’Brien Award voters also gave Pinkman the nod as Canada’s three-year-old trotting colt of the year in 2015.

The seven-year-old retires having won 20 of his 74 lifetime starts. In addition to his victories, Pinkman also notched 17 second-place finishes and nine third-place efforts. His 1:51 Hambletonian clocking is his life’s mark, but, as the United States Trotting Association pointed out earlier this year, Pinkman could still roll with the world’s best trotters when he was in good form. In the fall of 2018 at the Red Mile, Pinkman trotted in 1:49.2 during Homicide Hunter’s 1:48.4 world record mile in the Allerage Open Trot.

Pinkman, pictured victorious in the 2015 Kentucky Futurity at the Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky.

Jimmy Takter conditioned Pinkman from his freshman season in 2014 through his six-year-old campaign in 2018. Takter retired from training at the end of 2018, and thus Pinkman relocated to the barn of Per Engblom. It was no secret that Pinkman had been troubled by chronic throat and breathing issues at points in his career – he made a total of only 14 starts at ages four and five.

“You have to take him for what he is,” Engblom said this past spring. “He’s an older horse and you can’t really push him. But if he’s feeling well, he will give you what he’s got.”

Pinkman raced a total of 18 times this year. The lone win of his seven-year-old campaign came at the Meadowlands and was clocked in 1:52.4. His quickest clocking of the season also came at the ‘Big M,’ where he trotted in 1:50.3 and finished second to Mission Accepted in the Vincennes. His last race came in the October 5 Allerage at the Red Mile, where he started from Post 10, was never a factor in the race, and finished up the track. Still, Pinkman trotted in 1:53.2 that day, but the connections knew that it was time.

Although career earnings differ depending on which side of the border you are on, Pinkman retires having banked just over $3 million in purses when it comes to Canadian numbers.

(With files from harnessracing.com and the USTA)