It isn’t often when you see a 15-year-old Standardbred participating in pari-mutuel races – hardly ever, actually. Although, fans of harness racing in British Columbia have been witnessing an elder statesman of sorts knock heads on a handful of occasions this year.
The large majority of Standardbred racing jurisdictions have rules which state that horses must retire after their 14-year-old season. Under certain circumstances, British Columbia is an exemption to that norm, and it has allowed fans to see the Deamons Bell gelding Spider M race in a rare 15-year-old campaign.
Owned by Janice Wheeler of Surrey and trained by Kenneth Dorman, Spider M had made 276 career starts once his 14-year-old season had come to a close. The brown gelding had won 30 races, recorded 25 second-place efforts, finished third 30 times, and banked over $200,000 in purse earnings.
Spider M won in 1:57.4f in 2013, and both his connections and the provincial racing judges saw enough out of his performances to allow him to race into a 15-year-old campaign this season.
Spider M has made six pari-mutuel starts this season and appears to have found the competition a bit tough, as he has yet to hit the board. Although, the veteran performer did recently pick up a piece of a purse during an October 10 contest at Fraser Downs – the second time he has gotten up for a piece this year.
“Nice to see 15-year-old horse Spider M get a small cheque (fifth) on Friday,” Harness Racing BC Executive Director Jackson Wittup wrote in his most recent column for the Cloverdale Reporter.
“Most jurisdictions in Canada require horses to retire at 14, but in B.C., if the judges feel the horse is sound and competitive they will allow a horse to race one more year.”
(With files from the Cloverdale Reporter)