Ratchford Elated With Century Farroh

While harness racing headlines are typically dominated by three-year-old Standardbreds, four-year-old Century Farroh has more than earned his share of the spotlight, most recently being named Canada's Somebeachsomewhere Horse of the Year at Sunday's (Jan. 31) virtual O'Brien Awards.

"We expected that there was a good possibility that he would win the Aged Pacer of the Year, but we didn’t know about the Somebeachsomewhere award," Dave Ratchford, who owns Century Farroh with his wife, Marguerite, told the Cape Breton (N.S.) Post.

Now a two-time O'Brien Award winner after taking top honours among three-year-old pacers in 2019, Century Farroh turned it up a notch in 2020, winning four of 16 races, including two editions of the Preferred at Woodbine Mohawk Park, as well as the Dan Patch Stakes and the Breeders Crown Open Pace at Harrah's Hoosier Park.

And with $1.4 million banked in his career to date, the son of Mach Three and Beachy Girl has cemented himself one of the richest horses to campaign for Cape Breton-based connections — not bad for a $17,000 purchase from the London Selected Yearling Sale in October 2017. In fact, Century Farroh has just gotten better with age — winning the Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots Series as a two-year-old before graduating to the Gold Series and a few Grand Circuit appearances at three, and then achieving Canadian harness racing's highest achievement at four. To say the least, Ratchford was surprised by the level of success Century Farroh has achieved given his purchase price.

"Our budget that we used to buy him doesn't usually put us on that avenue," he explained. "In my estimation, he was less money than what he should have likely been at the sale, but we were just looking for an Ontario Sires Stakes competitor — we weren’t looking for a world-class horse of his nature, that’s for sure."

Dave and Marguerite Ratchford (fifth and sixth from left), pictured at the 2019 O'Brien Awards receiving Century Farroh's first O'Brien trophy.

What does 2021 hold for Century Farroh? It'll be hard to top a year like 2020, but trainer Dr. Ian Moore has the Ratchfords' champion back in training in preparation for a spring return to the races.

"From a financial point of view, he can likely make more money on the racetrack right now than he could in a stud barn," Ratchford explained, indicating that a stallion career could be in the cards for Century Farroh down the road. "If he goes to the stud barn and he’s what everyone hopes he might be as far as reproduction is concerned, it’s a different story all together."

For now, though, Ratchford is just delighted with his pacer's already long list of accomplishments ... highlighted by back-to-back O'Brien honours.

“It’s quite a big deal for sure, and we couldn’t be prouder of him.”