Banker Fretz Passes

He faced some of harness racing's best pacers, the likes of Cam Fella, Niatross and Abercrombie, and lived until the ripe old age of 37. Trot Insider has learned that iron-tough free-for-aller Banker Fretz passed away Tuesday at the farm of Barry & Debbie Bird in Harwood, Ont.

Banker Fretz enjoyed a long, healthy and happy retirement at Bird's Sutter Creek Farm, thanks to the loving care of friends and his vet Dr. John Sallaway. The Birds would also like to thank owners Garth Gordon & Betty Wright for entrusting them with the care of this wonderful horse for 26 years.

With 46 wins and $563,007 in career earnings, Banker Fretz was the richest son of sire Harold J. In February 2009, Trot Magazine published a feature on Banker Fretz, and that feature appears below.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of Banker Fretz.

Senior Fretz

These days, he might not immediately strike you as a superstar, this aged and shaggy bay gelding grazing quietly in a field in Harwood, Ontario, near the shores of Rice Lake. But though his glory days are decades past -- he’s now in the winter of his 34th year -- Banker Fretz still has a little swagger in his gait that says: “I did it MY way.”

Banker Fretz last set foot on a racetrack in 1985, yet trainer Garth Gordon says there are still a surprising number of people who remember the hard-knocking pacer who accumulated a record of 46-18-19 in 127 starts. Certainly the gelding, co-owned throughout his career by Gordon and his dentist, competed in some illustrious company. “We raced against Niatross in an invitational,” Gordon says. “I think it was 1982, at Greenwood. We were third to him.”

“He also raced against Fan Hanover, and Abercrombie. And I’m sure we raced against Cam Fella as well, but we never beat him, I know that!”

Gordon purchased Banker Fretz as a yearling in 1976. “It was at the old Liberty Bell sale,” he recalls. “I had a New Zealand horse that I sold to Gord Waples for $11,000. So I went down to buy one yearling with the money. I kept looking at these Harold J’s, and I came home with Banker for $10,000.”

Gordon chose wisely – Banker Fretz turned out to be Harold J’s most illustrious offspring and his top money-earner. A son of Worthy Boy out of Lady Scotland, by Scotland, Harold J himself was a pacer born of trotting bloodlines, who earned $159,179 and set a lifetime mark of 1:57.4 in 1963. He sired a number of useful six-figure earners, but only Banker Fretz managed to break the $500,000 barrier, and his speed mark of 1:56 was one of Harold J’s best as well.

Banker Fretz was also the only standout among his dam Julie Barmin’s eight offspring. By the Tar Heel sire, Thorpe Hanover, out of an Adios mare named Adios Gertie, Julie Barmin herself never saw a harness, thanks to a bad hip, says Gordon. “They bred her at two, and she had Banker Fretz at three,” he recalls. “Dana Irving bred him and named him after his bank manager.”

Julie Barmin later had three other foals by Harold J, but only one of those, Friendly Banker, made it to the races, earning a grand total of $2,172 for Gordon, who had purchased him in the hopes of lightning striking twice. “He was pretty useless,” the trainer admits with a laugh.

Julie Barmin’s last foal, Ralphs Jewel, arrived in 1985 and was durable if not profitable, starting 98 times and earning a grand total of $13,779. In total, of the $582,896 earned by Julie Barmin’s offspring, Banker Fretz is responsible for all but $19,889 of it.

“He was a great horse for us,” says Gordon. “I don’t think I ever found another one as good. He paid the bills, and he did it the hard way. He never raced for big purses. In fact, the highest purse we ever had in the invitationals was $11,500, and I think the biggest purse we ever went for was $40,000, in Ottawa. He earned $563,007 the hard way. A horse like him today would probably make that much in a single season.”

What stands out most about Banker Fretz, however, might not be his six-figure bankroll, but rather his ornery temperament. “He was awful to break,” Gordon chuckles. “He kicked and fought and was just a handful to work around. I ended up gelding him in June of his two-year-old year, and it helped in settling him down. But he never got to the races as a two-year-old – he wasn’t developed enough. He was awful hard to gait when I was breaking him, too. He would never pace free-legged.”

The Banker finally made his first start in February 1978, as a three-year-old. It was less than auspicious. He broke, and had to re-qualify, but ended up making $130,000 at three, once he got going.

“In the fall of his three-year-old year at Mohawk,” Gordon recalls, “he was in an invitational pace where he was third to Abercrombie and Flight Director – that was pretty good company.” With an inside post in the next two invitationals, he won both of them.

“He won his first start back at four, in February,” adds Gordon, “and I sent him to The Meadowlands, where John Campbell drove him in an invitational pace – John was just an up-and-comer then. He was second there, but shortly afterwards he came up with a knee problem and we lost most of the rest of his four-year-old year. He came back late in the fall and won an invitational pace at Mohawk for the second year in a row – in fact he won that race at three, four, five, six, seven, and eight years of age.”

It wasn’t the only serial victory for the gritty gelding. “There was the Canuck Cup, May 24th weekend in Ottawa,” Gordon remembers. “He won that at six, seven, and eight. By the time he was eight he was dealing with three broken splint bones – two on one front leg, one on the other – and he only ended up being a last-minute entry. He was parked every step of that mile and still won it. That was one of his best efforts ever.”

Banker Fretz continued to earn his keep, and then some, until soundness issues forced his retirement at age 10. “His splint bones kept cracking, and he had some other little problems,” Gordon says. “I never raced him in the claimers. I never wanted to cheapen him.

“So when it came time to retire him, I sent him to Barry and Deb Bird’s farm in Harwood, and Barry put him out with the broodmares. I’ve known Barry all my life and they gave him a nice home. He’s the master of the mares.”

“I didn’t think I’d be feeding him for 23 years when I took him,” jokes Barry, “but we’re glad to have him. He’s in exceptional condition for his age -- never so much as had a cough. He’s very low-maintenance.”

These days, Banker’s main occupation is as a baby-sitter extraordinaire. “We wean all the foals with him,” remarks Deb Bird. “He’s a great ­protector. He still runs with them – he can’t keep up but he sure tries! One of his claims to fame is that he weaned ($3.7 million earner) Boulder Creek.

“When he’s not with the weanlings, he’s turned out with Sutter Creek, who was our first horse. Garth picked her out for us and we named the farm after her; she’s 22 now and her last foal, Capilano Creek, raced in the Grassroots this year.

“The two of them are just the same in temperament; they deserve each other. Neither of them can be caught if they don’t want to come in. It’s embarrassing when the farrier comes!”

“We try to bring him in at night in the winter,” agrees Barry, “but if he doesn’t want to be caught, forget about it. He doesn’t much like it inside. When it gets cold enough he’ll come to the gate to get his mash. Every morning, he bangs on the door until we let him out.

“Periodically, Garth will come out and visit him, or Mrs. Wright, who is the widow of the dentist who was half-owner. She’s one of the few people who can catch him! She brings him apples and carrots, and it does your heart good to see him with her.

“He’s got a lot of class, old Banker,” Barry grins. “He does things his way. He was a champion on the track, and now he’s a champion in the field and in our hearts. It’s a pleasure to look out and see him every day.”

“I was there this summer and said hello to him,” laughs Gordon, “but he turned his back on me. When you brush him, he tries to step on your foot. He knows he was the best.”