Typically anything to do with the number 100 is quite the pinnacle.
When the Seattle Mariners won 116 games in a 162-game season, it became the record for the most wins in an MLB season. If you live to be 100 years old, it is an admirable achievement of health and prosperity. In harness racing, if a horse reaches 100 lifetime wins, that too is an admirable achievement. For 12 year-old pacing mare Rustys Flying, who is just one victory away from win number 100, that achievement would everything and more to her owner Glenn Tarver.
On Saturday (June 20) Rustys Flying has the chance to enter harness racing's history books as the first modern day pacing mare to record 100 wins on North American soil. Lady Netty N won 100 races during her career -- 99 in North America and one downunder, before starting her racing career here.
Rustys Flying races on Saturday at Kawartha Downs just outside Peterborough, Ont. She's the 2-1 morning line favourite in her Saturday test, leaving from post four with driver Reg Gassien aboard.
A daughter of Artiscape - Flying Free, Rustys Flying began her career in 2010 at Harrington Raceway for trainer Robert Myers. Since then, she has raced across 16 different racetracks for 15 different trainers, averaging nearly a thousand dollars per start with a record of 343-99-56-53 and $325,523 in earnings. Her 20 wins in 2019 was the highest total posted by any Standardbred competing in North America.
Tarver, who acquired the mare in December of 2019, is over the moon with the mare's accomplishment. The longtime racehorse owner explained to Trot Insider how he got his start in the harness racing industry decades ago.
“When I was 16 years old I went over to Greenwood Raceway because I didn’t have a summer job and I asked a few trainers if I could be a groom and finally someone hired me and that person was Doug Palmer. I didn’t know much about horses, but I learned in a hurry. I realized I wasn’t going to make much money grooming horses so I went to university and became a teacher then a Vice-Principal and then a Principal. I’ve owned horses off and on for 40 years but I’ve become more involved with owning horses since retiring.”
Since taking a bigger dip into horse ownership, Tarver now owns a handful of horses with trainer Dave Gibson. He credits Gibson for Rustys Flying's success, including figuring out some of her kinks.
“She’s a quirky mare, she has her moments from time to time. Dave has done a very good job with her and she is less quirky than she used to be. One thing about her though is that I have never seen a horse that tries harder than her, there is no quit in her. She races through to the wire.”
Tarver, who not only is a longtime harness racing fanatic but also a rugby enthusiast, thoroughly enjoys getting to be part of both sports.
“I’m 77 years old now and I don’t play anymore but I played rugby for over 20 years. Through all my years of teaching and being a Principal I coached, and I still coach high school rugby today.
“I try to get out to the races about every week,” Tarver continued. “Kawartha is about an hour away from me or so but I try to go every week to watch, I love it. It is a lot of fun watching Rusty race.”
While Rustys Flying has proved to be a profitable purchase for Tarver, it is her blue-collar resume that has won over her owner's heart.
“She has never earned a lot of money per race, she grinds out almost $1,000 per start and she's never won a stakes race or anything like that but she just keeps plugging along. It is an incredible accomplishment for her. She’s a blue-collar horse...she works hard for her money.”
Tarver has also entertained the idea of possibly someday getting to enjoy watching his beloved mare’s foals someday.
“She's 12 now and hopefully will race until she is 14,” he added. “I know 14 is kind of old for a mare to have her first foal but because we love her so much, I would really like to breed her if I am still her owner when that day comes.”
To view the entries for Saturday's card at Kawartha Downs, click the following link: Saturday Entries - Kawartha Downs.
With allowances, Rustys
With allowances, Rustys Flying will be racing for a $15,625 claiming price tonight. In 343 previous starts, nearly all of them in claiming races, this is the highest claiming price that she has ever raced for.