by Ellen Harvey, Harness Racing Communications

Freehoold, NJ — Harness racing will say “au revoir” this year to a few dozen 14-year-old horses facing mandatory retirement when they turn 15 on the universal equine birthday of January 1.

Monticello Raceway will host a $7,500 race for 14-year-olds on the afternoon of Dec. 31. There are five horses expected to start right now in the Au Revoir race and others may join them.

Two horses local to Monticello that are expected to compete are Mr Touring and Jaccamo A.

Geri Schwarz photo

Mr Touring has won 61 races in his career and banked $445,235.

Trainer/owner Ricky Maher Jr. of Port Jervis, N.Y., plans to enter the carrot-loving Mr Touring, the horse referred to as “The Old Man” around the Maher Stable. Mr Touring has 34 starts and six wins this year, for a lifetime total of 378 starts, 61 wins, 44 seconds and 44 thirds. His lifetime earnings are $445,235.

Maher says inherent soundness has been the key to Mr Touring’s long tour in racing.

“That’s one thing, no major leg problems, knock on wood,” Maher said. “This is the best he’s been feeling since he’s been racing, no matter who drove him.”

Mike McCauley of Kauneonga Lake, N.Y., will send out his Australian-born pacer, Jaccamo A, in the Au Revoir race as well.

“He’s a good boy,” McCauley said. “I bought him two years ago from Betsy Phillips; she used to ride him. He always just tries. He’s very nice, very gentle. He’s like a pet. I’m going to give him away to a good home and I’m going to ride him soon and try him out.”

McCauley says Jaccamo doesn’t need any special routine. Jaccamo has won 57 times in his career, counting races in both the U.S. and abroad, and earned $244,447.

“I have a farm seven miles from the raceway and, basically, I just race him,” McCauley said. “He’s happy, he has his own acre paddock in the back, no training between races. He’s very sound, he has 2-year-old legs, it’s unbelievable. Everyone I show him to they say I can’t believe it, he could race til — forget about it — he’s perfect.”

McCauley is hoping his easygoing horse with the “2-year-old legs” is able to compete in amateur races next year.

“That would be very, very good,” he said. (In his most recent race) he got a fifth, but he had the six hole and he was pushed back behind the seven and you wouldn’t believe it. Then finally when he got loose, he caught right up to the ones in front. He doesn’t wear a headpole, not any equipment hardly. He likes to race. He would be beautiful for an amateur, he’s nice to drive.

“He’s good size, big not monstrous, but he wears 59-1/2 inch hopples. When you watch him go, he floats, he springs and he’s so pretty, tucks his neck in and he’s pretty.”

Ned Urbanski of Sayreville, N.J., trains and drives and cheerleads for Sinbad, another 14-year-old, who he describes as “a professional” who doesn’t need any special attention. The winner of $548,613 with 66 wins in 287 starts is, “just normal, jogs and trains between every race,” he says.

John Sanucci photo

Sinbad raced every year from age 2 to 14, earning $548,613 in 287 starts.

“He loves what he’s doing, he loves to race,” Urbanski added. “I tried to put him out in the paddock. His paddock is out on a turn (at Crystal Brook Farm in Colts Neck) and I can’t keep him out there that long because he races everything that goes around. He works harder out in the field. He just wants to race, he loves to race.”

Urbanski, who has owned the horse for the past year, admires Sinbad’s longevity.

“It’s strange for a horse to race every year,” he noted. “He raced every year from his 2-year-old year (1998) to mandatory retirement. He’s raced every year of his life. He raced at 18 different racetracks, had 54 different drivers, 24 different trainers. He’s won with 23 different drivers, 14 different trainers and this is what I think is great — in his lifetime he was claimed 11 times for a grand total of $254,000.

“On February 17 of 2001, he actually was claimed at the Meadowlands for $100,000. Sinbad won over $126,000 at the Meadowlands two years in a row (2000 and 2001). If he was a baseball player, when you look at the back of his bubblegum card, he’d be in the Hall of Fame.”

Sinbad might as well be called Singood, according to Urbanski.

“He’s a pussycat, a big, big pussycat,” he said. “He’s a big, round, solid horse.”

Sinbad is expected to compete in an amateur race on December 10 at the Meadowlands before joining his fellow 14-year-olds in the Au Revoir race.

Urbanski already has a retirement plan in place for the horse that “everybody who had him, he made money for and nobody has a bad thing to say.” Sinbad will move south to Delaware after his racing days are over on Dec. 31.

“Sandy Crissman’s father had him as a racehorse. He got deathly ill and she slept outside his stall for two weeks and nursed him back to health. She saw us one night at the Meadowlands and came up to him and hugged him, crying and she begged me. I said, ‘No problem. When he retires, he’s yours.’ She has a farm and he’s going to be a riding horse — she rode him already.”