by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Ken Weingartner

Freehold, NJ — In a few weeks, the career of 14-year-old pacer Tattler’s Jet will come to an end. And as the final chapter is written in the life of the fastest horse ever bred in Wisconsin, 71-year-old breeder/owner Dave Carter might have provided the most amusing summation of the tale, which also features 68-year-old trainer Gene Miller.

“We’re just two old guys and one old horse,” Carter said with a chuckle.

Carter has owned Tattler’s Jet for essentially his entire career, which has seen the gelding win 120 of 459 races and earn $324,735. His 120 victories rank No. 5 among all North American pacers born in the last 40 years and his career-best win time of 1:49.2, set in 2010 at Colonial Downs at the age of 12, made him the fastest horse ever to hail from Wisconsin.

In 2011, Tattler’s Jet and Carter received the James Laird Memorial Award for Excellence from the Wisconsin Harness Horse Association.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Carter said. “He’s a pretty tough old horse. It’s kind of bad we have to quit with him, but that’s the way it is.”

All harness racing horses face mandatory retirement at the end of their 14-year-old season, as mandated by U.S. Trotting Association rules. Tattler’s Jet was among 54 14-year-olds that made a least one start this year.

Coady Photography

Tattler’s Jet has won 120 races in 459 career starts.

Tattler’s Jet won his most recent start, Nov. 23 at Sports Creek Raceway in Michigan, finishing in a dead heat for victory with Mega Chips. He was scratched because of illness on Dec. 1, but Miller is hoping Tattler’s Jet will make one more start at Sports Creek before heading to Monticello for the “Au Revoir” race for 14-year-olds.

So far this year, Tattler’s Jet has won nine of 37 races and earned $21,192.

Tattler’s Jet, a son of Tattler’s Torpedo out of the mare Jodhpurs, saw his career get off to a slow start, mainly because of immaturity. He was winless in his first 30 starts before getting his first victory during the summer of his 4-year-old season.

“The first year (as a 2-year-old) he didn’t get going good so we only raced him one time,” said Carter, a retired paper mill worker who drove and trained Tattler’s Jet during the early part of his career. “The second year, he just didn’t try hard. He was kind of lazy and sat behind horses most of the time.

“They say Abercrombies get better as they age and Tattler’s Torpedo was by (sire) Abercrombie. That kind of gives you hope that they keep on going faster. A lot of people might have given up on him at 2 because he didn’t show much. He was just too easy going, and he was like that as a 3-year-old too.”

In December 2003, when Tattler’s Jet was 5, Carter turned over the training duties to Miller. Earlier that year, Miller had started sharing in the training of Carter’s trotter Crafty Sailor, who, interestingly, also raced to age 14 and finished his career with 107 wins.

Over the next six years, Tattler’s Jet never won fewer than 11 races, including a career-high 17 victories in 2008.

“He’s a good old boy,” said Miller, who is from Michigan and won the Billings Amateur Driving Championship in 2002. “I’ve only tried to race him within himself and keep him at a track where he can be extremely competitive.”

During his career, Tattler’s Jet has visited 53 different racetracks. He also has become something of an ambassador of the sport, serving regularly to give fans rides once a week at Running Aces Harness Park in Minnesota.

“You could race him the day before and he’d be nice and calm and jog around the racetrack with people,” Carter said. “He never pulled or nothing. He just jogged nice. Usually that’s something you can’t do with some racehorses. That was kind of special.

“He likes to get petted all the time,” Carter added. “He likes people. He’ll nudge you until you pet him and baby him.”

Miller said there are “120 memories” associated with Tattler’s Jet, referring to his win total, but the pacer’s triumph on Oct. 5, 2010 at Colonial Downs in Virginia stands out. That’s when Tattler’s Jet won by two lengths in 1:49.2 with Mark Gray handling the driving.

Beyond the impressive win time, Miller remembers the victory fondly because of an exchange with a rival driver/trainer prior to the race.

“A young man said to me, hang on to your rear end because I’m going in 1:50 tonight,” Miller said. “I smart mouthed him right back and said he better hang on to his because if you get limber down the stretch we’ll go in (1):49. I warmed the horse up three trips that night because I wanted him to be perfect for whatever was going to happen.

“That guy was lining himself up to get beat by everybody and I wanted to be the first one by him. We got lucky and were the first one by him and went in (1):49.2.”

Carter and Miller hope to add a few more memories before the career of Tattler’s Jet comes to an end. Interestingly, the two almost lost the chance to be involved in the horse’s final races because Tattler’s Jet was claimed from them in July. They claimed him back six weeks later, which marked the only period of time the gelding was not under Carter’s ownership.

“It would have been disappointing,” Carter said about not getting to finish what he started with Tattler’s Jet. “When he gets done racing, we’ve got a 30-acre pasture and he’ll be out there with Crafty Sailor and My Victory Song (a retired trotting mare that made $132,509 in her career). I don’t get rid of them. They did good for us, so we will do good for them, too.

“It’s like your best friend. Why get rid of them?”