Don't be blue, Jasper . . .
Sunday's Tuapeka meeting marked the final race for Jaspers Blue Jean after 230 starts. He's off to the retirement paddock - or at least to enjoy life as a riding horse near Palmerston. He started his career with Ian Cameron and clocked up 122 starts and has added another 108 with Eion Latimer, earning him the title of the most›raced pacer or trotter in New Zealand.
I did some rough calculations of Jasper's trips around the track on race night, averaging out his average race distance at 2200m (it'll be there or thereabouts), and he has done more than 500km at full race speed.
. . . it's time for a spell . . .
Of course, that doesn't include preliminaries, trials, workouts, or even general fast work. Add in the fact that Eion reckons his jog cart has done more than 30,000km with Jasper being attached to that most of the time, and you're looking at some staggering kilometres with very few leg or feet issues. Remarkable.
Whatever way you spin it, Jasper's legs have been spinning for some time. While he was never a superstar, he was a pretty well›behaved and honest horse, and even finished his career on Sunday by pacing free› legged and finishing eighth behind Smokin Bird.
Oddly enough, he wasn't the only pacer going free›legged (without hopples) in race 11 on Sunday. Ben Waldron used the same approach with Drover's Eyre.
. . . but not for everyone
Jasper, however, would be considered lightly raced by the standards of some Australian horses. Destreos is still racing after 335 starts. He's racked up 74 wins, more than $600,000 in prizemoney and he even won a mile at Menangle in August in 1.53.4. If you feel like a punt tomorrow night, he's in race 8 at Albion Park at 12.07am, although he has the 250›start veteran Funny Boy to contend with.
Nicky's Falcon was another favourite of mine, running round 324 times, while Mister Skye Rocket will bring up his 300th start when helines up in race 3 at Albion Park tomorrow night.
Further afield, Air Albert was still winning races as a 14yr›old in Michigan as he ticked over 380 starts back in 2006 before being forced into mandatory retirement at the end of the year, due to turning 15.
But check this out for a record - cold›blooded trotter Jarvsofaks raced 234 times from 1997 to 2009, winning 201 of those starts around Sweden.
Lazy Fiver
The jinx did, in fact, go on Ridley who didn't fire at Riccarton on Saturday. Back to the harness code and to Kaikoura on Monday we go. I've been on the Zachary Binx bandwagon since I saw him win his debut at Oamaru earlier this year. The draw of 1 can be awkward in a standing start, but if he can overcome that, he's a chance in race 5 at the picturesque South Bay Racecourse.
matt.smith@odt.co.nz
