Gander, a four-time New-York bred champion gelding who was a fan favorite for his desire and durability, died Wednesday at Mill Creek Farm in Stillwater, N.Y., due to complications from old age. He was 26. Gander, owned by brothers Mike and Ted Gatsas, raced 60 times in a career that began in 1998 and lasted through July 2004 before he suffered a career-ending injury in a workout at Saratoga. Gander won 15 races, including six stakes topped by the Grade 2 Meadowlands Cup in 2001, and earned $1,824,011. He still ranks as the 12th all-time leading New York-bred money earner. The New York Racing Association runs a race for New York-bred 3-year-olds each winter in honor of Gander. :: DRF Bets members get FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic. Join now! Gander began his career in the barn of New England-based trainer Charlie Assimakopoulos, for whom he won seven times from 25 starts. Looking for a New York-based trainer, the Gatsases moved the horse to John Terranova in the summer of 2000. It began an owner-trainer relationship that still lasts 22 years later. “They don’t make them like him anymore,” Mike Gatsas said. “He danced every dance for us; he became part of the family. We tried to take good care of him all the way up to the end. We accomplished that. It’s still hard. You remember those races. His tenacity was just something. Everybody says the gray Gander. I called him the great Gander.” Gatsas noted that Gander developed pneumonia as a 2-year-old and almost died before he ever made it to the races. Gander, a gray by Cormorant whose coat got lighter and turned near-white as his career went along, was the first major horse for trainer John Terranova, who works with his wife, Tonja. Tonja Terranova said she received a call from Anne Morgan of Mill Creek on Tuesday that Gander “seemed different,” and she drove up to visit him that night. Terranova received a call Wednesday morning that he died. “He was such a part of our family,” Tonja Terranova said. We’ve had him longer than our kids. He was our first big horse and he took us places. He had such a personality about him. He was so tough and yet there was something that would draw you to him. The fans loved him, this big, white, beautiful horse.” In his first 16 starts for the Terranovas, Gander competed in 14 graded stakes, finishing third, beaten three-quarters of a length by Lemon Drop Kid in the Grade 1 Woodward in 2000 and second to Albert the Great in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup in his following start. In 2001, Gander was a front-running winner of the Meadowlands Cup, holding off Broken Vow and Include at the wire. Gander was a five-time New York-bred stakes winner and was the New York-bred champion 3-year-old male of 1999. He was a three-time New York-bred older dirt male champion, in 2000-02, sharing the 2001 honor with Say Florida Sandy. In retirement, Gander had to deal with many infirmities. including laminitis and the loss of one eye. “If you’re a hard-working person, you loved Gander because he was a hard-working horse,” Gatsas said. “If you’re lucky to have a horse like him, man oh man, it brings your family together.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.