At the stroke of midnight when the calendar changes from 2021 to 2022, Standardbred racing will see the careers of 100 horses which competed this year come to a conclusion. These 14-year-old warriors who were able to last the test of time have mostly completed their miles on the tracks, though a hearty group of about 30 or so are racing on into late December hoping to taste victory one more time. With the exception of amateur and fair races, as well as some provinces of Canada, all North American Standardbreds face mandatory retirement on their 15th birthday, January 1 of each year. This impending group of retirees includes four millionaires, nine sub-1:50 performers, five horses which have eclipsed 400 career starts, 36 horses with over 50 career victories and three who have won at least 10 races this year. For a Standardbred to reach the end of its 14-year-old campaign while still being competitive at the raceways is noteworthy. Dream Out Loud N blew past noteworthy and landed in headline territory in 2021 by becoming one of the most popular horses at the claiming box during the year and ranking among the winningest horses in North America. A son of Bettor's Delight out of an In The Pocket mare named Nothin Butadreamer, the New Zealand-bred Dream Out Loud N was brought to the U.S. in 2013 by the late Joe Muscara. While the gelding started in the George Morton Levy Series at Yonkers in 2015 and 2016 with just a couple of third-place finishes to show for it, he has made $1,104,514* the hard way in overnights and claiming races throughout his career. Starting exclusively in claiming races ranging from $7,000 to $12,500 in 2021, Dream Out Loud N has compiled an amazing 18 wins - most among pacers in North America - along with a healthy bankroll of $74,940 for six different groups of owners and trainers. "I kind of am surprised," said current trainer Marcus Marashian about Dream Out Loud N's success this year. "I don't know that in my career that I've ever seen a 14-year-old continue to race and win like he does." Although his career has been strong and his performance in 2021 spectacular considering his age, perhaps Dream Out Loud N will be best known for being claimed 18 times during his 14-year-old season. Those claims included a streak of nine straight starts from February 5 to April 8 and another seven-race streak from July 10 to September 4. The most recent and likely final claim on Dream Out Loud N came from Marashian on October 1 and marked the eighth time he has re-claimed the horse during the year. Some would think that Marashian was left "holding the bag" or the odd man out in a game of musical chairs since the horse is slated for retirement in the coming weeks, but he doesn't see it from that perspective. "I don't look at it that way," said Marashian, who co-owns the horse with Tina Porfilio. "He's had a tremendous career and he's certainly going to go on to a nice life afterwards. Already a lot of people have reached out to me, so I'll find him the best home and do my due diligence to make sure he has the best landing spot when he's done racing. The financial aspect is probably not relevant at this point because of what he has done and what we've been able to be a part of. It's really been something special. He's the winningest pacer in North America this year. That's pretty neat. "It is mindboggling," continued Marashian on the amount of claims on Dream Out Loud N in 2021. "It is kind of a testament to the racehorse he is, the career he has had and the impact he's had with the people who have had him. When you are claiming horses there is a monetary aspect, but to have so many people want to claim him up until the end, it tells you how nice an animal he is. He's a pleasant horse to be around and he loves every aspect of being a racehorse." For now, Dream Out Loud N will finish off his season on the track as Marashian mulls over the options for his future. The trainer felt it would be "cool" to see him win an amateur race at age 15, but that would require leasing or loaning the horse to another trainer since he races at The Meadows and most of those races occur on the east coast at the Meadowlands, Yonkers, Freehold and Monticello. "He most definitely has more in the tank. He's winning fairly with ease. There are starts where he's been driven down the lane, but he's definitely not racing like a tiring racehorse," said Marashian. "As long as he's healthy, and knock on wood he never takes a lame step, God willing he'll race until the end of the year. There is a race at Northfield on its condition sheet for New Year's Eve. I would consider that because it is only an hour-and-a-half drive from here." ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Dream Out Loud N is part of a quartet of millionaires – three pacers and one trotter – who showed up on the track in their 14-year-old seasons. Versado, the richest of the group at $1,310,800, last raced on April 5 at Rosecroft while Southern Allie, an earner of $1,084,643, called it a career after a June 6 race at Ocean Downs. Watkins, the lone trotter on the list, is still plying his trade at tracks like Yonkers, the Meadowlands and Monticello on at least a weekly basis. Owned and trained by Michael Annunziata, who claimed the son of Striking Sahbra-Sarong Hall for $12,500 on December 8, 2020, Watkins has earned $1,025,603 in his career while amassing 59 wins in 354 starts His career began in September 2009 with a third-place finish at Rideau Carleton. He was an Ontario Sires Stakes winner at 2 and 3, as well as a victor in Preferred races across North America at his height. "He was my first trotter," said Annunziata, who described Watkins as gentle and a pleasure to be around. "I've been training a few years. I took over the business from my dad [Ettore Annunziata] and he wasn't really into trotters. He only had a couple himself. I figured what better way to start than with an old guy like him." Start No. 41 at the Meadowlands on December 2 pushed Watkins over the $30,000 mark in earnings for the 12th consecutive year. Six days later he was at Monticello ready for action again and led the entire mile but finished second as the 4-5 favorite in a $10,000 claimer. "He's racing every week and thinks he's an 8-year-old," said Annunziata on Watkins' fitness. "He jumps around in the paddock bucking. He doesn't know he's 14. I have horses younger than him that don't have the pep he does." As a regular on the east coast and one who already raced millionaire pacer Doctor Butch in the amateur ranks with Nicole Dicostanzo in the bike at the Meadowlands, Annunziata has already investigated the possibility of bringing Watkins back next year to compete in the GSY series over that track. One certainty is that the horse will have a home. "I've been trying to figure that out because he still wants to race. The Meadowlands was waiting to hear back from [Presiding Judge] Tom Salerno. The racing Secretary said it was fine," said Annunziata. "I might turn him into a riding horse. I used to ride when I was a kid. I have couple of extra stalls at the farm, and he's a hard horse to get rid of. He's a sweetheart. I like the horse too much." Just on the outside of the millionaire club of retiring Standardbreds and looking in is Statesman N at $973,631 earned via 63 wins in 310 starts. Brought over from Down Under in February 2013 by a group of owners, the Christian Cullen-Club Sport product paid immediate dividends as a solid Open Handicap and upper claiming and conditioned horse for years. Statesman N is currently serving his third tour of duty for owner/trainer Newton "Yogi" Sheridan and has been able to win an amazing four races at the Meadowlands while earning north of $40,000 during the year. Sheridan actually lost the horse in a $7,500 claimer on February 12 but felt such a strong connection to the horse that he took him back the next week for $10,000. "He is a pet for me," said Sheridan. "It was really hard for me to see him go at 14, so I claimed him back. He was doing ok and then old age got to him and he hurt himself a little. I had to lay him up for five months or so to get his knee right. If he didn't have that issue he probably would've made the million. "He made 14 years without an injury, sound, no head check and no knee boots. To go all that time and just bang a knee up a little bit...I could've brought him back earlier but I wanted to make sure he was sound enough. I told him, 'whenever you are ready old man.' For a little guy like me he really helped out." Statesman N made his most recent start at the Meadowlands on December 9 and won impressively in 1:54 3/5. If all works out, Yogi's brother Mark Sheridan will race Statesman N in his final start sometime in December. After that the gelding will hopefully be acclaimed to a new more recreational activity. "Right now I have a couple of options," said Yogi Sheridan. "I'll probably send him to a retirement place where they can break him for riding so he can find a good home. He's been good to everybody and deserves a nice place to retire." "Yogi is giving him to me after his last race. I'm having him broke to ride and found him a wonderful forever home! He's a very lucky man. What an incredible animal that only deserves the best," said trainer Jennifer Bongiorno via Twitter. TSM Photo Bugger checks in next on the earnings list and is also the co-fastest retiring trotter of the crop at 1:52 4/5. While his 61 wins and $877,040 earned is impressive, that pales in comparison to his never changing hands his entire career. The son of S J's Photo, from the Yankee Glide mare Rewarding Wink, was foaled, raised, broken, trained and raced all by the same group of people. "I pulled him out of his mother. He got stuck coming out," recalled owner Theodore Tomson, who has bred hundreds of horses all starting with the TSM moniker. "After he was born his mother had a problem and I took her out to a vet in Ohio. When she was out there he kept biting all of the caretakers in the butt. They used to say he was a "real bugger," and he was by SJ's Photo, so I named him TSM Photo Bugger. "He's been a dream horse. He's the best horse I've owned and bred." TSM Photo Bugger didn't make it to the races as a 2-year-old and was just a decent earner during his next two years while averaging $46,806 before the light went on for the training team of Jan and Karen Fread. From 2012 to 2019 the gelding averaged $90,633 in earnings each year. "He has a pretty good year every year. He's the kind of horse that if you had to live off him, you could do it. A person could live quite well with what he's made," said Karen Fread. "Every time he goes out on the track he gives it all he has and he enjoys racing." After his one down year in 2020 when he failed to win in 21 starts, TSM Photo Bugger got back on track this year posting a 36-4-6-5 record and earning $44,399. He can typically be found in the mid to upper level conditioned ranks at The Meadows and even made it up to the Open Handicap once in 2021. [EDITOR'S NOTE: TSM Photo Bugger won at The Meadows on December 16 and added $2,700 to his career earnings.] It's not just luck that has seen TSM Photo Bugger remain under Tomson's ownership and Fread's care for 14 years. The 2007 foal has never been in for a claiming tag in his 342 starts. "I can go out and buy a horse, but to put the mother and dad together is pretty cool," said Tomson. "I breed them to race them. When you sell them they are gone. I have eight generations of horses at my farm and five generations of this guy." Fread said that when TSM Photo Bugger is done racing at the end of this year they'll celebrate with a cake in the paddock, but it will be an emotional moment when she goes to the barn and "Bugger" is no longer there. "It is going to be a hard day when we send him back home where he was born," said Fread. "I'm very sad. It just brings tears to my eyes. I'm going to talk to Teddy and if something doesn't work out with what he has planned for him, I'll probably take him. We've had him 14 years. We got him as a yearling." Tomson, who stood multi-millionaire Jake And Elwood at one point, has a plan for TSM Photo Bugger come 2022 and beyond. "When I had Jake And Elwood he was like the master of the farm. He would hang out with the babies and make sure they were ok. I think that will be [TSM Photo Bugger's] job," said Tomson. "Jake And Elwood was a tough son of a gun, but he would always be standing around with four or five babies at his feet, and I think [TSM Photo Bugger will] be the same way." There are 52 weeks in a year and few horses can lay claim to racing in more of them throughout their careers than our next 14-year-old Bourbans Best. With 470 starts and an amazing average of 45 per year since 2015 (which would've been higher if not for a two-plus month COVID shutdown), Bourbans Best has been an iron horse competing at the $4,000 to $15,000 claiming levels since the end of his 3-year-old season. Bourbans Best was the fourth and final foal from Mattachevitz and by far her richest offspring with $333,504 made, certainly a good showing from just a $3,500 Morrisville Sale purchase in 2008. He spent most of his early career at Saratoga before venturing to Northfield Park for the Progressive Claiming Series in December 2014 and setting up shop. Bourbans Best started in the Progressive in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2021, when owner and trainer Ashley Burke plucked him for $6,000 on November 23 of the current year. New to the training ranks with just 25 starts in her career (all this year), Burke was a caretaker and worked for trainer Chris Beaver, taking care of babies and stakes horses for two years. While she took Bourbans Best hoping to make money in the Progressive series, she also has other plans for the future. "We were planning to race him next year in the [Ohio] fairs, and I was possibly going to use him in the Lady Pace," said Burke. "I think there are 20-25 fair races, and if I don't end up doing it, someone else has already offered to buy him that wants to do the same thing." Burke added that Bourbans Best would likely become a riding horse when his career ended and that while she hasn't had him long, she appreciates his work ethic. "He's all business. He definitely knows his job and is a pretty serious horse," said Burke. While Bourbans Best has the most starts of the class of 2007, there are a number of others still racing who have eclipsed 400 for their careers. Let's honor Three New Dawns (438, $364.3K), King Otra (423, $409.2K), and Leafs And Wings (414, $509.2K) for putting it all out on the line week after week right until the end. We'll also throw some love to those who paced in under 1:50 and are still giving their all in December until the ball falls on New Year's Eve. In addition to Dream Out Loud N (1:48 4/5) and Three New Dawns (1:49 3/5), the list includes Poacher N (1:49 3/5). Finally, how about a special mention for N S Acadian, who checks in at the bottom of the earnings list among the 100 expected retirees with just $26,587 made in 287 starts. The son of Force For Life has been racing in Nova Scotia at Truro for the Smallwood family since 2013, setting a lifetime mark of 1:57 4/5 in 2016. While N S Acadian won't be in the record books, we pay tribute to him and all of the other 14-year-old standardbreds for giving their all each week and being the blue-collar workers the Harness Racing industry needs to survive and thrive. Thank you for your service to the sport. * All statistics current as of 12/15/2021.