Harness: Foiled Again doing what he does best
It has been a long time since a standardbred racehorse made an appearance on national television; since last year’s Hambletonian, in fact. So, it was quite surprising when a standardbred racehorse qualified for the Sportscenter “Top Ten List” on Sunday (7/8) evening. Of course, it was no surprise that horse was Foiled Again.
In winning his 100th race at Harrah’s Philadelphia Sunday afternoon, fittingly with regular driver Yannick Gingras in the sulky, Foiled Again put the final bow on the most remarkable career in harness racing history. An argument can be made that should be his last race, sending him out on a winning note. But, that wouldn’t be synonymous with the career that Foiled Again has had.
The 14-year-old will always have a place in my heart. We started our harness racing careers the same year, in 2006. Foiled was racing as a 2-year-old for Herman Heitmann and I was fresh out of law school, at a crossroads in my young life as I stared down two distinct career paths. While Foiled Again wasn’t a blip on anyone’s radar yet, he was a part of an industry that had called to me my entire life. He was a part of the reason why I walked away from a legal career to pursue my passion in racing.
Fast forward to 2018 and Foiled Again is still slugging it out on the racetrack, like he always has. In contrast, my life could not be more different than it was when Foiled first stepped foot on a racetrack. I was a young, single guy, without a care in the world, working as a D.J. to pay my bills while trying to call some races and work whenever I could on The Meadowlands TV broadcast. Today, I’m married with two children, own a home and am already starting to see my hair give way to streaks of gray. But the one thing Foiled and I still have in common, we are both making a career in the racing industry.
Being the oddsmaker and track handicapper at The Meadowlands for several of Foiled Again’s best seasons, I had a front row seat for many of his battles. I know it used to gnaw at Ronnie (Burke) and Yannick (Gingras) a bit when I would point out that Foiled Again was 1 for 20, 1 for 25 or 1 for 30 in his Meadowlands career. Of course, I was just doing my job as a track handicapper, not trying to sleight the horse in any way. Most of us understood why that was the case. Foiled Again would race at The Meadowlands in the summer, when we would see those 1:47 miles and Foiled just wasn’t a 1:47 horse week in and week out. In fact, his lifetime mark is “just” 1:48.
I had the privilege of calling one of his 300-plus races. It came on June 12, 2011 in the Bettor’s Delight (now the Roll With Joe) at Tioga Downs. It was by far the most talented field of horses that I ever called. Foiled Again didn’t win that day (he was 5th), but he was a part of a world record mile, won by Bettor Sweet over We Will See, that I will never forget.
The other Foiled Again moment that will always stick out in my mind came in the first two weeks of the New Meadowlands Racetrack. There were two races coming up, a final leg of the TVG Free For All series, followed by the $500,000 TVG Free For All Championship. Foiled Again entered the final qualifying leg of the series sporting one lifetime win at The Meadowlands, the 2011 Graduate Final. On that cold, November night, the first night racing in front of the new Meadowlands grandstand, he was able to power first over and held off Warrawee Needy to earn a 1:49 3/5 victory. In the TVG Championship, the “now” horse was Pet Rock, sent off as the 6/5 favorite, but he didn’t fire that night. Instead it was Foiled Again who moved to the lead down the backstretch and fended off Golden Receiver, Bolt The Duer, Sweet Lou and Captaintreacherous to win the Championship. Vindication for the connections of a horse who were constantly reminded by many in the industry, myself included, that Foiled Again couldn’t win at The Meadowlands.
I found it interesting in the last few months that several people have taken to social media, exclaiming that Foiled Again should be retired because he is not the horse he once was. But at the same time, a common complaint is that many of our stars are taken off the racetracks far too soon. Granted, Foiled Again is on the complete opposite end of the spectrum and sure he hasn’t seen his best form in about four years. But if he is a sound, happy horse that is drawing attention to a sport that needs attention desperately, where is the downside in allowing Foiled Again to finish out his 14-year-old season the way he seems to want?
Foiled Again isn’t the first 14-year-old to race until the end of his final racing season, he is just the best one to do so that we have ever seen and he deserves to go out on his terms as we will never see another one like him again. Next year will be my first year working in the racing industry without Foiled Again. I’ll miss him. Thank you for the memories.