Harness: Foiled Again selected as Stan Bergstein Award winner by USHWA
Foiled Again, the highest-moneywinning Standardbred racehorse of all-time with $7,634,938 in his bankroll, in the final stages of a whirlwind Foiled Again Farewell Tour as he faces mandatory retirement upon reaching 15 years of age on January 1, has been selected for the Stan Bergstein / Proximity Award, the highest award in the sport voted on exclusively by the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), harness racing’s leading media association.
Foiled Again is an altered son of Dragon Again out of the Artsplace mare In A Safe Place. He raced for trainer Herman Heitmann at ages 2 and 3, and into his fourth year before being purchased by Sylvia Burke, Weaver Bruscemi LLC (Mark Weaver and Michael Bruscemi), and JJK Stables LLC (the late Joseph Koury Sr. and his sons Joseph Jr. and Kevin). Mickey Burke, Sylvia’s husband and Ron’s father, was transitioning from raceway activities to overseeing the younger horses, and he handled the conditioning of Foiled Again until Ron took over full-time training responsibility in November 2008.
Foiled Again reached his full potential under his new connections, staying a vital member of the free-for-all pacing community for half-a-dozen years. He was Older Pacing Horse of the Year in 2011, 2012, and 2013, during each of which he earned over $1 million. Foiled Again took his mark of 1:48 in 2013 at the age of nine, in the elimination race of the Ben Franklin Pace at Pocono, coming back the next week to win the Franklin Final and then later in the year to sweep his Breeders Crown action over the red clay.
Fans grew to embrace Foiled Again as he battled on at a high quality of performance over the years; they latched onto this “evergreen pacer” who they knew would always give them every ounce of his energy. Once he broke the record for earnings ($5.8 million by the trotter Ready Cash), he gained even more cache, and attracted media attention like few other Standardbreds (or any racehorse).
As he entered his 14th year, perhaps a step or two off his peak speed but still competitive every time behind the gate, his connections decided to establish a “Foiled Again Farewell Tour,” matching him against local horses and letting fans around the United States and Canada give one last salute to the gallant pacer. He raced at eighteen different tracks during 2018, in 10 different states and provinces, and seemed very little the worse for wear. When he raced at Harrah’s on December 9, he returned to a track where he had first raced 4165 days – 11 years, 4 months, and 25 days – earlier.
Foiled Again’s 331st and final start comes on Monday at The Meadows, the home track of the Burkes and Weaver Bruscemi, and as has been noted, “it’s unlikely there will be a dry eye in the house.” (Start 330 came at Mohawk last Saturday, where Foiled Again posted career victory 109.)
Foiled Again is only the second horse to win the Bergstein – Proximity Award: the other was Rambling Willie, who was honored in 1984 after a career that strikingly parallels Foiled Again’s in longevity, earnings recordsetting, competitiveness in the free-for-all ranks for years, and popularity among the racegoing public. In an ever-changing world, Foiled Again reaches across 34 years to join another horse who didn’t know the meaning of the end of a mile, the end of a career, or making outstanding contributions to harness racing.
-edited release (USHWA)