The end of each calendar year is a special time for many around the world. For most it is the celebration of a holiday – Christmas, Hanukah or Kwanza – as we soon after gather with family and friends to ring in the New Year. When it comes to our 14-year-old Standardbreds it is time for mixed feelings, for it means the end of their racing career but hopefully the start of retirement or embarkment on a new vocation. There were 106 horses which raced as 14-year-olds in 2025, and there is something special about any horse that can "make it to the end" in terms of their career. From that total are 39 horses which raced into November. The list includes millionaires, as well as horses that failed to earn $25,000 in their careers. The group contains a pacer with a 1:47 2/5 lifetime mark, as well as one with 2:00 3/5 lifetime-best. It takes all types of horses for tracks across North America to put on a racing program, and the retiring bunch of 2025 certainly fits the bill. While in most years there is some doubt of the lead horse in the retirement class, this year that honor clearly belongs to "The King." JL Cruze earned that moniker at the Meadowlands a decade ago and retained it even when he perhaps lost a step in his later years. JL Cruze may've started racing as a 2-year-old in 2013, but his career as we know it today didn't truly commence until late in his second year of racing when the ownership group of Ken Wood, William Dittmar Jr. and Stephen Iaquinta bought the son of Crazed in November 2014 for $37,000 at the Standardbred Horse Mixed Sale in Harrisburg. A winner of just $21,347 at the time of purchase, new trainer Eric Ell had no idea that the horse would go on to earn over $2 million. "We just went to the sale looking for something for Dover that could race in the non-winners races and work his way up. He fit the bill at the time and we lunged on him," said Ell. "When I first got him I didn't like him at all because he couldn't trot a turn. He needed a bigger racetrack and we had to make a few changes. Every start he got better and better and better." JL Cruze truly shined as a 4-year-old at the Meadowlands, winning the Super Bowl, Charles Singer and Shiaway St Pat winter series finals before returning later in the summer to capture the Graduate and Hambletonian Maturity. His 16 wins in 21 starts, combined with $627,456 in earnings and trotting the first sub 1:50 mile (1:49 4/5) in the history of the Meadowlands, earned him Dan Patch honors as the top older male trotter in the sport for the year. "He was so sharp at the time. He was incredible," said Ell about the remarkable year before reflecting on the good fortune of having JL Cruze in his barn. "It doesn't happen often and it will never happen again for us. He was the best horse we ever had for sure." Although JL Cruze never quite reproduced his incredible 2015 season, he won $231K the following year and $364K in 2017. With the exception of 2018 when he only made six starts, he earned over $100K every year from 2015 to 2024. For Ell, one of the most remarkable achievements for JL Cruze during his career came in 2017 when he captured the Spirit of Massachusetts at Plainridge Park in late July. A 6-year-old at the time, he developed a twisted intestine and had to undergo surgery at New Bolton but was able to rebound and remain at the top of his game. That procedure wasn't JL Cruze's only career obstacle as he also dealt with two high suspensory injuries. "There was never a time when I didn't think he would race, but once you put him on the table and have to open them up, usually they don't come back good from that. It was amazing that he did. It was amazing that he won the Spirit of Massachusetts and that he could compete at that level," said Ell. JL Cruze's last trip to the track came at Dover Downs on November 4. He finished just sixth while still racing in one of the highest classes offered at the Delaware oval. While it wasn't the end Ell envisioned, it was the right thing for his 14-year-old war horse. "He came out of his last race gimpy in his left front. I injected his ankle and gave him a couple of weeks, but he still wasn't 100 percent. He was so close to the end of the year, I didn't want to risk him being off up front and pulling something behind and then having to retire lame or hurting. He probably could've tried to finish up the year; he was still in the Winners Over. My intentions were to end the year with a win, but when he didn't come out of the race well and didn't respond to the injection, I just retired him a month early," said Ell, who reports that JL Cruze is now retired on co-owner Ken Wood's farm. "He's loving life and is acting very content. "When you walked him out of the barn into the field you always had to be careful and turn him around the other way. The minute you took the lead shank off he would bolt. He would run and run and buck. He did that the whole 12 years I had him. He can buck all he wants now." JL Cruze retired with 75 wins in 273 starts. He finished in the top three in just shy of 60 percent of his starts and earned $2,049,606. "It was very important," said Ell of the earnings mark. "We were shooting for [two million]. We've had a couple of others make a million, but he's the only one to get to two. Coming to the end of his career I didn't know if he was going to make it, but he ended up earning almost $50,000 after that. "He earned every dime he got and did it the hard way," concluded Ell. JL Cruze isn't the only millionaire who called it a career in 2025. Cash Me Out ($1,486,925) and Always At My Place ($1,330,230) both hung up their halters following long campaigns on the track. Just an $11,500 Morrisville yearling purchase, Cash Me Out was a winner from the word go, capturing a leg of the New York Excelsior Series in his career debut in 2013 and going on to win north of $93,000 every year through 2019. A horse who truly did it the hard way, Cash Me Out rarely competed in rich stakes races and never came close to a win in those appearances. What he did was show up in Opens at many tracks on the East Coast week after week from 2015 to 2024 for owner (and sometimes trainer) Michael Traylor and earn money. Cash Me Out is the epitome of an on-track warrior. Always At My Place took a bit of a different career path in that he competed at just below the top level for many years and earned the majority of his bankroll from 2015 to 2019 as a member of the Ron Burke barn. His biggest win came in an Invitational at Pocono Downs back in 2015 when he stopped the timer in 1:47 2/5, making him the fastest of this retiring class. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Some horses may tail off toward the end of their careers. That wasn't the case for the Australian-bred Persistent Threat. He led all 14-year-olds with 13 wins (30 starts) this year and had his best earning season ($49,456) since 2021. Interestingly, he was claimed back by the Redder family in June of his final year. It was the fourth time in the last few years they've been involved with the horse. "We've always liked him and we've had different partners on him along the way. At the end my sister bought back into him. She had to sell him when we had to give him a break because she works a regular job and didn't want to pay bills on a horse that wasn't racing. She didn't feel right about buying back in when he was winning every week but when he tailed off she wanted to be in on him at the end of his career," said trainer Peter Redder, who was recalling his on and off involvement with the horse in 2024 and 2025. "They claimed him off us for $12,500, and we bought him back for $4,000. He was in poor form at the time, and we knew it was going to take a little bit of time to get him back going." Persistent Threat finished out his career on November 20 at Harrah's Hoosier Park with a disappointing sixth-place finish in a $5,000 claimer. Redder admits that the horse probably should've retired a month sooner, but he continued because the meet was about to end, and he was still earning some money. "We would've quit with him in early October if it wasn't for it being the end of his career. So, we let him finish out the Hoosier meet," said Redder. "He seems like he likes racing. He does his work every day. When it is time to come in, he would prefer to just stay on the track and keep jogging. He tries to stay out on the track and I have to make him come in." A career earner of $561,157, Persistent Threat is done racing. As of early December he was set to head to a family friend for a relaxing retirement. "We have a friend and his dad wanted an older horse to have at his place. That way we can keep track of where he is," said Redder. "He doesn't like strangers but he really bonds with the people who take care of him, so I think he'll be a good in that environment." With over 100 horses nearing the mandatory retirement age, there are bound to be some interesting records accumulated by the group, and perhaps the most amazing is the one owned by Archetto Hanover. While officially there is no way to know if it is a true record, Archetto Hanover has competed at 26 extended pari-mutuel tracks during his career. Making it difficult to equal is the fact that some of those facilities – Maywood, Balmoral, Pompano and Freehold – don't even exist anymore. And his list of tracks don't even include many fair locations in Maine and beyond. Originally a $67,000 yearling purchase at the Lexington Selected Sale in 2012, Archetto Hanover was a stakes winner as a 2-year-old in the Abe Lincoln at Maywood Park. After a couple of successful years for his original ownership group, he moved on well over a dozen times over the years before landing at his final home for co-owners Marianna Monaco and Emily Burgess. "Yogi [Sheridan] came up to be after his last start with him [April 21] and said 'This horse is sick of me, I'm sick of him. Will you take him or find someone to take him?' I had no idea he was 14. I kind of felt sorry for the horse and agreed because he fit the amateur final the following week," said Monaco, who said the purchase price was $2,000. "I knew I was headed to Maine for the summer and as a 14-year-old I could put him in a $2,500 or $3,000 claimer and race him through the fairs and make it back with him before finding him a home when he was done. Making half-a-million, I figured he had to have some class in him where I could make my money back. We kind of fell in love with him, so he never saw a claimer. "Emily didn't want me to bring the horse up here and within the first week she fell in love with him. She said 'he's not going anywhere. He'll go right in my backyard.' She fell in love with him more than I did," continued Monaco. "We got attached to him quickly because he is your all-around perfect horse. He does nothing wrong in the barn other than the day after he races when he is an absolute handful. He knows that is when he spends the whole day out in the field. He is the perfect riding horse. She jumped on his back within the first day and went a couple of miles with him. It became part of his routine; riding instead of jogging." Under the care of Monaco, Archetto Hanover earned almost all of his $19,508 in 2025 earnings. She was in the bike for his final start as a 14-year-old, but that might not be the end of the story. "There is a retirement ceremony in Maine on Saturday [Dec. 20]. We pulled his shoes today [Dec. 16]. We were battling some sickness issues with him late this year. The plan is to turn him out at the house [Monmouth, Maine] for the winter," said Monaco. "There is a very slim chance he'll race because he seems like he's bored after two weeks in the field. Today he went out in the field a little bit and was just running back and forth, so Emily went out and rode him for a lap or two around the track. If he tells us he needs a job and wants a job, there is a slight chance he'll race the fairs and amateurs in Maine next year." The Meadowlands start was number 421 in the career of Archetto Hanover and ranks him second among retirees behind Blue Spanx, who is still fighting the good fight on the track at Northfield in December with 422 races and counting. If Archetto Hanover is done racing, it will be with 42 career wins and $576,699 in earnings. Not a bad career at all. There is always a 14-year-old that has an interesting story, and The Fascinator certainly fits that bill. After all, how many horses stick around for 13 years of racing with career earnings of just $24,497? According to an article in TROT Magazine, The Fascinator was somewhat of a therapy horse for retired policeman John Ellsworth to keep on his Nova Scotia-based farm and race. "I've been retired from the force for 12 years. I started my career policing Dominion, and after municipalization, I finished with the Cape Breton Regional Police Service," Ellsworth told TROT. "If you want to call her a therapy horse, go right ahead," he added with a chuckle. While Ellsworth told TROT that she is enjoying retirement, he admitted that there might be a second chapter in her career. "She's got the body of a 4 or 5-year-old, and she's well-bred, so we might just breed her one day," revealed Ellsworth. "We're going to decide together [as a family]. There's lots of time." The above are of course just a small sample of the many stories likely connected to the retiring class of 2011. Certainly of note is Barry Black, who led all 14-year-olds in earnings this year with $60,420, or maybe Liberal, who was purchased as a yearling for $2,400 and earned over $400,000. Each year we wave goodbye to another group of horses which gave their all for a dozen years. For the 106 horses which showed up on the track as  14-year-olds this year and competed in well over 31,000 races, we thank you for your hard work and effort. While it is always sad to say farewell, we honor the memories you've provided and hope that each horse, gelding and mare has a happy retirement where they are well-cared-for.