Harness Racing: Anvil Raider N, Forest Vic A go out with a bang

Two venerable warriors of racing-- Anvil Raider N and Forest Vic A --made their final trips to the track on Saturday night and both came away victorious. The fellow 14-year-olds took one last picture before being forced into mandatory retirement when they turn 15 on January 1.

Rotating between the Ohio and Michigan circuits and racing for a claiming tag ranging from $2,000 to $8,000, Anvil Raider N amassed 23 wins in 40 starts and $34,402 in earnings during 2013. His final hoorah came at Northfield Park on Saturday (12/28), when, despite a tough trip from post eight, he pulled away in the stretch to post a 1:57 3/5 winning mile.

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With the 23 wins, Anvil Raider N led North America in the category. Fittingly, Ronnie Wrenn, Jr., the leading driver in North America on the wins leaderboard (707 as of 12/28), was in the bike for owner/trainer Will Johnson.

For his career, the New Zealand import started an impressive 314 times (including overseas) and won 95 races. He earned $340,812 in 10 years of racing.

Forest Vic A rallied from off the pace to post a dead-heat win with the favored Road Untraveled at The Meadowlands on Saturday. With regular driver Steve Smith at the helm for trainer Karen Garland, the gelding won for third time in 2013 while facing very tough competition in the upper conditioned ranks mostly at Yonkers Raceway.

Forest Vic A, despite his advanced age, earned an impressive $87,040 this year and added to his career tally of $907,686. The durable son of Troublemaker, who has scored 50 career wins in 237 starts (North America and abroad) has earned north of $100k in five of his previous seven years of racing.

Owned by Night Rogue Racing Stable, Bruce Kay and Steve Smith, Forest Vic A remarkably set his lifetime mark of 1:50 3/5 in the final race of his spectacular career.