Horses 10 and up soon will not be allowed to run at NYRA tracks

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Beginning with the Belmont Park spring/summer meet that begins April 22, the New York Racing Association will no longer permit horses 10 years of age and older to race at its tracks.

The house rule was not officially announced, but appears in the Belmont condition book and on the stall applications for that meet.

According to Keith Doleshel, the racing secretary at Aqueduct and assistant racing secretary at Belmont and Saratoga, it was a rule borne out of equine safety and welfare.

“In the last couple of years we’ve had a couple of 10-year-olds and up break down,” Doleshel said.

There are three horses who raced at Aqueduct in 2020 who are 10 or older, including Mills, an 11-year-old who won an $8,000 claimer here on Jan. 18. Most recently, he finished fourth at that same level on Feb. 4.

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Eddie Barker, the current trainer of Mills, said he doesn’t see any reason a horse 10 years old or older couldn’t race provided they’re deemed sound and healthy.

“He’s as healthy as any horse in my barn and he’s probably sounder than most horses in my barn,” Barker said.

Instead of an outright ban, Barker suggested putting in a provision where if a horse 10 or older was beaten 10 to 15 lengths in three straight races then it had to be retired.

Barker said he hopes to run Mills once or twice more at Aqueduct before retiring him. Barker said Mills would make a good stable pony or perhaps be trained to be a foxhunting horse.

Orpheus, a 10-year-old trained by Leah Gyarmati, was entered to run Saturday at Aqueduct.

Toohottoevenspeak, a 10-year-old gelding who has not run since June but who has been training at Belmont this winter, and River Knight, a now 12-year-old gelding who went 1 for 71 and most recently raced here in December, are other horses who will be impacted by the new rule.