Mills still enjoying his job – and winning races – at 11

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – One horse’s career is nearing its end while the other one’s is just getting started, but both Mills and Return the Ring have trainer Eddie Barker brimming with enthusiasm.

On Jan. 18, the 11-year-old Mills won an $8,000 claiming race at Aqueduct, his 10th victory from 78 starts in a career that began March 22, 2013. On Nov. 28, Return the Ring won his career debut at Aqueduct and is pointing to Sunday’s $100,000 Jimmy Winkfield Stakes for 3-year-olds.

Mills is the proverbial throwback, a horse that enjoys training as much as he does racing. Barker claimed Mills last March 13 for $10,000, becoming the gelding’s 11th trainer. That also was the 11th time Mills had been claimed for a total of $369,000.

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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Barker had to wait three months to run him. On June 18 at Belmont, Mills won a $12,500 claimer by a half-length.

Barker said that given Mills’s advanced age he backed off the gelding’s training, but Mills resented it.

“You would think at 11 years old you’d want to back off and try to make it easier for him,” Barker said. “He hates that – he sulks.”

Barker said he picked up the gelding’s training again in the fall and he ran “a giant second” on Nov. 8. After he walked out of the gate leading to a ninth-place finish on Dec. 18, Mills came with a rally that carried him from last to first in that $8,000 claimer on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Most horses have been retired by the time they reach 11, so it’s not exactly clear when the last time an 11-year-old won a race on this circuit. In 2012, Callemetony raced as an 11-year-old but did not win. In 2015, Be Bullish won his final career start as a 10-year-old before being retired.

Barker said Mills returned to the track Saturday and seemed full of himself.

“If you saw him bucking and squealing going down that horse path you wouldn’t believe he’s 11 years old,” he said. “And sound? He’s got legs like iron; he’s the soundest horse in the barn. He’s an old war horse.”

Barker said he anticipates running Mills a few more times before retiring him, with the next start coming likely in February.

“If he shows me he’s had enough, I’ll just retire him,” Barker said.

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Meanwhile, Barker will look to end January with a stakes victory when Return the Ring runs in the Jimmy Winkfield. Return the Ring, a son of Speightster, was a front-running winner of a six-furlong maiden race under Dylan Davis on Nov. 28 at Aqueduct.

“Dylan put him on the lead that day because there was no speed in the race, but he’s actually better chasing a horse,” Barker said. “That’s the way we trained him.”

Barker said that since the race Return the Ring is “more aggressive.”

“He’s put more weight on,” Barker said. “He’s become a real racehorse.”