Royal F J will race for 100th time Thursday

DEL MAR, Calif. – A horse who runs 100 times may recall the days of Exterminator, but that milestone will be reached Thursday at Del Mar by the durable and popular 10-year-old claimer Royal F J, who will race for the 100th time.

It’s a point of pride for his trainer and co-owner, Jack Carava.

“I’ve had a couple of horses who ran over 100 times, but not ones I’ve had for almost their whole career and certainly not in recent years,” Carava said Monday at Del Mar. “We’ve had a lot of fun with him.”

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Royal F J, who is entered in race 1, was purchased as a yearling for $110,000 and began his career in Carava’s barn. Carava has lost the gelding twice through the claim box, once for one race, the other time for nine races, before taking him back both times. So, when Royal F J starts Thursday, it will be the 90th time Carava has sent him out for a race.

Royal F J has won nine races and has finished in the money 45 times while grinding out $563,285 in earnings. He is in for a $12,500 claiming tag on Thursday, the price at which he has raced in four of his last seven starts.

When Carava and co-owners Chris Curtis and Howard and Janet Siegel claimed Royal F J anew last October for $8,000, “we thought if he runs OK, great, and if not, we’ll retire him,” Carava said.

Royal F J has won twice in 10 starts since and has finished in the money seven times.

What has kept him going for so long?

“He’s extremely well made, very sturdy. His conformation is impeccable,” Carava said. “And he has some self-preservation in him. He’ll go three-quarters speed if the track feels funny to him. He takes good care of himself.”

Carava is bemused by Royal F J’s quirks.

“He’s always had a little hang to him. He doesn’t like change. He’s been unsettled in previous years at Del Mar, but this year not so much,” Carava said. “He likes his routine. We go the same time every day, very early, in the dark. If he comes out later, he doesn’t like it. He’s tightly wound. You’d think he’d mellow with age, but he hasn’t. He likes to train hard. We gallop him with a pony so he won’t go too fast.”

Because Royal F J enjoys activity, Carava said the horse will need to keep busy once he retires from the racetrack. Carava said “lots of people have offered spots for him” when Royal F J is done, but as he enters the summer of his 10th year, Royal F J retains his enthusiasm for racing and training, and on Thursday, he reaches a milestone that is all too rare these days.