Scooter Roach still going strong at 11

Scooter Roach has done well for owner/trainer Charlie Lawson since beginning his Beulah Park campaign last Nov. 27.

He won his first two starts, running for a $2,500 tag and then for $3,500. Scooter Roach has been off the board only once in his last four starts and hasn't caught a fast track since his first two races, possibly giving an excuse to the 11-year-old gelding in his last four outings.

The only clue the program offers as to where Scooter Roach, a son of Mi Cielo, has been throughout his career is his earnings line of $842,014.

A quick look at Scooter Roach's lifetime past performances show that he won his maiden at Hawthorne on Dec. 26, 2001, meaning George Bush had not been president for a year. In May 2002, Scooter Roach won the then Grade 3, $250,000 Hawthorne Derby going 1 1/8 miles over a soft turf course. He actually finished second in the race at odds of 33-1, but was moved up because of disqualification.

That was six trainers ago for Scooter Roach, who was claimed in 2004 for $62,500, in 2006 and 2007 for $50,000, in 2009 for $10,000, and then sold privately twice last year, finally ending up with Lawson, a guy known for extending the lives of old, class horses.

Lawson said he thinks there is still some gas left in the horse's tank.

"We worked on him quite a bit and I think we have him in great shape now for such an old guy," said Lawson, who hopes to run Scooter Roach on the turf, where he has earned $566,642. "We got the pressure off his ankles and hocks and he seems to be doing great."

The old horse still knows when it is time to race, and according to Lawson, "he is so gentle a baby could handle him. He is so calm and collected. But when you take him to the paddock he starts to get uptight, he knows where he is going and what comes next. He just loves to run."

Scooter Roach will make his next start in Saturday's third race at Beulah, a conditioned $3,500 claimer.