ETOBICOKE, Ontario – It’s been three years since Town Cruise won the $1.1 million Woodbine Mile in a storybook upset. Now the 9-year-old gelding’s racing career is winding down, according to owner-trainer Brandon Greer. Town Cruise was winless during a brief four-race campaign in 2022 that included a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile. He scored once in five starts last year and only recently appeared on the work tab this year. “He’s quite happy with himself these days,” Greer said. “We started a little later with him this year. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to bring him back or not, but he enjoys his job. I have no expectations from him. We’ll continue on – maybe have a race or two – and call that his retirement party.” Greer said most horses show signs when retirement is appropriate, but the late-blooming Town Cruise has been the exception. “I don’t know how to retire this horse,” Greer joked. “He keeps telling me he wants to do it. I’m afraid he’ll get mad at me. He really enjoys every aspect of what he does here. It’s amazing seeing a 9-year-old horse going to the training track and squealing like a 2-year-old. I’m happy that he likes it, but there has to be a time to stop. When the time comes, we’ll have to find something else for him to do. He does like to work.” Greer said he has no retirement plans for Town Cruise and is open to all options, including a job at the track. “I’m sure he’d try his hand at anything, as long as he gets a saddle on his back and gets to go somewhere,” Greer said. “When he was young on the farm, we would take all the weanlings in with him when they’re being weaned. He was ‘Uncle Town’ to the young ones. He liked taking care of them. That same thing happens on the track. He’ll be very competitive with an older horse, but if he sees a baby, he’ll actually slow down and gallop with them. He might enjoy being an outrider pony – being the sheriff in town out there.” :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Greer sent out Town Cruise’s 6-year-old half-sister, Blueberry Fields, to win an allowance in the final race run on the rain-shortened original King’s Plate card on Aug. 17. Their dam died a few years ago, and she could be a worthy replacement for her in the breeding shed. “The whole family is a lot of work,” Greer said. “It’s nerves and stress – they’re all big and very strong. If I didn’t have the experience with ‘Town’ and the older brothers and sisters, I don’t know that I could have gotten her running. She was a lot to manage, but she’s getting it figured out.” Including bonuses, Town Cruise earned $720,000 in the Woodbine Mile, which was a life-changing score for Greer and his father, Terrance. “My dad was able to do some stuff that he wasn’t able to do before,” Greer said. “He went to Kentucky and bought a filly and a broodmare. It gave us comfort in that we haven’t been pressed for money and needing to race. We don’t have to run them, and they don’t have to win. We can take our time and [race] them when they’re at their happiest. That sort of pressure has been a lot lighter.” Greer said winning Woodbine’s marquee turf race still hasn’t sunk in yet as he continues to train a small string at Woodbine. “It seems a very long time ago,” Greer admitted. “I don’t think too much about it now. Maybe I need a few more years before I can sit down and enjoy that it actually happened.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.