HARRISBURG PA – Foiled Again, the highest-moneywinning
Standardbred racehorse of all-time with $7,634,938 in his bankroll, in the
final stages of a whirlwind Foiled Again Farewell Tour as he faces mandatory
retirement upon reaching 15 years of age on January 1, has been selected for
the Stan Bergstein / Proximity Award, the highest award in the sport voted on
exclusively by the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), harness
racing’s leading media association.
Foiled Again is an altered son of Dragon Again out of the
Artsplace mare In A Safe Place. He raced for trainer Herman Heitmann at two and
three, and into his fourth year before being purchased by Sylvia Burke, Weaver
Bruscemi LLC (Mark Weaver and Michael Bruscemi), and JJK Stables LLC (the late
Joseph Koury Sr. and his sons Joseph Jr. and Kevin). Mickey Burke, Sylvia’s
husband and Ron’s father, was transitioning from raceway activities to
overseeing the younger horses, and he handled the conditioning of Foiled Again
until Ron took over full-time training responsibility in November 2008.
Foiled Again reached his full potential under his new connections,
staying a vital member of the free-for-all pacing community for half-a-dozen
years. He was Older Pacing Horse of the Year in 2011, 2012, and 2013, during
each of which he earned over $1 million. Foiled Again took his mark of 1:48 in
2013 at the age of nine, in the elimination race of the Ben Franklin Pace at
Pocono, coming back the next week to win the Franklin Final and then later in
the year to sweep his Breeders Crown action over the red clay.
Fans grew to embrace Foiled Again as he battled on at a high
quality of performance over the years; they latched onto this “evergreen pacer”
who they knew would always give them every ounce of his energy. Once he broke
the record for earnings ($5.8 million by the trotter Ready Cash), he gained
even more cache, and attracted media attention like few other Standardbreds (or
any racehorse).
As he entered his 14th year, perhaps a step or two off his peak
speed but still competitive every time behind the gate, his connections decided
to establish a “Foiled Again Farewell Tour,” matching him against local horses
and letting fans around the United States and Canada give one last salute to
the gallant pacer. He raced at eighteen different tracks during 2018, in ten
different states and provinces, and seemed very little the worse for wear. When
he raced at Harrah’s on December 9, he returned to a track where he had first
raced 4165 days – 11 years, 4 months,
and 25 days – earlier.
Foiled Again’s 331st and final start comes on Monday at The
Meadows, the home track of the Burkes and Weaver Bruscemi, and as has been
noted, “it’s unlikely there will be a dry eye in the house.” (Start 330 came at
Mohawk last Saturday, where Foiled Again posted career victory 109.)
Foiled Again is only the second horse to win the Bergstein –
Proximity Award: the other was Rambling Willie, who was honored in 1984 after a
career that strikingly parallels Foiled Again’s in longevity, earnings
recordsetting, competitiveness in the free-for-all ranks for years, and
popularity among the racegoing public. In an ever-changing world, Foiled Again
reaches across 34 years to join another horse who didn’t know the meaning of
the end of a mile, the end of a career, or making outstanding contributions to
harness racing.
