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Harness Highlights: Anatomy Of A 109-Race Winner Part 2

by Frank Carulli

January 28, 2019

Foiled Again was forced into retirement January 1, but the now 15-year-old gelding left an indelible mark in harness racing annals. He compiled a 331/109-70-46 record and earned an all-time record $7,635,588 in purse money. Part 2 of our two-part series on his illustrious career also reveals:

  • Foiled Again paid $14.60 to win in his debut on Oct. 12, 2006 at Freehold with Jim Marshall III in the bike. Only three other times did he pay more than that to win. He returned $30.40 for a $2 bet when he won the 2012 Canadian Pacing Derby.
  • He was best at half-mile tracks, winning 35 times at Yonkers and a combined 25 at Harrington, Batavia, Northfield Park, Saratoga Raceway, Western Fair and Freehold. But he also won 18 times at 5/8-mile Harrah’s Chester/Philadelphia and won conquered stakes foes at larger ovals like the Meadowlands, Woodbine-Mohawk Park and Indiana Downs.
  • The photo-finish camera revealed that Foiled Again won five races by a nose, five by a head, nine by a neck and 14 more by less than one length. He won 25 times when starting from the rail and at least 10 times from posts 1 through 6.
  • He won three consecutive Dan Patch Awards as champion older pace from 2011-13, a fete rivaled only by Hall of Famer Rambling Willie, who won 128 times. In 2013, he became the oldest horse to win a Breeders Crown race, when he won the $500,000 Open Pace at Pocono Downs at age 9.
  • His performance in the George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series at Yonkers is unparalleled. He won 22 of 40 races in the Levy from 2009-16, including back-to-back wins in the 2009 and 2010 Levy final. He won the Battle of Lake Erie at Northfield Park three times and boasts multiple stakes wins in the Molson Pace at Western Fair, Indiana Pacing Derby at Indiana Downs and Bobby Quillen Memorial at Harrington, to name a few.
  • He won 21 stakes of $100,000 or more. His most lucrative score was in the $787,000 Canadian Pacing Derby at Mohawk in 2012, when he surpassed Gallo Blue Chip as the all-time leading money earner ($4.35 million).
  • He paced 22 winning miles in 1:50 or faster. His best time was 1:48 in the 2013 Ben Franklin elimination at Pocono Downs, the same year he won the Breeders Crown final at the Pennsylvania track in 1:49.2.