By Jonny Turner
The team behind Old Town Road are certain Australasia never got to see the best of their brilliant pacer.
Wear and tear injuries have halted the six-year-old’s pacer spring campaign with the decision being made to retire the outstanding top-level performer.
Old Town Road compiled an outstanding resume for trainer and part-owner John Dickie, placing in the biggest of races like the Hunter Cup, The Race by Grins and the New Zealand Free-For-All.
Though a Group One win proved elusive, Dickie is certain it was a feat well within his pacer’s ability.
“A lot of people might say he wasn’t good enough to win a Group One, but I am absolutely certain he was.”
“No one would be able to convince me otherwise.”
“He had a fetlock issue that we had to manage and we weren’t able to have him at his best all of the time.”
“Last year it was a battle right the way through to try to get him right.”
Old Town Road made one of the quickest rises to open class seen in New Zealand, starting in the New Zealand Cup in just his 12th career start.
Winning eight of his first 11 starts kicked off a whirlwind ride for the horse’s breeders and owners Ben and Karen Calder who raced the horse with Dickie and his son Josh.
When looking back on some of Old Town Road’s biggest performances, Dickie points to his pacer’s efforts to flash home into placings in the Hunter Cup and in the Ashburton Flying Stakes, in what was the horse’s first real taste of open class company, as some of his best.
When reflecting on the short but brilliant career of Old Town Road, Ben Calder is in full agreement with his trainer.
“You look back and wonder what might have been,” Calder said.
“I think the horse deserved to win a Group One and he was good enough to do it.”
“He took us on a wonderful ride and gave us some great thrills. He won two Holmes DGs and ran some great placings in big races.”
“The trip to Australia for the Hunter Cup was a big thrill.”
“One of the other thrills was that he was a Southland bred and owned horse and he was right up with the best of them.”
The journey with Old Town Road was made special for the Calders as the pacer is from a family the couple have built their interest in breeding and racing around.
Old Town Road is a direct descendant of the Calders’ first horse, Grinaldi.
The Calders bought Grinaldi at the National Yearling Sales before going on to buy his dam Tanisa two years later.
Tanisa is the granddam of Old Town Road’s dam Lucy’s Way.
The Calders have one horse from the breed to carry on with in Romantic Road, a four-year-old with Southland horseman Allan Beck.
Old Town Road’s career record :
31 starts
10 wins
$489,044 in stakes