Longest Layoff

[Chris Szulc]

There's a 9 year old mare entered in on Friday at Penn National in the 2nd race. Her name is Proud Prospect. She has not raced since.....August 2007.

If she runs, will she be the horse with the record longest layoff to return from? Have there been longer?

I bet she couldn't get in foal so some idiot decided it would be a good idea to bring her back to the races.... 

[swoopdaddy]

There's a 9 year old mare entered in on Friday at Penn National in the 2nd race. Her name is Proud Prospect. She has not raced since.....August 2007.

If she runs, will she be the horse with the record longest layoff to return from? Have there been longer?

I bet she couldn't get in foal so some idiot decided it would be a good idea to bring her back to the races.... 

how about da hoss. Against the best horses in the world Da Hoss won the breeders cup mile in 1996 and with only one prep race won the same breeders cup mile in 1998 after almost two years off. tom durkins call that day summed it up. " Oh My, this is the greatest comeback since Lazarus. Hes had one race in two years."

[NIATROSS]

how about da hoss. Against the best horses in the world Da Hoss won the breeders cup mile in 1996 and with only one prep race won the same breeders cup mile in 1998 after almost two years off. tom durkins call that day summed it up. " Oh My, this is the greatest comeback since Lazarus. Hes had one race in two years."

Still ranks high as one of my bad beats. I had a nice wager on Hawksley Hill in that race.
I am not sure but the prep race for Da Hoss was at Penn National.

[tapetea]

Michael "Tapeta" Dickinson had DA HOSS all juiced-up that year. I recall he sent DA HOSS to Hong Kong for their international races, first race after the Breeders Cup, and the racing authorities booted his ass out of the race cause DA HOSS tested positive for steroids.

[HarnessFanDE]

Michael "Tapeta" Dickinson had DA HOSS all juiced-up that year. I recall he sent DA HOSS to Hong Kong for their international races, first race after the Breeders Cup, and the racing authorities booted his ass out of the race cause DA HOSS tested positive for steroids.

Steroids were 100% legal at the time in the United States.....Last Sunday I saw a 9 yo maiden (maybe 7) race at Pimlico that had been off since 2008.....The horse was something like 0 for 17

[DaPaver]

Chris My biggest concern is who is the Owner / Trainer . There are some older horses still running and doing well , for me it depends on the conections and how they treat there horses, and in this case the mare could not get in foal, if sound why not let her try again. This as compared to a brokedown or a horse that should not be in training anymore, cruel!

[Thomas Graham]

I remember a horse from the mid-80s named Abba Cap that came back after five years and won first time out.  Second time out he raced against his son.

[Yimmy]

On the harness side, Lucien Fontaine popped a Down Under import named Atheist first-time out in NA (at Yonkers) at about 10-1 in 1975, off a layoff of (IIRC) slightly under 5 years.  Horse went on to become a respected regular at 18-22K claiming ranks for the next several years.

[RacetrackRailbird]

There's a 9 year old mare entered in on Friday at Penn National in the 2nd race. Her name is Proud Prospect. She has not raced since.....August 2007.

If she runs, will she be the horse with the record longest layoff to return from? Have there been longer?

The longest I've ever seen was a 13yo on the western Canada fair circuit who had been off NINE years.


I can document the runner Contare's Doll who was off from Nov. 15, 1994 at Laurel until January 10, 2003 at Tampa Bay (5th race).



The latter didn't beat a horse either time.

[Round Table]

Most off I ran across winning at a major track is about a year and a half,  two years.

[Yimmy]

Way back in the day, the Whiteleys had a very good sprinter named Loud who *always* won off layoffs, though I don't think there were any of that magnitude.

[brianwspencer]

Not as long a layoff as some mentioned here, but remember Proper American winning off that 3 year, 2 month + layoff last summer at Arlington.