It’s Old News When He Wins ... or Loses

Friday’s sixth race at Santa Anita was scheduled for “4-year-olds and upward,” and Copelan’s Eagle certainly qualified for the “upward” part. On New Year’s Day--the official birthday for racehorses--Copelan’s Eagle turned 12. That’s retirement age for many thoroughbreds but the day was only another page on the calendar for this hearty California-bred.

As Copelan’s Eagle was led into the walking ring for Friday’s sixth, a $15,000 sprint for horses that could be claimed for $10,000, his trainer, A.C. Avila, admired his horse. Copelan’s Eagle had eight rivals, and the oldest was only half as old as he is.

“Look at him,” Avila said. “He’s so happy, just being here. He loves to be at the track. Every time I send him to the farm, he gets sad and unhappy. Don’t anybody tell him that he’s 12 years old. Because he doesn’t know.”

In human terms, Copelan’s Eagle is pushing 40, an advanced age for someone being asked to regularly run three-quarters of a mile in about 70 seconds.

“Horses are just like people in some respects,” said Pete Pedersen, one of three stewards who officiate at the Santa Anita races. “Many of us tail off with age, and then there are the ones that just keep going. There used to be age limits at some tracks in California, but not anymore, as far as I know. As long as horses stay sound, we won’t get in the way of letting them run.”

Through a 68-race career and 10 barn shifts, thanks to the claiming box, Copelan’s Eagle has run the gamut of trainers, from hall of famer Richard Mandella to claiming mavens like Mike Mitchell. He appears to have found a permanent home, though, with Avila, a 48-year-old horseman who left Brazil for California 11 years ago. In February 2000, Avila claimed Copelan’s Eagle from trainer Eddie Truman for $10,000. Now, as a 12-year-old, it is unlikely the horse will be bought out of a race again, even though he’s been delivering regular purse money since ending a 22-race losing streak in February of last year.

A gelding, Copelan’s Eagle doesn’t have a stud career ahead of him, and jockey David Flores, who won five races with him, has been promised the horse when he’s retired from the races.

Before Friday’s race, Copelan’s Eagle had registered two wins and three seconds in his previous five starts, increasing his earnings to $381,474. In the box-seat section, Avila and the horse’s co-owner, Richard Flores--no relation to the jockey--were hopeful, because their old-timer had had some encouraging workouts at Santa Anita, the track where he had logged nine of his 14 wins and finished in the money 23 times in 36 tries.

With two minutes to post, Richard Flores rushed downstairs, in the direction of the betting windows, and by the time he got back, with the horses loading into the gate, Copelan’s Eagle was the 17-10 favorite. This was only the second time in the last 11 races that he had been favored.

Truman, who had claimed Copelan’s Eagle three times in his career, once for as much as $32,000, also had a horse in the race, a 6-year-old whippersnapper named C Merrill Run, but it turned out that neither he nor Avila won. C Merrill Run finished fourth, just ahead of Copelan’s Eagle, who was beaten by almost six lengths by Jim’s Relaunch, the horse Avila had feared.

Omar Berrio, who was riding Copelan’s Eagle for the 21st time, said that although the track was listed as fast, the surface was loose and his mount couldn’t seem to dig in.

From the box seats, Avila knew they were done early.

“He’s too wide,” the trainer said well before the horses reached the turn. Copelan’s Eagle had broken from the No. 9 post, and all the speed inside fanned him six wide going down the backstretch.

Copelan’s Eagle didn’t win his first race last year, either--in fact, he lost his first two starts--but in February at Santa Anita, he launched one of his best years: Three wins, six seconds and one third in 13 starts.

“He came out of this all right,” Avila said after Friday’s race. “These older horses are smart. This horse knows how to take care of himself and won’t get hurt if he can help it. I’ll try to find another spot for him in about three weeks.”

When Copelan’s Eagle won on opening day at Del Mar in July, no one could recall a horse as old as 11 winning at the seaside track. But if he wins during the current meet at Santa Anita, he will not be the oldest horse to win a race there. In 1969, Victory Beauty was 13 when she bagged the last of her 10 victories at Santa Anita.

Copelan’s Eagle is even farther away from the feats of Stonehenge and Maxwell G., thoroughbred graybeards that were winning races when they were 16-year-olds in the 1970s. Stonehenge’s last win was at the now-defunct Commodore Downs in Erie, Pa., and the Chicago-based Maxwell G., a coast-to-coast campaigner, ran 234 times and won 47 races.