Saturday at Exhibition Park Raceway will see a celebration of retirement for aged pacing horse Skippy as Horse Racing New Brunswick and along with Greenhawk, Shur Gain and Debbie Mahar have stepped up to salute the classy harness racing son of Camluck who this year, reached the age of fourteen years old.
Harold Defazio owns the ironsided pacer who has accumulated over $82,000 in career earnings and a lifetime best of 1:56.3 taken at Bangor Raceway. One of his biggest wins on the Maritime racing circuit was back in 2015 as he captured the prestigious Walter Dale Memorial for his regular pilot Mark Haig.
Defazio, who purchased the son of Camluck in Ontario back in 2012, and since then the horse has become so much more than just a racehorse, he is a member of the Defazio family.
Many races, road trips to other tracks including South of the border, the colourful Defazio has decided it's time to give the horse a well earned retirement. He had hoped 2020 would see him be his final year of racing, after prepping him for the season and ready to qualify, something was just " off " with the horse. Defazio decided then it was time to call it a career. He closes his career with twenty-nine wins, just one shy of thirty.
Skippy will be trackside after race number four on Saturday afternoon at Exhibition Park Raceway. Local sponsors Cindy at Greenhawk and Sarah at Shur Gain have co-sponsored gifts of celebration including some much deserved treats, grooming bag, and a plaque and cooler donated by Debbie Mahar.
Congratulations to Harold & Sandra Defazio who have always treated the horse as part of their family with lots of TLC, treats, and pampering during his time since arriving on the scene in 2012. Post time is at 1:00 P.M with a six-dash card at Exhibition Park Raceway in Saint John.
Scott Waddell