Iron Horse

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Our Legal Eagle keeps on going

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By Bill Finley
Special to ESPN.com


It will be back to work any day now for Our Legal Eagle. That's his thing. He is far from racing's most talented horse, but he is the sport's most durable. In an era when our coddled thoroughbreds need two months off between starts and a six-race campaign is seen as taxing, there is this workaholic who is earning his own unique niche in modern racing history. On July 27, the 12-year-old son of Exuberant ran eighth in a mile and-forty-yard $3,500 claimer at Thistledown. It was the 191st start of his career.

"He just likes to run," owner Debbie Chapman said.

That's apparent.

No one knows if Our Legal Eagle's number of starts is a record, but it's nearly certain that no one has done anything like this in a long time. A horse named Federal Funds got some recognition in New York in the 90's for his durability, but he made just 144 career starts. Stymie was considered one of the great iron horses of all time. He earned nearly $1 million back when $1 million meant something and won 25 stakes races during his remarkable seven-year career. But he ran a mere 131 times. Those great mighty geldings Kelso and John Henry made 146 career starts ... combined.

Chapman has been there almost the entire way. After a July 11, 1993, $10,000 claimer at Thistledown, just the horse's 16th career starts, she bought Our Legal Eagle privately from trainer Angel Hyland for $5,000. The Ohio-bred had shown some ability, finishing second in a small stakes at Thistledown as a 2-year-old, but Hyland was getting fed up with his antics. It seems that he would stand by the chute once out on the track and pretty much refused to go anywhere. It took a tremendous amount of exertion to get him to the gate and, after a while, it didn't seem worth the effort.

That's why Chapman got him so cheap.

"You couldn't get him on the racetrack," she said, adding that the gelding is still rather ornery. "The outrider would have to chase him to the gate. He'd never warm up."

Our Legal Eagle made eight starts for Chapman and trainer Nabu Morales during the 1993 season. He was just warming up. He made 17 starts in 1994, 19 in 1995, a career best 22 in 1996, 21 in 1997 and so on and so on. As he got older, he didn't slow down a bit. Last year as an 11-year-old, he ran 18 times. From 191 career starts, 184 have been at Thistledown. He's won 10 times.

"He's like an iron warrior," Chapman said. "He's very sound and we really haven't had any problems with him. He may not always hit the board, but he always tries."

Often, that's not good enough. He has lost 38 in a row, dating back to a June 25, 2000 win in a $4,000 claimer at Thistledown in the slop. But his form has taken a turn for the better in recent weeks. After failing to hit the board in his first six starts this year, he finished third July 5 and was second, missing by just a neck in a July 17 start. Even Saturday's race wasn't that bad. He got caught up in a speed duel and was still third at the head of the stretch. Chapman figures, believe it or not, that she wasn't running him enough. The recent improvement came at the end of a three-race stretch in 21 days.

"I have been running him closer together," she said. "He's responded. The day after his races, it's like he hadn't run at all."

The owner struggles to explain how the horse can keep going for so long, but it may have something to do with the fact he is stabled at her farm in Sullivan, Ohio and not at the racetrack. He's able to relax and avoid the hustle and bustle of life on the backstretch. He also takes every winter off, not necessarily because he needs a rest, but because Thistledown doesn't run that time of year.

But even Our Legal Eagle can't go on forever, and Chapman knows it. Only because she figures he's getting old enough that he's earned a comfortable retirement, she plans to end his career after he's made his 200th start, to her an important milestone. She expects it will come toward the end of this year. He'll spend the rest of his life relaxing at Chapman's farm, a living reminder to the owner of so many good memories.

"I don't care if he's a cheap horse," she said. "When he runs second or third it's like a stakes win to me. People laugh about him and say he's too old and he doesn't make any money. That doesn't matter to me. He's my warrior and he's never been sick a day in his life, bled, anything. He's always been sound. I wish I had 10 more like him. I love him."


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