Forty-two starts into his career and with 25 wins, Greeley and Ben (Greeley's Conquest) is in top form as he will look to close out 2023 with a win over four rivals in Saturday's Gravesend S. at Aqueduct. It will, however, be his last ever start at an NYRA track, where horses who are 10 or older are not allowed to compete. That's fine with his connections. They can race him next year at just about anywhere else and are confident that the story of one of the true iron horses in the sport will continue for some time.
“I think he's a long way from being done,” said trainer Horacio De Paz.
It's easy to see why De Paz doesn't think that age has caught up with Greeley and Ben and why he'll be bringing the horse back off of just one week's rest in the Gravesend. Greeley and Ben won last year's GIII Fall Highweight H. at the advanced age of eight and, after a layoff of nearly 12 months, has come back running this year. After finishing sixth in an allowance race at Laurel, he's won two straight, including the Dec. 23 Dave's Friend, also at Laurel.
Greeley and Ben began his career racing for trainer John Ortiz and won six times before being claimed for just $10,000 on March 7, 2021 by Karl Broberg. He won 13 of 17 starts for Broberg before he was claimed again and wound up in the barn of David Jacobson. He made three starts for Jacobson, his last in a 2022 $40,000 claimer at Saratoga. It was there that he caught the attention of his current owner, Darryl Abramowitz.
“His age didn't bother me,” Abramowitz said. “This game is about dreams and taking chances. I thought that for $40,000 the worst-case scenario was we'd have to drop him into a $20,000 claimer and we'd win and get our money back. You only live once.”
So Abramowitz spent the $40,000 to claim a horse who was eight at the time and, at least according to his Beyer numbers, was starting to slow down. Little did he know that the future for the gelding would include four wins in his next seven starts and two stakes wins, including his first graded stakes victory in the Fall Highweight.
“He's a combination of Mike Tyson and Cal Ripken,” Abramowitz said. “He's an iron horse and he's a fighter.”
Greeley and Ben | Coglianese
After winning the Fall Highweight, Greeley and Ben disappeared, but that would not prove to be the end of his career.
“He's an old war horse and as time has gone on he has come up with a few leg issues,” Abramowitz said. “Nothing serious. He just needed the time to heal up. Would other people spend 352 days on the shelf and spend all that money while he wasn't racing? I don't think so. I could have brought him back earlier, but if we did, we'd have to have dropped into a lower level of claimers. We coaxed him along and gave him the time that was necessary. He's sound and he's solid right now. With the way he's going he could keep running for another two years. This guy loves to run. He just thrives on it.”
Abramowitz initially had the horse with Jeffrey Englehart and then moved him into the barn of Faith Wilson for the Fall Highweight. The next move was to give him to De Paz, who has had him since September. Greeley and Ben could do no better than to finish sixth in his return race, but De Paz was not discouraged.
“When we got him he had to build back the foundation that he had lost,” the trainer said. “He carries good flesh, so we had to work past that. In his first race back, we figured we'd give him a race rather than just breezing him. We thought a race would do him more good than breezing him every week. That first run showed he still wanted to compete. He just got tired.”
Twenty-two days later, he won the allowance and followed that up with the win in the Dave's Friend, which upped his career earnings to $981,138. After that start, De Paz and Abramowitz started searching for a race. On whether they should enter him in the Gravesend, it came down to the question of, why not?
“That we're running here doesn't have anything to do with the rules in New York,” Abramowitz said. “We were watching nominations for this race and knew there would be a small field and I didn't think the race would be that difficult. At Laurel, he ran three solid furlongs. It was like having a spectacular workout. For the first three furlongs he was in the back just enjoying himself and having a good time. I knew he was going good and Horacio told me he's better than ever and is going extremely good. We looked at all the factors, like the $150,000 purse, and decided to give it a go.”
Abramowitz is so bullish on the gelding's future that he said if the horse runs well in the Gravesend he will consider sending him to the Middle East–Saudi Arabia and Dubai.
First though, they have to get past the Gravesend. On paper, Greeley and Ben is stepping up in class and could have a tough time in the six-furlong stakes. But Abramowitz doesn't think that will be the case.
“He fits in this race and I think he might surprise a lot of people,” the owner said.
Win or lose, Greeley and Ben's place in the sport has already been assured. Where else can you find an active 9-year-old who is still at the top of his game and has won more races than he has lost?
“It's a tremendous story,” De Paz said. “He's run at all these different racetracks and has run for different trainers and he's been honest for everyone who has had him. He's just a special horse.”
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1st Dam: Crimson Frost (MSW & GSP, $476,278), by Stormy Atlantic 