Older pacers and trotters vying for year-end honors aren’t so very old these days

by John Berry

Our final recap of the 2025 racing season covers the older pacers and trotters, meaning those 4 years old up to retirement age.

They, too, vie for Dan Patch year end awards and further illustrate that we are losing some of the most important commodity in our sport, those horses that fill overnight events.

The days of Seatrain, Rambling Willie, Foiled Again, and the grey gladiator of our sport, Admirals Express, are gone and the list of older performers like those mentioned above are shrinking with every passing season.

OLDER MARE TROTTERS

Beginning on the trotting side of the ledger, the top 50 on the money list included 15 mares and, as for speed, there were 11 gals on that select list.

Leading the earnings parade — the top three — were 4-year-old Warrawee Michelle ($569,991), 4-year-old Elista Hanover ($532,951), and six-year-old M-M’s Dream ($470,162).

Referencing speed, Date Night Hanover took the fastest record of 1:49,2, earning $136,240 with M-M’s Dream clocking in at 1:49.4 with Warrawee Michelle punching in at 1:50.

If winning is your leading indicator, there are 11 mares on the list of 67 — top 50 plus ties — with Tipsy Moni leading that list of ladies with 12 wins while earning $229,690 to go along with a 1:54.4 mark.

So, here’s the deal, Warrawee Michelle, age 4, rallied with a :26.4 finale to win her Breeders Crown event in 1:50.2 for her biggest payday in that $400,000 event and won the $230,000 Graduate at The Meadowlands in 1:50.2, outside every step of the mile and on a double bubble binge the final five sixteenths.

She took her 1:50 mark in a $100,000 invite at Pocono and just missed getting a 1:49.2 record when Date Night Hanover caught her right on the wire in the Allerage at The Red Mile.

Her final 2025 stats were 11 3-4-2.

Date Night Hanover, by the way, earned $136,240 this semester winning three events with that $80,000 Allerage win her biggest accomplishment to go along with a couple of Kentucky Sire Stakes wins.

Elista Hanover fashioned up 3-4-2 in her 14 starts, earning $532,951.

A consistent sort, Elista Hanover was a nose away in the Miss Versatility, a neck back in The Graduate (1:50.2), and a head away in the $400,000 Breeders Crown won by Warrawee Michelle, meaning she was, literally, just a few inches off earning the money crown, herself.

Her greatest accomplishment was in the $425,000 Hambletonian Maturity, winning that 1 1/8th distance in 2:03, handily over Warrawee Michelle.

The amazing M-M’s Dream completed her fifth season on the track and now sports a lifetime bankroll of $2,296,762 on the strength of 37 lifetime wins in 70 starts and, this semester, took a new lifetime mark of 1:49.4, :26.3, in the $151,000 Steele at The Meadowlands over Warrawee Michelle, among others.

Her other successes were at Delaware, OH, Dayton, OH in the $250,000 Dayton Derby, and the $175,000 FanDuel — putting up all the numbers — in 1:51.4, :26.3.

It’s the third straight year that M-M’s Dream has won a stakes event at The Meadowlands during Hambletonian week.

In 2025, she tallied up a 5-4-3 record in 16 starts.

OLDER MALE TROTTERS

On to the boys where the 7-year-old gelding Lexus Kody is the class leader with $1,317,651 — the only older trotter to go over the million-dollar plateau.

He was also the fastest by taking a mark of 1:49.1 and fashioned 11 wins in 21 starts with 18 1-2-3 finishes.

But there were some other very gutsy individuals in the group, including Periculum, French Wine, and Up Your Deo, with a shout-out to the 9-year-old Aetos Kronos S, as well.

Lexus Kody, the rugged 7-year-old gelding, had, by far, the best season of his, thus far, five seasons of racing wars, with his $1.3 million plus easily eclipsed his previous best of $215,000 and change last year.

He spent a few months in competitive action at The Meadowlands trading places in the winner’s circle with Outside The Fire, Aetos Kronos S, Periculum, and Up Your Deo but, by late August, began to assert his eventual dominance by winning the $400,000 Maple Leaf Trot at Woodbine Mohawk Park in 1:49.1, the $1,000,000 MGM Yonkers International Trot at Yonkers — that 1¼ mile event in 2:24.4 — followed by a scintillating dead-heat win with Periculum in the $200,000 Caesars Trotting Classic and yet another score in the $250,000 Dayton Derby.

While he won his Breeders Crown elim in 1:49.4, he couldn’t catch French Wine in the Breeders Crown final but crushed his competition in the $350,000 FanDuel at The Meadowlands in mid-November.

Periculum also had his best season of five by winning $838,902 in 2025, after winning $821,084 last semester.

The 6-year-old horse was 1-2 in 10 of 12 starts and took a 1:49.3 mark at The Meadowlands.

Periculum kicked off his campaign with a win in the $158,000 Cutler at The Meadowlands, was out of competitive action for a few weeks, then came back by winning the $164,000 Crawford at The Big M in 1:50, defeating Aetos Kronos S and Lexus Kody.

He, then was a close second in the Spirit of Massachusetts at Plainridge and, during Hambletonian Week, went a monster mile in the $300,000 Cashman to take his 1:49.3 mark.

Second to Lexus Kody in the Maple Leaf Trot at Mohawk, he couldn’t overcome a second tier in the Yonkers International but used a ferocious rally at Hoosier Park in the Caesar’s Trotting Classic and the judges couldn’t separate he and Lexus Kody on the wire.

He then went on to win the Allerage at The Red Mile in 1:49.3, using a :25.3 final rally to win by a neck.

Periculum was a neck back of French Wine in the $600,000 Breeders Crown at Mohawk and second to Lexus Kody in the FanDuel.

The five-year-old French Wine won $382,699 this year to vault his lifetime bounty to $1,611,268 with his most notable win, of course, being in the $600,000 Breeders Crown at Mohawk, rallying late to score in 1:50.1 over Periculum and Lexus Kody.

Yet another notable performance was in the Allerage at The Red Mile as he trotted his mile in 1:49.4, 53.4, :26.1, finishing a fast closing third to Periculum and Aetos Kronos S.

Now, a shout-out to Aetos Kronos S, the Swedish bred now 9-year-old who banked $294,134 this season and was the third fastest older trotter in competition.

He won $1,360,347 overseas before coming here to compete against the best we had to offer.

His first success was in the $100,000 Maxie Lee in Philly and then he won his Maple Leaf Trot elimination at Mohawk in record performance.

If winning is your cup of tea, the 5-year-old gelding Buckhead Ridge is for you.

He won 17 of 23 starts in 2025 — he won only one last year — and spent just about the whole season in Wally Hennessey territory (Charlottetown) while banking $31,983.

There are 44 trotters on the list that won 10 or more races this year, 5 mares, and 39 geldings.

In the list for the top 50 money earners, only one was 10-years-old — Itsrockandroll A — in 49th place with $181,902.

There was only one 9-year-old, too, the ageless Little Rocket Man, 24th on the list with $244,675 in bounty, he also made the top 50 speed list at number 26 with a 1:48 performance.

With regards to wins, the 13-year-old Music To My Gears made an amazing 22 journeys to the winner’s circle in 41 starts, earning $41,929 with a 1:54.4 win his fastest of the year.

OLDER MARE PACERS

So, we’ll start with our beloved mares with the focus on the top two — Twin B Joe Fresh and Sylvia Hanover.

In our entire two-plus centuries in our sport, it’s doubtful that one filly or mare can be compared to Twin B Joe Fresh, now 5 years old.

In her four seasons of racing, she has won 36 of 49 starts with purse earnings of over $2.8 million.

She opened our eyes when she was a 2-year-old when she paced a winning mile in 1:48.4. The next season at age 3, she lowered that to 1:48.3 and, the next season, 2024 clipped that down to 1:47.3.

This season, she kicked off her season with a 1:49.3 win in the $100,000 Betsy Ross Invite in Philadelphia.

Traveling up North of the Border for the $212,380 Roses Are Red at Mohawk, Twin B Joe Fresh romped by 3½ lengths in a startling 1:48.4 mile off of a :55.1 first half.

Sylvia Hanover got a bit of revenge in the $116,500 Perfect Sting by collaring Twin B Joe Fresh in the lane in a mile clocked in 1:48.2.

On to The Meadowlands where she whipped her arch-rival Sylvia Hanover in the $142,000 Dorothy Haughton Memorial in 1:48.1 — her last quarter in :25.3.

Twin B Joe Fresh cut the mile in the $100,000 Clara Barton at Plainridge but both Sylvia Hanover and My Girl EJ caught her in Sylvia Hanover’s 1:47.2 performance.

Sylvia Hanover took top honors again over Twin B Joe Fresh in the Lady Liberty at The Meadowlands during Hambletonian festivities and then took a bit of time off — with just a couple of qualifiers to keep tight — her final quarter in that qualifier timed in :25 flat.

In the Milton up at Mohawk, she crushed Sylvia Hanover by 5½ lengths in 1:47.4 and moved down to Ohio for the Dayton Derby, where she left no doubt with a 4¼ length win over Sylvia Hanover in 1:48.4.

On to The Red Mile where she held off a determined Sylvia Hanover by a half-length in 1:47.3 — her final quarter in that one :25.4.

On to the Breeders Crown after a Meadowlands qualifier to stay tight. It was thought that the grand mare had a bruised foot but, instead, a hairline fracture of her left front cannon bone was discovered and she was scratched.

Twin B Joe Fresh underwent surgery in early November and, reportedly, is doing well.

(But the question still remains, ”What if the Louprint crew had found his injury and scratched from the Breeders Crown instead of racing, would he have been knocked off his perch at the top?)

Sylvia Hanover has a 53 27-15-3 scorecard during her four-year racing career with $2,268,468 on the books.

Surely, she is one of the greatest ever to wear a bridle but had one thing in her way—Twin B Joe Fresh.

She conquered Twin B Joe Fresh during the season as the two traded punches on the racetrack and Sylvia Hanover went the race-of-her-career at Plainridge, winning the $100,000 Clara Barton in 1:47.2.

She also handled Twin B Joe Fresh in the $139,000 Lady Liberty in 1:48.2 and was the bridesmaid to her arch-rival in the Dayton Derby and the Allerage — though her last quarter was :25.3.

She was fourth in the $400,000 Breeders Crown event at Mohawk, her final major event.

Sylvia Hanover wound up the year with $464,493 with her 6-5-1 scorecard in 14 starts to go along with her new lifetime mark.

OLDER MALE PACERS

Finally, we tackle the category for older pacing horses and geldings.

Three of the five fastest aren’t even in the hunt and it looks like the five-year-old horse, Ervin Hanover, has the advantage in earnings ($848,218) and record (1:46.2) based on his late season heroics.

With 10 wins in 17 starts, Ervin Hanover really didn’t get into his championship form as he showed his raw speed in the $86,500 Brewer by pacing his first three-quarters in 1:20.2 but wound up fourth to Coach Stefanos in his 1:47.2 mile.

He was sixth to Maximus Miki in the $147,800 Haughton Memorial when Maximus Miki cut through the wire in 1:48.

Ervin Hanover gave a bit of a hint finishing fourth to Binge On Yankee in the Gerrity at Saratoga on their half-miler.

But, when August rolled around, a star was born.

Ervin won a preferred event at Mohawk in 1:48.1, :26, off the pace, used the same tactics to win another preferred there in 1:48.1, before graduating to the Canadian Pacing Derby elim in 1:47.4.

In the $503,750 final the next week, he cut the mile and fought hard throughout but lost by a head to Maximus Miki.

Traveling back-and-forth from Scioto Downs to Mohawk and back to Dayton, OH, he won three straight, including the Ewart and Dayton Derby, all three in 1:47.2.

After a short rest, Ervin Hanover won his Breeders Crown elimination in 1:48 and, then, the $600,000 Breeders Crown final in a scintillating 1:46.2 — out to the half in :53.4 and back game in — no misprint — :52.3.

A disappointing showing in the $350,000 FanDuel at The Meadowlands — seventh — could hardly put a damper on an amazing three months of races for Ervin Hanover.

Yes, Maximus Miki got him a few times and so did Coach Stefanos, but horses are not machines and have blood, bones, and heart just like every other living thing, and he more than proved his status in this class.

In kind, we’ll give a shout-out to Helium N the New Zealand flash that had success in Ohio ($109,537) and, with Bythemissal, recorded the second fastest time of the year — 1:46.4 — blazing through panels of :25.3, :53, and 1:19.2.

That takes care of our review of the contenders for this year’s honors with the hope that all of the voters will realize the importance of making a thorough selection, which means so much to the breeders, trainers, and owners in our grand sport.

May The Horse Be With You!