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One Vine Lady is calling it a career after eight years in the racing business.
Business has been pretty good for the 10-year-old standardbred mare that has literally been the standard bearer for the University of Maine equine studies and farming programs, but the decision has been made to let her slide into retirement on a high note.
“She’s 10 now so it’s about time,” said Nonni Daly, consultant for the UMaine equine program and a harness racehorse owner. “The races are getting faster and faster with the purses going up and I think even though she can still keep up, we don’t want anything to happen to her by asking more out of her than she can give.”
What she has given is 28 wins, 36 places (second-place finishes), and 19 shows in 148 race starts. Her best time in the mile is 1 minute, 57.4 seconds and her career earnings exceed the $50,000 mark.
“She’s paid her bills and then some,” Daly said. “She’s been an incredible ambassador for the horse program at the university. We work in very close partnership with the harness racing industry. She’s an example of how that partnership can pay off for both of us.”
One Vine Lady’s retirement ceremony will take place at Bangor Raceway Wednesday after the blanket race, which has yet to be scheduled in terms of which number race it is. Post time is 6:30 p.m.
“The winner of that race will receive a nice blue-and-white blanket,” Daly said. “Then when the winner comes to the winner’s circle, trainer Valerie Grondin and four members of the drill team will walk her up and have her retirement ceremony after.”
The ceremony will involve removing her racing harness and replacing it with a saddle pad and saddle.
Although she’s retiring from racing, One Vine Lady is not retiring from riding or the general public. In fact, she may be more visible as the newest and 15th member of the UMares, the University of Maine’s standardbred drill team.
The timing of the retirement ceremony wasn’t random as Wednesday is University of Maine Day at Bangor Raceway.
“Some of the horses we have available for sale as pleasure and riding horses will be there and we’re hoping to have a petting zoo set up at the track between the grandstand and the outdoor paddock,” Daly said.
UMaine Day is a bit of a preview to another traditional and annual Bangor Raceway event: Standardbred Pleasure Horse Organization Breed Demonstration Day on July 15.
“It’s sort of an adopt-a-racehorse day,” Daly said. “We’ll marshal all the post parades and put on a demonstration at the end of the race card on the track.”
Some of the skills that will be exhibited include walking, trotting, cantering, barrel racing, jumping, huntering, eventing, and marshalling.
Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net
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