Veteran horse breaks maiden off five-year layoff at Mountaineer

Hero’s Wager, a 10-year-old maiden entering Mountaineer Park’s second race on Monday evening, hadn’t run in a race since Oct. 20, 2013 — some 1,737 days and nearly five years. And his trainer, Ted Randolph, has saddled just five horses, according to Equibase, also without a victory.

That changed in a matter of 57.71 seconds, the final time for Hero’s Wager’s five-furlong turf win. He was 27-1, too, so somebody knew the veteran could still run.

The Virginia-bred did get some help when the saddle appeared to slip on Viritzi, a 10-1 shot leading in mid-stretch. His rider, Kevin Gonzalez, fell, but Hero’s Wager was undeterred by the incident, running on to an almost unbelievable victory.

The circumstances around the gelding’s layoff are unclear — we were unable to reach Randolph, the trainer, and also the breeder — but Hero’s Wager had made 17 other starts in 2012 and 2013 without a win.

On Monday, the horse faced nine rivals, only one of which was born when he last raced. House Key, a 5-year-old bred in Florida, was then less than a year old.

Hero’s Wager retured $57.40 to win with Sully’s Folly (6-1) and Pointer (4/5) also on the board.